Hello everybody,
Alan here.
Today’s podcast is about a satisfactory way to learn English (or other
languages) without taking up too much time each day.
Many people are very busy and maybe do not have all the time they
would like to learn a language.
My idea is based on my experience, as I do not learn languages at college
or university.
To be fluent in a language, we need four language skills, sometimes
called [bad word] 
• Listening
• Speaking
• Reading
• Writing
This is the way we learn our own language. We first start by listening (as
a baby) and then we start to speak. Later, we will start to read and then
write.
I think that as learners, we always have some skills more than others. We
may find it easier to speak than listen, read rather than write.
In any case, we can practice all four skills together when we learn.
I worry about some people who spend many hours a week trying to learn
and do not achieve the success they think they should. Normally, if we
work hard at something and do a lot, we get a lot from it. For example, if
we dig a garden for many hours, we get a lot of work done,
I don’t believe this works the same with language learning. Sometimes
we work hard, get tired and learn nothing. This makes us [bad word] and
then we try harder and learn less still.
This is called a “vicious circle” in English. It means we carry on doing
something again and again and achieve no more from it.
My idea is that we spend just 40 minutes per day to help us avoid
spending many hours a day,
My meaning is that we should not work hard for many hours when this is
just tiring and we do not progress.
So, how do we do this 40 minutes a day?
My suggestion (I say suggestion, because you may have better ideas than
me) is to start with listening.
Listening
1. Find something to listen to such as a podcast, radio show or a listening
exercise from classes if you have them.
Listen carefully for 5 minutes, stop, write down any important words
then listen for another 5 minutes and also write down again any key
(important) words.
Reading
Read a short text, or part of a magazine or book that you find interesting.
Read for 5 minutes without stopping and then read the same text again.
Writing.
Write for 5 minutes anything that you feel like. Describe what you have
listened to, or what you have read. Write about anything you want to.
Write, using nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, link words.
Don’t worry about grammar so much. Try to get the meaning of what you
want to write about. Think about the people reading it, what they may
think. Read what you have written, and then see if you can find any
mistakes that you did not see when you started.
Write for another 5 minutes and do the same again. Check all the text.
Speaking.
Now, read out aloud what you were reading before and what you have
written about. This maybe will take 5 minutes.
Then just speak quietly to yourself about the things you have done for 35
minutes before. Like you are telling someone about the studying you have
just done. Don’t be shy about it. This talking out loud will give you
confidence to talk to others when you have the chance.
Finally, consider your 40 minutes not just as a study. Call it a “Daily
diary of progress” that you can look back on like family photos.
Also, if you have the chance to record what you have said, then do so.
You will be surprised at your progress.
Finally, I want to say that of course, I am not saying only learn for 40
minutes all the time. Sometimes if some of you have homework or exams,
then your teachers will expect that you study more. 
...
Группа Learning English. Продолжение транскрипта: [bad word] /education [bad word] episode/30571540/14346/