This is an All Ears English episode.
Only four months abroad?
How to maximize your English learning.
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Today we have a listener question.
How should you structure your time if you only have three or four months to live in an English speaking country?
Today, get our top four tips on how to approach this incredible opportunity.
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Hey, Lindsay, how are you?
Hey there.
I'm doing great, Michelle.
What's going on in your world?
Oh, just enjoying the city, enjoying lots of different things about this time of year.
How about you?
I'm feeling good.
I'm feeling good, the sun is shining here in denver.
But we got a great question from a listener and you know something, i'm excited about this.
I know i'm excited too.
I mean, let's see.
So michelle, do you think that the way that someone learns a language is different if they're temporarily living in the place of the language versus permanently?
What do you think?
What's your initial reaction to that question?
Yes my, my reaction is yes, i think that it is.
I think that it is different.
What do you think i do think it's different.
Well, i think there's an opportunity, because we know, when we have a very short timeline or a deadline on something, we're usually more likely to really ramp it up and maximize that time, as long as we have the structure in place.
I mean, i know, when i lived in France for study abroad, it was only six months.
So I only had a certain amount of time.
Or when I was in South America, it was only a year.
And I knew that time would end.
It wasn't a forever move.
Right?
So how did that?
How do you think your head was going into that?
Well, I think when I lived in Paris, I was just 21.
I was studying abroad.
So that was that's a bad example.
But when I lived in South America, specifically Guatemala, had three months in just in guatemala itself and that really got me fired up to get going to book a lesson every week down in quetzaltenango, take the bus in and really, really learn and study hard, because i had an end date, i had a date at which i was going home and it was all going to be over.
So right right yeah, i think that it can be completely different.
I one thing this is more about really just trips instead of uh, spending a lot of time somewhere.
But i always have it where, when i travel, i might start to pick up a little bit on the language or, for example, when i want to Paris.
I know some French and you have this feeling of oh man, if I could just spend more time here.
I would love to practice the language.
Do you have that feeling?
Oh, for sure.
For sure.
I usually want to stay longer.
Yeah, me too.
Just because we want to immerse ourselves, right?
We want to experience that.
Yeah, it's true.
It's true.
Yeah.
So let's get into the question we have today from Josie about this.
This is such a really unique perspective that we're going to talk about today.
Lindsay, would you mind reading the question?
Yes, I'm going to go ahead and read it right now.
So, from Josie, I love hearing your podcast.
I usually drop my son at school and return listening to your podcast.
That's so great right, Michelle Josie?
Yes, can you cover some tips for non-native English speakers who will temporarily live in the US for about four months, for how to boost your English skills during that time?
Thanks, I love that our listener Josie here has found a specific time to consume the podcast, right?
It's part of the habit.
Once something becomes a habit, it becomes very powerful.
That's true.
That's true.
So this is a return listening to your podcast.
I know that moment where you dropped your kids off at school and you feel just, oh okay, let me get myself together.
So That's a nice time.
That's a good idea for when you can listen to this show.
So thank you for listening.
And thanks for this great question.
I also like that we have a chunk of time that we're talking about, right?
So it's interesting because it's not two weeks.
It's not eight months.
It's kind of in that, like, how much can I learn?
I can go one way or the other.
Well, it obviously depends on how much English is spoken where you are.
That's the first thing.
Yeah.
I mean, it's fair to say that if you're somewhere for four months.
I mean, sorry, of your first language, how much you have to learn.
I'm thinking English like me.
Right.
I mean, you're right, Michelle.
Four months is an interesting amount of time.
You can definitely say that you're living in a place.
I always say if you're in a place for a month, it's a stretch to say you're living there.
I think you're long-term traveling.
You're long-term staying there as a tourist.
But four months, you're getting into an actual routine of, you know, going on the bus and buying groceries that's living in a place but it's not like it's a year or two where you might necessarily build a large community right yeah yeah exactly so um yeah it's a very good question um people might move abroad for a short time maybe like lindsay said study abroad maybe there's a work assignment for a few months um And it's easy, I think, to get so wrapped up in other aspects of life during this time, where maybe you are living in a bubble, which we've talked about, to live in a bubble with other people who speak your native language.
So for example, let's say it's for a business opportunity and you're with your co-workers mostly.
And you might not.
I mean, unless they're motivated as well, you might be tempted to just stick to them, because it's not such a long time where you can really, like you said, build your community.
So it's kind of awkward.
You have to really make that decision.
I want to learn.
Yeah, I think that's the first tip right there, Michelle.
What you just said is really smart.
It's about setting intentions.
Intentions are so important attention.
Intentions are the precursor to setting goals.
Right, they're kind of a first step.
They're envisioning what you want to come out of this not logistically speaking like a goal quite yet, but just a broad shift in the direction, and that what that does is that moves our attention in a certain direction.
Intention setting moves the attention in a certain way.
Right right, right.
So Lindsay well, we already talked a little bit about your experience with these.
So we're going to give some tips and I definitely want to hear your thoughts on this as well.
All right, Michelle, let's get into those tips very specifically.
Right.
So, as you mentioned, setting intentions, making that decision that you want to learn, but also setting goals.
Goals, if you want right.
Everybody's different, right?
But just because it's a short-term opportunity doesn't mean you can't make real progress and set goals to track it.
So, for example, even something like if every week you have the goal of completing something maybe, for example, one goal is to ask someone something at a store.
One goal is to go to an event where people will be speaking the target language mostly, or to maybe to start a conversation with someone in a coffee shop.
Make fun, trackable goals that will keep you motivated.
Whatever will make you motivated.
That's the most important thing.
Yeah.
If you're motivated by checking something off of a box, off of a list, which many of us are, this is great.
So your intention is more where you're inclining the mind to what you're going to tend to do over these four months.
The goals are a little different.
They're more practical.
You have a goal to ask someone something at a grocery store.
So I look at my week.
When am I going to the grocery store?
What is it that I'm going to ask about?
Scheduling that into your actual calendar is where the goals come in.
Right, Michelle?
Right, right.
Once you can feel like you have a plan, it goes back to habit forming.
Yeah.
If you know.
Oh hey, in this fun world that I'm living in now, I am going to say every Monday I do something new.
Then you have it as a habit.
I love that idea.
And you'll be surprised how much you can learn.
Yeah, goals become habits.
That's when we find the real dramatic, the needle really moves at that point, right?
We see the real results of our work.
So good, so good.
Yeah.
Okay, so Michelle, what would be the next tip for our listeners?
Okay, this is about the immersion aspect of it.
So we talked about the bubble, right?
Try to avoid using your first language too much, because you're going to be tempted, of course, i think.
Take your phone, change it to the target language.
Yeah um, try and watch some tv in this language, although i'm sure you're not going to be.
I'd rather you get out and explore, but just get out of the bubble.
That's the basic idea.
Get out of the bubble.
I love that idea.
Yeah well, it's such an obvious thing.
Easy thing we can do is just to change our phone.
Might not be comfortable, but after a couple of weeks that will be huge.
I mean, think about how much time we spend looking at our phones.
I mean text messaging.
It's incredible.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's too much.
All right.
So that's good.
So immerse yourself.
What else?
What else can we do?
Right.
So another thing I was thinking is trying to tie something to when you go back home.
Right.
So make a way in that, while you're living abroad, make a way to keep working on that language when you get home.
So try and tie something together from your experience abroad to what you do at home, because this will make you feel like the purpose isn't just to learn for four months and then bye bye, right.
For example, maybe you want to line up a conversation partner who you can stay in touch with, stay friends with someone you met, take songs you learned when you, when you were abroad, and listen to them at home.
Um so, just having that in your head it doesn't make it feel so compartmentalized, it makes you feel like oh, this is all tied together.
I mean you can even make a plan with a friend who wants to practice at home, but just start making those plans while you're away, while you're into it.
I love that idea of a shell.
This could also extend to hobbies, l'oreal.
For example.
When i lived in japan, i started taking can't remember if it was, yeah karate classes in.
You know karate right, i started learning karate and i could have.
I didn't do it, but i could have taken that back home and if i had joined a karate class back at home in boston, i would have met other people from japan probably, and that would be an immediate connection to the japanese community if i wanted to continue my japanese in right right yes, There you go.
That's a really good idea of how to do it.
Something relating it to a hobby.
Just try and find some sort of thread that can connect your life while you are living abroad to your life when you go back home.
I love that.
I love that idea.
It's all about that executive planning, right?
It's almost like you have to look at this time as a very strategic amount of time.
It can't be wasted.
We need a real clear plan, but don't forget to have fun, right, Michelle?
And that's our final tip.
Yes, exactly.
That is our final tip because we don't want you to put too much pressure on yourself.
That's going to make it stressful and make you feel like you have to reach certain levels.
Take it easy, enjoy your time and do have a good mix of learning and enjoying, because the second you get stressed out or feel like it's a chore, you're not going to want to do it and you're going to go inward into your bubble.
Right.
And there's a certain amount of kind of falling in love with the culture that needs to happen in order for us to go back home and want to continue working on that language or the connection to that culture.
Right.
That is the seed of the motivation that's going to let us take that language back home in four months.
So the way you fall in love with a place is not by scheduling everything every second of your day and making it feel like you're in the military or something.
No, we want to give ourselves time to be out there and kind of observing and just loving what's unique about this place.
Right?
Yeah.
Love that.
That's great.
So, just before we get going, we're going to teach you two things you could say to people in this situation.
So the first one is I'll be here for X amount of time.
I'm so excited to practice my language, right?
So I'll, I'll be here for four months.
I'm so excited to practice my Italian.
I love that.
Or talk to me in four months.
I'm trying to learn as much as possible.
Is that right?
Is that what we're doing here for this?
Well, it could either be the time or sorry, it could be the time or it could be the language.
Ah, okay.
I'm trying to learn as much as possible while I'm here.
I was confused by what we had on the table.
I know.
I see where the confusion was.
Right, right, right.
For sure.
The one thing that I'm thinking might come up, that you might encounter, is people kind of knowing that you're here for a short time and and maybe kind of pulling back from forming those deeper connections.
So we need to find a way around that.
That's just one thing to be aware of.
So maybe we look for you know other expat circles and maybe we are learning English in an expat circle.
We can still meet local people who are permanently here, but I just want to bring that up, that that may be in their minds.
When you say to them I'm leaving in four months, there might be a little pullback, but give them a reason to connect.
Right.
And we can live in the moment and enjoy.
And I think that your idea about the hobby, I do think that that is really significant.
So give that a try.
Yeah, this is a great question.
We'd be having a totally different conversation if we're talking about two years, three years.
It's different.
It's a different thing.
But it's exciting.
Four months is a really solid amount of time.
Yes.
And I fully believe you can become fluent in four months or you can increase your fluency in no way whatsoever.
You could do either.
Right. right?
The choice is yours.
That is enough time to become super confident, 99% fluent in the language.
It's just how you structure your time.
And don't forget to relax and just enjoy it.
Yes, exactly.
Fall in love with the culture.
Exactly.
All right.
Good stuff, Michelle.
Thanks for being on the show today.
I'll talk to you soon.
Thank you.
Bye.
Bye.
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