How to Build an English Practice Routine That Works for You
September always feels a little like a fresh start. Summer is over, work gets busier again and you might find yourself thinking, Right, this is the month I’m finally going to start practising my English regularly. So you make a plan. Perhaps you’ll practise for an hour every evening, listen to a podcast every day, learn ten new words or finally work your way through that book you’ve been meaning to read. And for a week or two, it goes brilliantly. Then work gets busy. You get home late. Something else needs your attention. You miss a day, then another, and before long the English practice has quietly disappeared. If this sounds familiar, I don’t think the answer is to try harder next time. The problem may simply be that the routine doesn’t fit your real life.
Start smaller than you think you need to
One of the biggest mistakes I see people make is creating an English routine for their ideal week. The week where work finishes on time, nobody needs anything from you and you have a lovely quiet hour every evening to devote to your English. Unfortunately, those weeks don’t come along very often. So instead, build your routine for the busy week. What could you still manage on a Wednesday when you’ve had back-to-back meetings, you’re tired and English practice is quite honestly the last thing you feel like doing? Maybe it’s ten minutes. Maybe it’s five. That’s enough. Five or ten minutes that you actually do is far more useful than the hour you keep meaning to find.
And you can do quite a lot in that time. You could record a one-minute voice note about your day, read a short paragraph aloud, explain something that happened in a meeting in your own words, practise how you might answer a question you’re expecting tomorrow, or choose one useful phrase you’ve heard and try using it in a few different sentences. You don’t need to do all of those things. In fact, please don’t. Choose one. The aim isn’t to squeeze as much English as possible into ten minutes. It’s simply to make using English a normal part of your day. The best type of English practise is the one you will actually do, so tailor it towards the things you know you like or are more likely to complete.
Make some of your practice spoken
Many of the professionals I work with already spend a lot of time surrounded by English. They read emails in English, listen in meetings, watch presentations, read reports and perhaps listen to podcasts or watch television in English too. All of that has value, but understanding English and speaking it spontaneously are not quite the same thing.
If you want to become more comfortable speaking in meetings, answering unexpected questions or expressing an idea without preparing every sentence first, you need opportunities to actually speak. That doesn’t mean you need someone to practise with every day. You can talk to yourself, record a voice note, explain what you’re working on, practise an answer before a meeting or summarise something you’ve just read. Nobody else even needs to hear it. Just get used to saying things out loud. Your sentences don’t have to be perfect.
A small routine can make a real difference
One of my clients is a good example of this. When we first started working together, he already had a good level of English. What he needed was more regular practice actually using it. He made English part of his everyday routine, including speaking to himself and using English outside our sessions. Over time, he became more comfortable expressing himself and using his English more naturally. I like his example because there was nothing particularly complicated about what he did. He simply used his English regularly, and that’s something you can start doing without finding an extra hour in your day.
Make it easy to remember
It can also help to attach your English practice to something you already do. After you make your morning coffee, you could read one paragraph aloud in English. When you go for your lunchtime walk, you could spend two minutes talking to yourself in English. When you close your laptop at the end of the day, you could record a short voice note about something that happened at work. I particularly like the idea of starting an English journal, where you write a few sentences about your day at the end of the day and then read it out loud. Or read the previous day’s entry out loud before you write today’s entry. You’re not trying to create a whole new section of your life called English Practice. You’re simply adding a little English to a day that already exists. Choose a time that actually suits you. If you’re exhausted in the evening, don’t keep making ambitious plans to study at 8.30 pm and then feeling bad when you don’t do them. Practise in the morning instead, or do something lighter in the evening. Your routine needs to fit your life, not the other way round. Make English slot nicely into the life you actually have, not the one you wish you had.
And what if you miss a day?
You probably will. Life happens. You get busy, you travel, you get tired, a meeting overruns or you simply forget. None of that matters very much. What matters is what you do next. You don’t need to wait until Monday or start again next month, and you definitely don’t need to decide you’ve failed. Just come back to it the next day and make a deal with yourself to never skip twice!
So, what could your routine look like?
Instead of asking yourself, How much English should I practise?, try asking, What’s a small amount of English I could realistically use most days? Then start there. If five minutes turns into fifteen, lovely. If it stays at five, that’s fine too. And if you miss Wednesday, come back on Thursday. No guilt, or dramatic restart, just carry on. The best English practice routine isn’t the most impressive one. It’s the one that fits into your real life. So, what’s one small piece of English practice you could start tomorrow?
Find Your English Voice is a space for international professionals who want to feel more comfortable speaking English at work, especially when the pressure is on. Whatever brought you here, you’re very welcome. Tanya Kaczanow is the founder of Find Your English Voice and has worked with international professionals since 2011.
Questions I hear most about practising English consistently
How much time do I need to practise each day?
Probably less than you think. Five or ten minutes most days can be far more useful than planning an hour and rarely finding the time to do it. Start with an amount that still feels manageable when work gets busy.
What should I do during those five or ten minutes?
Keep it simple. Read something aloud, record a short voice note, practise answering a question you might be asked at work or use a new phrase in a few sentences. Choose one thing rather than trying to do everything.
Should I practise every day?
You can, but I wouldn’t worry about maintaining a perfect streak. Missing a day isn’t important, but it can be a really good idea to decide to never miss twice in a row. If that doesn’t feel possible, just come back to it when you can.
I understand English well. Do I really need to practise?
It depends what you want to improve. If you want to become more comfortable speaking spontaneously, regular speaking practice can help. Understanding English and producing it quickly when someone is waiting for your answer are different demands.
What if I don’t have anyone to practise with?
Talk to yourself. Seriously. Record a voice note, explain what you’re working on, practise an answer before a meeting or summarise something you’ve just read. You don’t need an audience every time you practise speaking. If you prefer it sound like a two way conversation, play both parts or speak to AI. Where there is a will, there is a way. Good luck!
Resources
Free guide: What if speaking English at work was easier?
Get the free guide
Find Your English Voice
Find the book on Amazon
Find Your English Voice Workbook
Find the workbook on Amazon
Free discovery call
Find out about working with FYEV
Follow Find Your English Voice: Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | LinkedIn