15 mins of English a day isn't too much to ask

Doesn't it frustrate you when your adult English learners tell you they don't have time to read or listen to English outside of class?

Many of our adult learners have busy lives but most people have 15 or 30 minutes available every day for reading and listening input.

When I ask my learners to tell me about their average day, most of them are able to find a space in their schedule.

Here are some ways my learners find time to work on their English:

• rather than listen to podcasts on watch videos in their language on their daily commute, they watch videos or listen to podcasts in English
• rather than listening to music in the gym or when they go for a run, they can listen to music in English
• rather than spend 10 minutes reading an online news site in their language, they read an English language news site
• rather than read an article about their professional sector in their language, they read one in English
• rather than spend 30 minutes on social media in their language, they use English language social media sites and pages
• rather than read a novel in their language before they go to bed, they read one in English
• rather than watch a series in Netflix in their language, they watch the original English-language version with or without subtitles
• rather than watch the news in their language, they watch BBC or CNN
• rather than play online video games in their language, they play the English-language versions.

The importance of extensive reading and listening cannot be underestimated. Countless studies show that learners acquire and improve their L2 language when they are exposed to comprehensible input.

When our learners read and listen to English they understand, they can start to identify and internalize patterns in the language. When these patterns are internalized, it's more likely that our learners will be able to produce them in real-life communicative events.

So, the next time your adult learners tell you they don't have time to read or listen to English, find out what they do read and listen to in their free time and gently suggest that they do the same - but in English.