I will recommend Japanese ESL to watch TV program with DVDs because the character speaks natural speed with better pronunciation in TV program. DVDs are very cheap in the U.S., so if you are in the U.S. I will recommend you to buy them, if you are in Japan, you may rent them from TSUTAYA and then if you really like it, you can buy them.
I thing you can watch TV-program when you are tired and bored with learning English. But, if you want to improve your English skill, I will ask you to do following,
- Listen to them when you are free
You can watch the TV program at home. And then, if you could understand what the story is, you can do listen to the TV program by using iPod or portable music player. I bought the software which allows me to get .mp3 file from DVD just for voice. And I listen to them during walking or cleaning.
- Try the dictation
Do you know dictation? You listen to the material and write the material down. By doing this, you could listen to the material so carefully and you will improve your listening skill. Since you have to write down what exactly the speaker said, it is one of the hardest training. This is same thing like taking the music down in the music notation. And you might find transcript to check what you write down on the web.
- Repeat your favorites
You will have many options to watch. The first thing you really have to is finding the best TV program for you. And then repeat again and again until you almost remember everything from actor’s or actress’s speaking, pronunciation, grammar, slung, vocabulary, accent, everything.
These are TV program I like, you might want to try. You might ask me about the contents if you are interested in.
The big bang theory: The TV program is about the 2 physicists and blond girl. To be honest, I am not sure that everyone loves this problem. But as a physicist, I love this story. It is very funny because physicist life really is like.
Pretty little liars: This is for girl teenagers. Allison (She is the leader of girl’s group) might be killed at the night. Since her four friends were sleeping at that night, they don’t know what happened. The accident has changed their friendship though, 1 year later, the story starts when they got weird text from someone who introduced herself “A”.
X-files : X-files are always my favorite. When I was high school student my dream was to be FBI agent. But, I soon realized that I am not an American. I don’t know when I decided to be a physicist. I was so excited to go to Washington D.C. to see FBI headquarter building.
Lost: The plane crashed into the island. There are a lot of survivors who have various backgrounds. As you can guess, the island is weird. Can they survive and leave from this island? To be honest, the finale was unacceptable for me. Haha.
Terminator Sarah Connor series: I am truly disappointed with the end of this program. They made just 2 seasons, and the story have not finished yet. I don’t know why Terminator John Connor’s side is teenage girl though, Terminator is always fun because it stimulates my curiosity for the future.
HEROs: The story about the people who has special talent, such as leading mind, space and time traveler, precognition, and so on. There are many Japanese on this DVD, so you can enjoy this DVD with Japanese accent. This might be the best for start for Japanese.