If you aren’t living in an English speaking country, how can
you “immerse” yourself so that you can learn colloquial English, and become
familiar with the culture?
Personal experience, along with talking to other people led
me to a simple, but effective conclusion- television. Moving to Portugal years ago put me in a
situation where I had to learn the language quickly. I didn’t have time to travel to take classes,
and found that people would become impatient with me while I consulted my
little dictionary during a conversation.
So I started watching “novelas” (soap operas). Normally I prefer to read, but I knew I had
to develop an ear for the language. In
the beginning it was difficult. I would
start watching a soap opera, and not understand anything that was being
said. But I would try to focus on
positive things, and continued to “force” myself to enjoy it. Everyday for an hour I would watch the same
program. I became familiar with the
characters, and started to understand more and more as the context of the story
helped to prompt my anticipation of what would happen next. Cultural norms were introduced to me, and my
pronunciation became better.
There are many television programs to choose from, and I
often encourage students to choose a program that is related to what they are
working towards or something they enjoy.
One of my students who passed the Step 2 CS would regularly watch
“House” helping her to become familiar with an American hospital setting, as
well as everyday spoken English.
Explaining specific vocabulary and idioms, as well as asking
questions relevant to clips of television programs, the exercises I have developed help students
with listening/speaking skills and help increase vocabulary as well.
