So I find that if you can trigger, you know, you get things started by
listening in the morning, then you just have to circle back later on.
Hi there, Steve Kaufmann.
Today, I want to talk about my morning routine.
What do I do in the morning to get my language learning
activities started for the day?
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So people often ask me sort of specifically, what do you
do, uh, to learn the language?
Okay.
The morning is a big part of my language learning day.
Uh, if you can get stuff done in the morning, first thing that kind of sets
you up for the day, uh, so that even if it's not a very active day, from
a language earning point of view, at least you've taken that first step.
So typically what I do in the morning, you know, is, is I might, first of all,
just kind of review a couple of lessons, uh, on my iPad from the day before
in whichever language I'm learning.
And nowadays it's either Arabic or Persian.
But then okay, time to get out of bed here.
So yeah.
I will set up in a room where it's quiet and my wife doesn't have to listen to
me, uh, where I will play something that's easy to listen to, like the
mini stories for example, even though I've listened to them many times or
something that's new and fresh, like a podcast that I've just downloaded.
So I'll put that on and that's now running in the background.
Then I go to my muscle booster, a website where I have this seven minute routine.
Okay.
Which consists of sit ups and pushups and burpees and stretching and,
and, uh, you know, side planks.
And there's a range of things and they mix them every day.
I don't know what's coming at me next.
It's all in 30 second intervals and it's extremely good.
But, and so for seven minutes, I will be doing these exercises 30 seconds, 30
seconds, 30 seconds while this, uh, Arabic or Persian is running in the background.
Okay.
Then typically, if it's the summer, now I go for a swim in the ocean
and the water is like 16, 17, 18 degrees, depending on the day.
So that really wakes you up.
I can tell you, uh, 16, I don't know what that is in Fahrenheit.
It's in the sixties.
I think, uh, Around 60.
So then, uh, time for breakfast.
So typically I go in, I'll cut up fruit, start preparing.
We have muesli, uh, get, uh, you know, I have to make some, uh, I
make my espresso coffee, so I grind some coffee beans set the table,
uh, and all the while I'm listening.
Okay.
If the dishwasher, uh, was full from the night before we had just run the
dishes, I'll go in and empty the dishes.
Preparing for breakfast and then also cleaning up after breakfast
is at least a half hour listening.
Most days I will be doing that activity and listening to my language.
Okay.
Now then maybe and it has been the case that I tend to have my,
my Arabic online tutor sessions around 10, 10.30 in the morning.
And right now, uh, Mr.
Mohammed seems to have disappeared at iTalki so I have, um, Adel Samy.
And so that, we'll have an hour there, uh, two times a week.
Uh, then very often my wife likes to play golf, so we've
got golf set up at 12.30 or 1.
So we charge off to the golf course.
If I weren't in the car with my wife, I'd be listening to Arabic or Persian, but you
can't, you know, there's a limit, right?
There's a limit.
I can't do that.
Uh, so then when I come home, but I wanted to focus on my morning routine because
now I have set myself up for the day.
So when I come home, I need to find another half hour or so maybe an hour to
sit down, to go through whatever it was I listened to and save words and phrases
or review words, and phrases or read it.
So that I basically pick up the pieces from what I started in the morning,
but the morning is very important.
First of all, the, the seven minute exercise routine, which is great, um,
throwing myself in the water, sure jars the brain cells, and then spending
some time, you know, with the language.
Every so often I have to, you know, vacuum or clean up or do
other activities around the house.
There again, I'll be listening.
So a lot of that stuff happens in the morning.
Now other people have other things happening in the morning.
Like they might be going off to work, but there again, there's an
opportunity in a car or on a train or a subway to listen to language.
So I find that if you can trigger, you know, or you get things started by
listening in the morning, then you just have to circle back later on and go
and find those things you're listening to where maybe you're curious about
certain words or expressions that you kind of half know, or completely don't
know, and you can look them up and start on the process of learning them.
So I just thought I'd mentioned that my approach to the morning is,
is to make that, you know, a place to get a start on the day, whether
it be through my physical action.
If I have later, if I have time also with the exercise, if I come home from the
golf and I have time, I might get on my, a stepper or go for a run down at the
school yard or do something else, uh, maybe lift some weights or use the TRX uh,
you know, a band or something like that.
But at least I've got in that seven minutes of exercise in the morning.
And also at least I've got in that half an hour or 45 minutes combined listening
in the morning to get a start on the day from a language learning point of view.
So I hope that was of interest.
And, uh, look forward to your comments.