بهترین زمان گوش کردن به انگلیسی در طول روز چه زمانی است؟

041 - When is the best time during the day to listen to English lessons?

Hello there. Kevin here, with another “Q & A” episode for you, answering the questions that I get from listeners around the world.

If you have a question, you can go to feelgoodenglish.com, and find the contact to send me a message at the bottom of the page, or just send a message to kevin@feelgoodenglish.com Today’s question is from Rona. Rona is from Afghanistan, and Rona asked me “When is the best time to listen to podcasts?” So the question is “During your day, what is the most effective time to listen to podcasts like the Feel Good English podcast?” to make it most beneficial for you. I’m going to answer that question in today’s episode.

If you want transcripts to the Feel Good English podcast, go to feelgoodenglish.com/member, and learn how to get free transcripts.

So, from my own experience, whenever I want to learn something, especially if I’m doing it through audio and I’m listening to something, listening to an audiobook or an audio lesson. One thing that really helps me is to connect two different activities into one.

For example: If I have an audiobook, and I’m really excited to listen to this, what are the options? Well, I could sit down at my desk and listen to that on my computer, probably last around five minutes, and then I get distracted and end up on Facebook, looking at videos of people falling down, or I could say I am going to go the gym and listen to the audiobook at the gym.

What this creates is the ability to accomplish two goals at the same time. Not only does it get me excited because I want to listen to this new audiobook, but also, I go to the gym, which is good for me. So, those two activities kind of work with each other, and then I feel good about doing it because the gym, maybe is not the first choice, and the first place I want to go, but if I have a new audiobook, it kind of inspires me to want to go there. So connecting two activities and doing it at the same time is a great way to do this. If you have a podcast, going to work, sitting on a bus, things like this are obviously perfect times because you’re sitting there anyway. So you might as well listen to the audio while sitting there, but if you don’t have those situations or if it’s not inspiring you, maybe you’re tired when you’re going to work or maybe you’re stressed when you’re coming home or going to work, and you can’t really feel like listening to anything that is challenging or new. You’d rather just unwind and relax, disconnect. Then, create a new habit in your life or create a new routine, and tie these audio lessons into that routine.

It could be even going for a walk. I think that’s one of the best ways, is go {ing} for a walk. Walk around your neighborhood for ten minutes or twenty minutes, and find a new podcast or find a new audiobook and say “I’m going to start walking, and I’m going to start listening to this new content.” Then, those two activities will work together to give you a little bit more motivation. Running, if you’re a little more active. You can go running for half – hour, something like that, and start building these habits. So you do one thing while listening to something.

In my opinion, that’s the best way just because I think you can maintain these habits and maintain these routines longer if you’re doing a couple of things at the same time. There’s nothing better for English improvement or for learning something in general than repetition, in my opinion. So, listening to a podcast multiple times, listening to an audiobook a couple of times, not just once, can help you learn the lessons more deeply, and help these lessons stick, which is very valuable.

So imagine if you start listening to a podcast episode, three to four times in a week, and you’re also doing it while, exercising while running outside or walking outside. Both of those become habits and you start building them off of each other. You’ll start improving your listening and you’ll also become healthier.

If you’re bored with what you’re listening to, change it up. If you get bored with the routine, if you’re not enjoying walking around the neighborhood, do something else, maybe go to the gym, or start riding a bike, or whatever that may be, but always have a couple of things that you can do at the same time to make it more productive and so you can kill two birds with one stone.

Going over some of the vocabularies here, I used the phrasal verb “end up.” This phrasal verb is a little difficult to explain. It also has a couple of different meanings. So in this episode, I used it as I try to listen to an episode or I’m trying to study, but then I end up on Facebook. So if you have intentions to do something, but for whatever reason, something else happened. You get distracted or you change your mind, you lose patience, and you end up doing something else. This is a common usage of the phrasal verb “end up.

So let’s say, “Oh! I really wanted to go to the party last night, but I ended up staying home.” So, that wasn’t your initial intention, but for whatever reason, you decided to do something different, or you could say “I was going to buy a car last month, but I ended up staying with my motorcycle.” So as you can see, you had plans or you had intentions, but then those changed. It could also mean, after series of events, you eventually arrive somewhere or you eventually do something

“Oh! I was really upset with her. She treated me horribly. I ended up forgiving her. I forgot about what she did to me.” Or “Last night, we went to so many bars. It was crazy. We took shots at this bar, then we went to another bar, and then we ended up getting some pizza at the end of the night. So after series of events, you ended up doing something. “We went out all night long, and got crazy drunk, and then we ended up eating tons of pizza.

To tie into, another phrasal verb, is to connect with. So you can take this activity and tie it into another activity. So, you connected with another activity. You could say, “Oh! That’s a great story. Can you tie in that story to a life lesson?” Building of each other, so these two activities, these two habits you’re creating. Let’s say you’re starting a new walking routine, and you’re also listening to a new podcast. This will build off of each other, meaning they will use each other to become stronger, to grow. They will benefit from each other. They will both benefit if you do them together, and become greater.

And also, an expression I used here, “to kill two birds with one stone.” Cool expression in English. To kill two birds with one stone means to do one thing, but accomplish two tasks. So you want to get better in English and you want to start a new healthy habit. You go walking around your neighborhood. You’re killing two birds with one stone. You want to entertain yourself, and you want to learn English. So, you watch a movie with English subtitles. That’s killing two birds with one stone. You’re enjoying the movie and you’re learning some new English.

Thanks again, Rona, for your question. And if you’re listening to this, have a question for me, send it to

kevin@feelgoodenglish.com. I will do my best to give you my opinion and to give you an answer I think can help you. If you want transcripts to this episode, go to

feelgoodenglish.com/member.

So after you’re done walking and listening to your podcast, you could go home, sit down, read the transcript and learn some new words, vocabularies, and they next day, get back on the road and get walking again. When you hear those words again, you will never forget them.

Thanks for listening, I will see you in the next episode, until then, have a super duper day.

Buh-bye!