Do you know what a lot of business students tell me they do when they get home from work after a long tiring day at the office? Can you guess?

If you’re like them, you probably look forward to sitting on the sofa in front of your bigger-than-necessary flat-screen TV and settling in for a session of turn your mind off and watch the latest Netflix series that you’re into at the moment. It’s a lovely feeling, isn’t it?

A comfy sofa, a big screen, your stomach full of dinner and a favourite series to enjoy, perhaps with your partner with the kids in bed. It’s a bit of ‘me time’ or even ‘we time’. Hey, or why not start watching some YouTube videos…?

If it’s the weekend and you have even more free time, then that “let’s just watch one episode of Money Heist (La Casa de Papel), turns into a massive 3-hour binge session that takes you all the way through to the next meal. And why not? It’s your time. You’ve worked hard (probably), and you deserve it.

And then you turn the national TV on, and you feel you just need to catch up on the latest happenings around the Globe. After all, you need to do something productive and important now.

 Although the headlines have given you enough information to keep you up to date, you feel impelled to sit through the whole hour and digest the news that a group of journalists have chosen from countries and cities you can’t pronounce and events that have zero impact on your life.

But wait, you haven’t seen the weather forecast yet! What, from my location? No, from the whole country and in excruciating detail. Don’t go anywhere till you’ve memorised the tomorrow’s temperatures for every city in your country. It’s going to be a record somewhere I hear.  

It would only be a killjoy who would say, “What’s the point in that?” or “Don’t watch those series and films that make you happy, and the news that makes you more knowledgeable about irrelevant events.”

Well, let it be so. I’ll be the party pooper and ask what will you remember about today when you are on your deathbed?

Umm, I remember something about a superhero who jumped out of a helicopter and survived, and yeah, there was a flood in Pakistan or was that China or Zaragoza.

With such a limited amount of time on earth to make a difference, how many hours do you want to devote to watching other people live their lives?

Can you still watch hours of TV, series and films and still be productive and not a couch potato?

Well, actually you can. And this is how.

You take your remote control, click on Audio and toggle the English language option (or French if you’re lucky enough to be learning that language instead like me).

In fact, getting input and exposure to boost the language you’re learning is the only real justification for spending an exaggerated amount of time in front of any screen if you want to be productive, even if you’re retired or incapacitated.

Choose something you love watching and then change the language. Now, you’re enjoying yourself, learning something and not wasting your precious time.

If you want to learn more about the Personal Language Learning System (PPLS), get in touch as soon as possible.