Are you looking for different ways to improve your English? Are you good at reading and writing in English but struggle with your listening skills? One way to help with this is to watch TV in English. It will broaden your vocabulary and improve your listening skills. Check out the shows below for some ideas to start out with!
How I Met Your Mother
This comedy series follows five best friends and their entertaining daily experiences in New York City. The main character, Ted, narrates the show in the year 2030 as he’s telling the (long) story to his children about how he met their mother. The events of the stories begin in 2005. The entire series is spent wondering which girl that Ted meets will be his future wife. His friends include Marshall (played by the popular comedy actor, Jason Segal), Lily, Robyn, and the hilarious Barney Stinson (played by Neil Patrick Harris). The show follows all of their jokes, daily meetings at the bar, love lives, work troubles and everything in between. This show will teach you a lot of colloquial American English words and the plot is somewhat simple so you won’t be completely lost! You’ll also gain some insight into the American dating culture.
Friends
Friends is a popular show all over the world. Although it is no longer being produced, it remains as a classic American sitcom that people still watch to this day. Many English learners say that watching Friends has helped them to improve their English listening skills. The characters talk slower and clearer than on other TV shows, the storyline is easy to follow, and everyday English is used. The humor is very obvious and you will find it easy to understand many of the jokes. This series follows six friends who have known each other since childhood in their daily lives in New York City. Each of the six friends has their own unique personality, most Friends fans have a favorite character. The friends have two apartments next to each other and spend all of their time together. After watching them go through their ups and downs, you’ll feel like they’re your friends as well.
Modern Family
Modern Family is a show you can watch with all of the family, there is something that everyone can relate to. Modern Family is centered on the lives of the Pritchett family and their husbands, wives and children. This show is extremely funny and it is sure to put a smile on your face. From this show, you can learn a lot about American culture and sense of humor. You will also learn about American family values and relationships. Modern Family uses a lot of sarcasm, which means the jokes should not be difficult to understand. The grandfather, Jay, is married to a young woman from Columbia named Gloria. She speaks English with a thick accent and sometimes makes mistakes with her English, causing funny situations. You can learn from her mistakes!
That 70´s Show
That 70´s Show ran from 1998-2006. This series is where the acting careers of both Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher took off. This American sitcom takes place in the 1970´s in Wisconsin, the main character is a teenage boy named Eric Forman. Throughout the series, we see the hilarious situations that Eric and his friends get themselves into. Eric has a grumpy father that adds a lot of humor to the show. This show is realistic and accurately shows the life of an average American teenager living in the United States in the 1970´s. One of Eric´s friends is a South American exchange student named Fez who makes funny mistakes when speaking and listening. Viewers who do not speak English as their native language will find Fez and his broken English amusing and relatable.
Girls
Girls is a newer series that premiered in 2012 and is still in production, the fifth season premieres in February 2016. This show is most related to by twenty to thirty-year-old women, but anyone can enjoy the greatness that is Girls. There is a bit of drama, a bit of humor and a lot of relatable scenarios. The series focuses on 4 friends who have moved to New York City to study, work and make their dreams come true. The main character, Hannah, is a recent college graduate from Michigan who moves to New York to pursue her writing career. Marnie, her college best friend, Jessa, a brash, bohemian British girl, and Shoshanna, Jessa’s innocent, naïve cousin, form Hannah’s group of friends. Each episode takes us through the parties, the heartbreaks and love affairs of the girls, their successes and failures at work and everything in between. This series has had immense success in the US in recent years. This series will keep you interested all while improving your English listening skills. You will learn colloquial English and higher level vocabulary words.
