Learn English by Watching TV Series: Easy Tips + Best Shows

A simple and accessible approach to learning English is by watching a series, it might sound mad, but it is a cheap, easy, and entertaining way to get your English-learning journey started. This blog offers practical techniques to improve your English listening, speaking, and vocabulary skills by watching TV. From adjusting audio settings, watching American, British, and Australian shows, to repeating dialogue out loud. Your homework is to get comfy on your couch and put on your favorite show. Enjoy! 

Instead of choosing a new series you have never watched before, a good idea is to choose something you have seen many times before. This will help you focus on learning English, instead of following the story. Set the audio to English and the subtitles to Spanish, this will help improve your listening skills and pronunciation. If you want to focus on spelling and grammar, do it the other way around! 

A step beyond adding subtitles and changing the audio is to repeat what the characters say out loud. After all, you are learning English to speak it! It might feel weird, but it is a great exercise to improve your pronunciation and expand your vocabulary. You can even record yourself saying the sentence or phrase, rewind the series and compare your recording to the actor to hear how you can improve. 

As you probably know, there are several types of spoken English, depending on where in the world it is spoken. While the grammar is very similar, the sounds, sayings and expressions can vary a lot. Even if you want to learn the English language for a specific country, it is always good to be able to understand all its regional accents. While there are a lot of series that will help you learn English on Netflix, we have put together three suggestions, that we think are especially good for someone who is learning English.  

H2O – Just add water: A show about three teens who are stranded on a remote island. They wander into a mystical pool during a full moon and gain magical mermaid powers. It is a show for teenagers which means the language and story are simple, and not to mention the very charming Australian accent.  

Gogglebox: A light-hearted reality TV show where families, friends, and opinionated couples react to the best and worst of British television. A great show to hear several different types of British accents (and there are nearly 40 of them). Search for clips on YouTube as the show is only available on British Netflix.  

Modern Family: A funny series that follows three families that are all related, figuring out relationships and everyday dramas. Full of conversations about topics and situations that will help you build a strong and useful vocabulary.  

Whether you download the dictionary as an app or have a physical one, have it next to you when you are watching series in English. Every time you hear a new word, look it up in the dictionary and then write down its definition in a notebook. Once the episode is over, look at the list of new words, and write a sentence per word. This will help your brain put the new information in context, which helps make it stick.  

Children’s shows are written to be easily understood, so they are great content for someone who wants to learn English, no matter whether you are beginner, intermediate or advanced. Movies aimed at kids and young adults are great too. Another plus is that most Disney, Pixar, and Dreamworks movies offer Spanish subtitles. Get ready for the nostalgia to hit.  

If you are looking to expand your vocabulary beyond children’s shows and everyday language, documentaries often use niche and unusual words. A couple of great investigative journalists who have made documentaries are Louis Theroux, Stace Dooley, Karen McGann, and David Attenborough. Many of their documentaries are available online on YouTube, Netflix or Amazon Prime.

So, whether it is a drama, comedy, or your favorite genre, find your next show, switch the audio and subtitles, and learn English by watching a series – despite what your parents told you when you were young, TV can be good for you. Transform passive watching into active learning and see how these small tips can help you learn and make a big impact on your English level. (And do not forget your dictionary and notebook!)