[169] Learn English With Ted Talks and Netflix

Learn English With Ted Talks and Netflix

 

 

Have you considered learning English with Ted Talks? In today’s episode I share 4 reasons why you should consider websites like Ted Talks or Netflix to complement your English learning! Enjoy :)

Episodes mentioned

[168] Conversation Fillers To Gain Time When Speaking (Inspired by Alexis Sánchez)
Ted Talk website
Simon Sinek Ted Talk on Leadership

Transcript

Today’s episode is brought to you by me, myself and I – enjoy!
[jingle]

You are listening to the English Made Simple show, this is episode number 169, number one hundred and sixty nine, numero ciento sesenta y nueve.

Welcome amigos y amigas, welcome to the EMS show my name is Milena from Englishmadesimple.net, www.englishmadesimple.net. Greetings to you all! I trust you’ve had an amazing weekend.

I assume that the majority of you will be listening in Real Time, year of 2018. So having said this, I am assuming we all had a great weekend!

I’ve been binge watching Netflix on Sunday as it was too hot to go anywhere!

To binge watch means to watch a multiple episodes of a television program in a short period of time. Like for example, if you like to watch Games of Thrones, you might go through the whole season in 1 day. That’s what binge watching means.

Anyway, it’s my first summer here in Adelaide, here in Australia. I gotta say it’s really hot. I prefer cooler weather. But that’s just me! I am not going to complain about the weather, there is really no point. I can’t control the weather… unfortunately.

Right, I hope last week’s episode (episode 168) was useful to you, I wanted to tell you about Conversation fillers so that you can start practicing them.

Use them when speaking in English with anyone so you can have more time to think of your next point. It helps.

Before we begin, let me ask you this question – how many of you watch Ted Talks, YouTube or Netflix?

Chances are the majority of us do!

Like I said in my last episode, I rarely watch TV. This means, I don’t watch TV that often. It’s very rare that I turn the TV on and wait to see what’s on TV to watch.

I prefer to watch what I want to watch.

I think we live in a great time where we can choose to watch what we want to watch. We can choose what we want to listen as well, like this podcast for example… no one is forcing you to listen to it, you made that choice. (And I have to say it’s a smart choice indeed!)

Anyway, just wanted to say that nowadays – thanks to the ever-changing technology – we have so many options available. We are lucky to be able to consume the content that WE want to consume.

[If I wanted to be brainwashed I would just turn the TV on.]

Ok, enough rambling Milena. Enough gibberish.

Guys, when it comes to learning English, the more resources we have at our disposal the better. Wouldn’t you agree?

Today, I want to tell you about other ways to learn English. Maybe some of you are already doing, and maybe some of you need to be reminded that you can learn English this way.

I know I am the type of person that needs to be reminded and pushed to do something. Or I wait till last minute to do something. I like to live on the edge what can I say.

Anywho, I am getting distracted. Let’s carry on with the show.

Here are my reasons why you should consider websites like Ted Talks or Netflix when you are learning English.

Ok so first things first.

Ted Talks

Who here hasn’t heard of Ted Talks?

Ok so let me bring Weon Inteligente to help us out here.

According to Weon Inteligente or the Online Dictionary, TED is a non-profit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks. Talks are usually 18 minutes or less.

Talks – this is a noun by the way. To give talks is like to give presentations. To give a speech. To do public speaking.

To speak in front of an audience.

There is a silent L in this word. Talk. So we say, T:oook, like a long oooo. And we don’t pronounce L.

The Ted Talks website is simply, www.ted.com

TED (acronym) stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. There are over 2000 talks available for online viewers, you can watch it on the TED website or on YouTube.

There are a variety of speakers and a variety of topics in these talks. Speakers and experts from around the world present on stage on specific subjects, [something that they specialise in]. The topics range from life experiences, science, different areas of research, psychology, business and more.

Sometimes you get big names presenting, like Bono from U2, Bill Gates, Wikipedia founder, Google founder and many others.

And how much does it cost?

And the cost to you is Zero. It is FREE to listen to all these great speakers who come on stage and share their insights, their knowledge.

Ok so how is this useful to you as an English learner? Why should you, as an English learner, care about Ted Talks?

That is a great question. A great question indeed.

What you should know is that TED Talks have an educational focus, their slogan is Ideas Worth Spreading. The aim of TED Talks is to open your mind to new ideas, to inspire you and to educate you. That’s its primary focus.

As you can see now these talks can help you in many different ways.

I will share 4 different reasons why you should listen to Ted Talks.

Reason Number 1 – Inspiration

You may be an English learner but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have specific topics you are interested in.

I would get bored to watch English grammar videos for 30minutes… Boring! I would rather watch an expert give a talk on Why People Need Poetry. Or watch Simon Sinek talk about Leadership – How great leaders inspire action – that’s one of the top TED Talks to watch! If you are a business owner or a manager, I recommend watching that particular TED Talk from Simon Sinek.

There are topics for every specialization, if you are a doctor, a pharmacist, a hotel manager, a financial advisor – there are experts for you to watch & listen to on TED talks.

Ok so you get my point. It is just very interesting to watch. So just do it!

Reason Number 2 – The length

Every talk is capped at 18 minutes. They are just not that long. Short. It is not a long boring lecture. It’s short, entertaining and educational to watch. So just watch it!

Reason number 3 – Simple academic language

The presentations are aimed at the general population so the language and vocabulary used is simple. You can listen to gurus and experts on any topic and they explain it to you in simple terms. Or should I say in laymen terms.

Speaking of languages, you can listen to a TED talk in your native language. There are subtitles in over 20 languages.

It’s just a great resource, trust me!

Which leads me to the next reason.

Reason number 4 – why you should watch Ted talks – Subtitles

Ok you are probably expecting me to suggest to watch these talks in your own language.
But that’s exactly what I would not recommend.

Watch TED Talks with English subtitles.

Yes! I highly recommend you to watch anything with English subtitles if you are learning English.

I am certain that if you are listening to the English Made Simple show your level of English is already at a level where you would understand what you read. You already have Reading skills.

So if you are reading subtitles on TED Talks, I am certain you will understand 90% of presentations. And for the remaining 10% just get a dictionary. Weon Inteligente can help.

Finally, I recommend you watch TED talk about a subject that really interests you and this will help you improve your vocabulary, comprehension and pronunciation skills – simply by listening to a native English speaker.

Ok so that kind of justifies why you should consider TED Talks as an English learner.

The next one is…

Netflix

I mention Netflix because they are kind of big here in Australia. There are other movie streaming platforms you could use. I think you can even watch the latest movies on YouTube now.

Anyway, choose a platform like Netflix.

Watch your favourite show or a movie on Netflix with subtitles. Subtitles in English! And if you have a movie that you like that you can watch multiple times like Con Air with Nicholas Cage, watch it with subtitles and repeat the lines they use in the movies. This is a great way to learn!

Although the language you learn will be informal, slang it is still relevant. That’s how native speakers speak. They use slang.

It’s also a great way to connect with native speakers you meet. When you use quote from the movies.

I like to quote lines from the Zoolander movie – you know the movie with Ben Stiller – it’s a funny movie, but it’s full of good lines to use with friends.

And another platform you could use is the good old YouTube.

Ok Newsflash! Yes, you can watch Ted Talk on YouTube btw. But I would recommend you watch them from TED’s website directly, because you can also download transcripts! How awesome is that?? You can read transcripts along with the speaker – just like you can read transcripts to every episode of the English Made Simple show. This helps you improve your pronunciation skills and also you will be able to easily understand what’s being said.

I gotta say something about YouTube – When I am on YouTube, I get distracted easily. I watch something for 5 minutes and then I think about the weather. “Oh what’s the weather like in Adelaide tomorrow?” All of a sudden I am browsing different websites. Watching funny cat videos. The usual stuff.

What can I say, I have an attention span of a 5 year old child.

Well that’s about it, amigos y amigas. This month February 2018 – if you are listening to this in real time, I offer private coaching. So if you are interested in improving your pronunciation and expanding your vocabulary, you can contact me directly by visiting www.englishmadesimple.net/contact

Thank you for listening to another awesome episode of the English Made Simple show, you’ve been an amazing audience, and you’ve been jamming with Milena from English Made Simple. Have a great rest of the week. Until next time. Hasta la proxima!