Want to Learn English with Movies? Here is What You Need to Know

0:00 How often have you heard to improve your English?

0:04 Just watch English movies.

0:05 This advice is given by other English learners

0:09 and by English teachers just like me to students like you.

0:14 Now, this is not bad intentioned advice.

0:17 We give this advice because I genuinely believe that movies

0:22 are a good way to help people improve their vocabulary,

0:27 their pronunciation, their grammar skills.

0:29 There are many, many benefits to watching films,

0:33 to watching media in your target language, in this case, English.

0:39 However, this advice, just watch movies, is not really complete.

0:45 There are two reasons for this.

0:48 Uh number one, when you watch a movie in your first language,

0:54 it is a passive practice, right?

0:56 You don't watch movies when to hyperfocus

1:00 on something because you want to learn something.

1:04 You watch movies because it's pleasurable, it's entertainment,

1:07 and you want to be taken on an emotional journey or to experience a story.

1:15 The other issue with this is that today's modern movie

1:19 watching is much different than it was in the past.

1:23 Most people today when they sit down on the couch to watch a movie usually have

1:29 their phone in their hand and they might have a bag of popcorn in the other.

1:35 So they're not really focused 100% on the movie unless the movie is really good.

1:42 Uh, so does that sound like a good way

1:45 to improve your language skills in a second language,

1:48 to be passive and to be distracted?

1:51 I don't think so.

1:52 So, the point of this video is for me

1:56 to teach you how to watch movies the right way.

2:00 And today, I really want to show you why just

2:05 watch English movies doesn't work unless you do these things.

2:09 First of all, if you are watching a movie or a show,

2:14 you need to give it your full attention.

2:18 So, this means remove distractions, right?

2:21 Put your phone away.

2:23 Put that granola bar away so you're not focusing on chewing and eating.

2:29 Focus on the content.

2:31 Listen actively to what characters are saying and pay attention to the context.

2:38 what is happening in the movie?

2:41 What are the relationships between the characters?

2:45 Basically, don't just have it on in the background while you are washing

2:50 the dishes or vacuuming the floor or if

2:54 you're doing something else around the house.

2:56 You need to give a movie if you are using it for learning,

3:00 you need to give it your full attention.

3:05 Next, you need to pause and rewind.

3:08 Remember, you are engaging with the movie not

3:12 as a source of entertainment but as a learning resource.

3:16 So, think of the movie as a text.

3:19 If you read the text and you don't understand something,

3:23 usually you go back and you read it again.

3:27 Maybe you use a translator to figure out what was said.

3:32 So, when you pause and rewind, you can use this as an opportunity to listen.

3:38 actively and repeat what you heard.

3:40 Repeat what characters say.

3:42 Um, I do this when I watch Stranger Things on Netflix, for example.

3:47 I will pause, I will go back and I will

3:51 try to say what the characters say because I heard

3:55 something that I understand the majority of, and I can

3:59 try to figure out what they mean first through context.

4:03 So, yeah, learn through context.

4:05 that is the next point.

4:07 Uh, I kind of understand the situation and I think, "Ah,

4:11 maybe this word means this," and if I don't understand it then I grab my phone,

4:17 not distracted but using it as a tool,

4:20 and I look up the translation of a word for example.

4:24 "Oh that's what that means.

4:26 Okay, let's watch this scene again," even if it's

4:29 just 5 seconds or 10 seconds of a conversation.

4:32 Basically, when you are watching movies in a new language,

4:37 you try to get the big picture.

4:40 You won't understand everything and that's okay.

4:43 It is not realistic for you to understand everything in a new language.

4:49 It's a new language, right?

4:52 So, there is something else you can do.

4:55 If it's really tough for you

4:57 to understand what characters are saying, use subtitles.

5:00 If you have to.

5:03 So sometimes the material that we are watching is honestly too difficult for us.

5:10 Uh this is a separate problem.

5:13 I can address this in another video,

5:15 but you should be watching stuff that you mostly understand.

5:21 If you don't understand 90% or 95% of a movie, it's the wrong movie.

5:28 Okay?

5:28 So try to find something where you understand

5:31 the majority of the context and the majority

5:35 of what is happening even if you only understand 50% 60% of the language.

5:43 So if you use subtitles, I love subtitles by the way,

5:48 especially at the beginner, low, intermediate level.

5:52 You still have to listen to how people speak.

5:57 This goes with my third point.

6:00 Subtitles help you link text to sound.

6:04 Right?

6:04 So don't just read.

6:06 Keep your ears open and try to basically make the connection.

6:11 Ah wait this person is saying this word but it doesn't sound like this word.

6:18 Maybe they are using a reduced pronunciation.

6:21 Um maybe they are eliminating a letter in casual pronunciation.

6:26 So for example the word sandwich instead of the word sandwich,

6:32 right, with the D for example.

6:35 Okay.

6:36 So basically, subtitles or subs, they boost comprehension.

6:41 They help you understand better what is happening.

6:45 Most of us are better readers than we

6:48 are listeners when we are learning a new language.

6:52 This is definitely the case for me.

6:55 I mentioned that I am watching Stranger Things.

6:58 I am watching it in French because that's the language

7:02 that I am trying to learn and slowly succeeding at.

7:06 Um, and I find that subtitles are a great way to, you know,

7:12 improve my comprehension of what's going on, but also to see

7:17 how sentences are structured and what common phrases are used.

7:22 So, I'm still though listening and trying to repeat what characters are

7:26 saying as they say them or right after they say them, for example.

7:33 Okay.

7:33 So, we use subtitles and we are actively listening and all of this stuff.

7:40 We are pausing, we're rewinding.

7:41 But what what can we do with that to make sure that we

7:46 remember this information and we can review it again in the future?

7:50 You take notes.

7:51 So, wow, magic.

7:53 You have a journal.

7:54 You can use a translator to tell you the meanings of new words,

8:00 of new phrases that you don't know,

8:02 and then write them in a physical notebook or you can open up a digital file.

8:08 If you use the cloud,

8:10 you can always just write things in a digital document as well.

8:14 I like the old school um paper and pencil approach, right?

8:20 And you can also review and rewatch.

8:23 So you review your notes and you rewatch

8:27 the things that you took the notes from.

8:30 So for me, I have uh Stranger Things in French in here.

8:35 I have Peppa Pig.

8:37 I have Llama Llama, which is another kids show on Netflix.

8:42 So I write stuff that is interesting to me.

8:45 even if I know what most of the words mean,

8:49 it's just good just to practice the flow, to practice the sentence structure.

8:54 So, uh, Stranger Things season 4, episode two,

8:57 I wrote it at the top of my this journal page.

9:03 I just wrote random stuff.

9:06 So, now I will read some French for you.

9:10 [speaking French] Very dramatic.

9:19 This is a very dramatic scene.

9:21 I know exactly where this is from in the show.

9:24 So, um, write things like this down and then rewatch those scenes in English,

9:30 uh, that you, you know, took that stuff down.

9:33 And please let me know, uh, how is my French?

9:36 Okay, one more piece of French.

9:38 Peppa Pig.

9:39 The narrator says, Peppa aime bien s'occuper de son petit frère George.

9:44 Allez, George!

9:45 On va chercher un autre flaque de boue!

9:49 Good?

9:49 Not bad?

9:50 Okay, tell me in the comments.

9:52 Uh, Peppa is actually a great show for something like

9:56 this and it's a great example of my next point.

10:00 Just watch three to five minute clips.

10:02 You don't have to watch a full 2-hour movie.

10:07 If you use a manageable learning chunk, right, a chunk of 3 to 5 minutes,

10:14 you can greatly reduce your stress level

10:17 and you can reduce your fatigue and frustration.

10:21 If you watch a 2-hour movie and you don't understand,

10:25 you don't understand, you don't understand, you will feel tired.

10:30 And when you are tired, you are not paying attention anymore.

10:36 So this actually benefits your learning.

10:39 You don't have to watch the full movie.

10:42 It's okay if you don't watch the full movie and if you

10:47 just use a 3 to five minute chunk as a learning resource.

10:52 If you want to watch movies and use them as a source of learning,

10:57 you need to remove distractions.

10:59 You need to pause and rewind.

11:02 Use subtitles if you have

11:04 to, especially for beginners and intermediate students.

11:07 Take notes, have a journal, and watch short sections.

11:11 You don't have to watch the whole movie.

11:15 Now, one more important point before we finish this video.

11:20 I said, you know, watching movies is a passive practice.

11:24 And this is true.

11:26 There is a benefit to passive listening, right?

11:30 Passive listening does have benefits.

11:32 It does keep your connection with the language, right?

11:36 It it helps you to still hear English even if you are not actively watching.

11:43 And that's good because even if you hear like basic sentences that you know,

11:48 you're still keeping that connection.

11:50 You're still keeping that language closer to your heart,

11:54 your spirit, your ears, your mind.

11:56 And that is a good thing.

11:58 So passive listening, it helps you keep the connection to the language.

12:02 It can help you, you know, review the stuff you already know.

12:07 But if you actually want to use movies to learn a language,

12:11 try using these strategies.

12:12 Uh, let me know if they work for you.

12:15 They have been working for me with my French.

12:19 So until next time, saloo.

12:22 Goodbye.

12:23 Keep learning and keep practicing.

12:25 Bye.