5 Powerful Tips to Help You Learn English while Watching TV

- Hello this is Jack from tofluency.com,

and welcome to this new style of English lesson.

Well, for me anyway,

where we now have a blackboard.

We also have chalk, which means I'm going to start

writing things down for you.

And now I can stand up and give these lessons like this.

If you are new here, welcome,

and also go into the description

and click the link for my book,

and you can download this book for free.

It's called The 5-Step Plan For English Fluency.

Now today we're going to talk about

five ways in which you can better learn English

through watching television.

And I imagine that you are already watching television

in English now, or at least watching videos

in English like this one.

And TV is a great way for you to learn.

But a lot of people, they watch movies in English

and they feel really disappointed because

they can't understand anything.

They want to be able to enjoy watching movies in English

but they can't because it's too difficult.

So tip number one is to find TV shows

and find movies that are

understandable.

Things that are understandable.

Things that you can understand because

again, if it's too difficult,

you're not going to get anything out of it.

You're not going to enjoy it.

So two ways you can find more things

that you can understand.

Firstly, watch something that you've already watched

in your native language.

Or watch a movie where you've already read the book

in your native language.

That way you could understand the general plot,

the general idea of what is happening.

So watch something that you've already seen before.

And secondly, find TV shows and movies

that are easier to understand.

So this might be children's TV shows

or movies that have been made for children

and the family in mind.

And again, this is important because

there's a hypothesis called the zero plus one hypothesis

where you take your level and you find materials

that are just above your level

so that you learn new things

but you also can enjoy what you're doing at the same time.

My first request of you is to,

in the comments section below,

leave TV shows and movies that you think

are suitable for intermediate learners of English.

So anyone who has a B1 or B2 level of English.

So please do that in the comment section below

to help other people.

Be sure to read the comments, to find some movies

and TV shows that are suitable for you.

Tip number two is this.

Subtitles.

Now, do you think that you should turn on subtitles

in English or your native language?

So you're watching a TV show in English.

Should you turn subtitles on in English

or your native language, or not at all?

I'm gonna give you the answer in three, two, one.

Studies have shown that it's best

to turn on subtitles in English.

This is going to help your comprehension,

and it's going to help you learn new vocabulary.

Now this might not be for everyone,

but again as studies showed that's it better

to turn the subtitles on in English,

and this way you can learn more English as you're watching,

and you're listening and reading at the same time.

And I'll leave a link to that study in the description.

But let me know what you think about that as well.

Do you turn on subtitles

when you watch TV shows and movies in English?

Let me know.

Tip number three,

it's to use the pause and repeat method.

The pause and repeat method.

Now, if you've followed me for any amount of time,

you'll know how much I like

repeating things in English.

So I have a method called the LRRC method,

and this is where you listen to something in English,

you repeat it, you record your version,

and then you compare.

LRRC.

A simple way of doing this

is just when you're watching a TV show or a movie,

you pause it,

and you repeat what somebody said.

And you can just do this throughout

the movie or TV show.

And if you have subtitles turned on,

then you'll be able to read what has just been said.

So that will help you with this method.

So you can pause and then repeat what you hear

while you're watching the movie.

Tip number four, SRS.

SRS.

What does SRS mean?

It means spaced repetition software.

Spaced repetition software.

My favorite app here is called Anki.

I actually have over 1,000 Anki cards

in the To Fluency program.

So if you're interested in downloading those

check out the description for more information on this.

But you can also create your own.

And what I recommend you do

is you find the transcripts of the TV show you're watching.

So let's say you're watching the first ever

episode of Friends.

You can find the transcript online,

take sentences from that TV show,

create digital flashcards,

put them into your spaced repetition software,

and then repeat them.

I used to do this when I was learning Spanish,

and I actually got the audio as well,

and that way I could listen and repeat,

and listen and repeat.

So we're using this method, pause and repeat,

but we can use flashcards instead.

Spaced repetition software.

It's a very powerful way to learn a language.

And what you're doing is that you're getting

repetition in a smart way.

Let's say you put in a sentence saying

I'd love to go to the party.

I would love to go to the party.

So you put it into your spaced repetition software,

you repeat it today,

you repeat it tomorrow,

then in four days, eight days, 16 days, and so on.

It's a very effective way

to internalize vocabulary and to internalize grammar.

SRS, spaced repetition software.

The final tip is to binge.

To binge.

Now, this means to find a TV show,

and just watch episode after episode after episode

after episode, and this is possible these days

due to things like Netflix and other versions

that people might use online

where you can find every episode of a TV series

and just watch them again and again and again.

So you watch episode one today, you keep going,

episode two, episode three, episode four.

I'm sure you've done this in your native language.

I recommend you do it in English too,

especially for TV shows because

the language is going to get repeated again and again.

And you're going to get used to the different characters

and the way that they speak,

so the first episode of Friends my be quite difficult,

but if you watch five episodes in a row,

you're going to learn a lot more

about the language that they use

and you're going to get used to

the way the characters speak.

So binging is good if you're learning English.

We all do it with books and TV shows

in our native language so do it in English instead.

Okay, in summary, find things that are understandable.

Turn on English subtitles.

Use the pause and repeat method.

Use space repetition software

to get long-term repetition,

and binge watch TV shows.

Now remember I want you to help me out by

leaving TV shows and movies that you think

are good for intermediate learners of English.

So leave your comments below.

And again, if you are new here,

then go download my book,

The 5-Step Plan For English Fluency,

and if you want to learn more about how to get

these flashcards with audio and download them,

and then also improve the way that you speak English,

and to get feedback from me,

join the To Fluency program.

There'll be a link in the description.

Okay, thank you so much for watching this

and I'll see you in the next lesson.

(upbeat music)