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Hello to everyone from Worldwide English in Houston, Texas, USA.  Tommy from Poland recently wrote me about the series on Listening Tips.  He asked if I had any more suggestions for movies and TV series for ESL/EFL students.  I thought about that and in this post, I will make some suggestions for several American TV series that might be good for ESL/EFL students.  These programs feature actors that speak more slowly and are easier to understand.

 One of my students said that he likes to watch Monk.  This series is about a detective that suffers from OCD – obsessive/compulsive disorder.  So at times, the show is quite funny.

  Some comedies that I would recommend would be Everybody Loves Raymond, Ugly Betty and The Simpsons.  I don’t recommend Friends because I feel that the English is hard to understand. 

   In another post, I recommended Desperate Housewives and I still think that this one is a good choice.  The content is not great but it’s easy to understand.  (No, American housewives are not like this at all!)

Generally, a medical show like House or ER will sometimes be easier to understand than a police/detective show like CSI.  They are also easier to understand than many comedy shows. 

Lastly, I like Good Luck Charlie on the Disney Channel.  It’s cute and easy to understand. 

Did you know that you can download TV scripts to read while you are watching some of these TV programs?  Many of the scripts to the TV shows are located on the internet.  http://artofprogramming.net is one but there are several.

  I hope that these suggestions for TV shows will help you when you are choosing American television programs.  Happy watching!

 

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