Here are ten fantastic American TV shows that you can watch to improve your English.
Number one, Game of Thrones. Now i don't need to tell you about Game of Thrones, I'm sure
you've seen it. But if you haven't, it's a fantasy drama that is winning every award
there is. Now why is it so good for learning English? Well, first of all the accents. Now
these are British accents that they use and you get a variety of different British accents.
Now I know this is an American TV but in this case there is a bit of British English. So
you have a variety of British accents. You also have some vocabulary that's quite tricky
to be honest. Now what I would suggest is that you watch it with a dictionary or a translator
just to help you out with any tricky words that you encounter. Now Game of Thrones embodies
everything that I think is important about learning English and that is that you learn
English through the things that you love. Now millions of people love Game of Thrones
and I believe that you should learn English through your passions, your interests, whatever
they may be. So start watching Game of Thrones, get addicted. You'll be consuming so much
English that it will inevitably improve your English. Your listening, your vocabulary,
your speaking as well. I think it's a great idea.
Number two is an absolute classic, Friends. Now this TV series is slightly older than
the other ones I'm recommending today but it's just so good that I couldn't leave it
off the list. It's about five (six) friends who live in New York city and we follow their
relationships, their friendships, their work problems. There are three reasons why I love
Friends to learn English. First of all it's quite clear, the accents are sort of clear
to understand. You are also going to get fantastic natural conversations and dialogue whether
it's an argument or just a debate about something. They are really well written and very naturally
written. So the conversation, the language that you are going to get is really every
day English. Thirdly I think personally that Friends is brilliant with intonation. The
writers use intonation really cleverly to play with the meaning of their sentences.
So for example there is a character called Joey and he has a catch phrase which is 'How
you doing?' and he stresses the 'you'. He's taking a normal sentence 'How are you doing?'
and it's becoming a kind of chat up line which is quite funny in the context. So they use
intonation really cleverly to change the meaning of words and intonation became a huge part
of why Friends was so iconic. It was because of the way that the characters said their
lines.
Number three is just one show it's actually a number of shows and it is American talk
shows. Now you can get them on YouTube for free and they are bitesize clips of famous
American talk shows. For example The Ellen Show, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Late Late show with James Corden. Now why
are they so good? Well there are a number of reasons. First of all they are bitesize
which means they are short clips so you can watch one on the bus or on the train. Secondly
they are all subtitled so you have some support for your listening. Thirdly because they are
new and they are every day you can keep up-to-date with American culture, what's going on. Each
one features a famous film star or a musician so you are keeping up with what's new in American
culture that way. The conversations are fantastic. You'll get lot of question forms particularly
from the hosts and then you'll get lots of stories from the guests. So you've got question
forms, past tenses, narrative tenses, a range of English language. And I think it's a great
way to keep up-to-date with what's going on at the time in America. What are the important
stories, what are they talking about, which films are out, which songs are popular. Politically
you'll hear interesting things. I think talk shows a re a brilliant window into American
culture.
Number four, Breaking Bad. Again this is another really addictive TV programme. It's about
a teacher that becomes a drug dealer, there's a lot more to it than that but that's the
essential story. Now this one maybe isn't to watch with children. There's a lot of great
slang vocabulary. So great conversations, I mean it's so well written that yeah the
dialogue is just so rich in interesting vocabulary, expressions, phrases as I said slang language.
This is one that you will love I promise.
Number five, Suits. This is an American legal drama set in New York. Now it's very fast-paced
and very compelling so you are really going to get drawn into the story with this one.
Now obviously you've got a lot of legal vocabulary so if that is something you are interested
in then fantastic. It's also very clear so the accents that you are going to hear are
pretty clear, probably quite easy to understand. Although it is quite fast-paced so you might
need to rewind, stop it, start it whatever you need to do to maintain your understanding.
And again you are going to get some really well-written dialogue and conversation between
the characters.
Number six is New Girl and this is a group of friends in L.A. again quite young, probably
in their twenties just living their lives, their relationships, their friendships that
kind of thing. And it's really fast-paced so it's quick, very witty, there's a lot of
jokes flying around. You have to be quite alert to kind of get the jokes but once you
get used to the way they talk and the characters and the context it'll become easier to understand
what's going on. So thematically they talk about every day problems, relationships, struggles
with work things like that so you are going to get a lot of vocabulary that relates to
every day life which i think is really important for you guys. I think because it's quite a
new programme you are going to get a nice model for how sort of young people speak in
America. The kind of phrases they will use, the intonation. The sentence structures, stuff
like that. So I think it's quite a good example of modern American English. Again the accents
are quite clear as well so that really helps when you are trying to understand what's going
on.
Number seven is a personal favourite of mine, Silicon Valley. The story is all about a company
that's trying to get funding to grow bigger. Now it's a young tech company so what you
are going to get is vocabulary related to technology, to business and to start up culture
and entrepreneurship. So there is loads of really fantastic vocabulary that you can learn
if that's something that you are interested in. Again i think the accents are quite clear
and it's also an interesting window into Silicon Valley like where Google and Facebook and
YouTube all those companies, where they are based. So it's a really interesting kind of
cultural experience to kind of understand the way that these tech companies work.
Number eight is a comedy called Modern Family and this is a very contemporary view on what
American family looks like today. So you've got some very culturally interesting stuff
going on here. It's really well-written again so the dialogues are fast, they are funny,
they are punchy, they are full of interesting vocabulary. You've got some great characters
and relationships going on so it's a really enjoyable TV series to watch and again you
are going to get great new vocabulary, modern vocabulary. So you are going to get expressions
to give opinions, to argue, to disagree yeah it's a really, it's a fast funny programme
to watch.
Number nine, House of Cards. This is a political drama set in Washington. Here you are going
to get some really interesting language because some of it is very informal. You are going
to get quite a lot of swear words and rude language. On the other side you are going
to get more formal stuff like more political language. So you've got both sides formal
and informal. The conversations are fast-paced again, they are witty, they are natural so
all those things are great for you to kind of understand. It's also a really fascinating
window into the political world in America. Kind of getting to understand how it all works
and yeah it's absolutely fascinating especially in this era where we have Donald Trump and
other interesting politicians. It's a fascinating look into that world. And of course your topic
vocabulary will be about politics and about business as well.
And the last one on this list, How I met your mother. This is a hugely popular programme
and i know that a lot of my students over the years have loved this programme. It's
again just a group of friends hanging out, just chatting, every day conversations about
their problems, about their lives and it features informal vocabulary and phrases, expressions,
slang language. It's witty, very funny, there's so much to enjoy here. And what's nice is
that each episode is kind of compact so you can just watch one episode and you don't need
to watch the one before or the one after. You'll get the idea about what's going on
and who the characters are. So yeah I really recommend watching How I met your mother.
Alright, I know that i have missed out so many fantastic TV programmes. The list I was
preparing was huge and then had to pick ten that I thought were the best but you guys
can tell me in the comments below which ones did I miss out? Which ones would you recommend
other Eat Sleep Dreamers watch? Which ones are your favourites, so let me know in the
comments below. If you haven't seen it yet, I've done a similar video about ten British
TV shows that you should watch to learn English. I'll link that just above me right now. And
I'll also do a special video about how to use TV programmes to learn English. So what
should you be doing whilst you are watching the programme, That is coming up really soon
guys. Remember I've got new videos every Tuesday and every Friday teaching you fresh modern
English so that you can take your English to the next level. I hope you have enjoyed
this guys, please give it a massive thumbs up, share it with your friends and remember
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goodbye.