Ji Hee Lee, Sayan Na, Yoon Ah Cha 

Everyone wants to improve their English skills and have desire to be good at English. Even though we studied English for many years, we wonder why our English skills are lacking. Why isn’t our grammar correct or our pronunciation clear? Actually, the answer is simple: movies and books are good tools for improving these aspects. We interviewed wonderful professors Greg, Tom and Bruce who are teaching EIE students and asked them which books or movies they recommend. Here’s what they said.

Greg Skwarok 

Do you recommend any specific TV drama for learning English?

 “Read a well-written newspaper and some newspapers online, go to online websites such as The NEW YORK TIMES and the BBC.” He emphasized that well-written newspapers will help your writing and reading skills. Plus, the BBC has many different kinds of topics. So this is very interesting then you can go to the music, sports, politics and opinion sections. They are not only high quality but also free.

What do you think about using subtitles when watching dramas?

Greg said that we should remember to see without subtitles and try to pick up the words.

How many hours do we have to spend studying English?

It depends on how you want improve and how quickly. Spend as much time as you can if you want to improve English skills faster.

Which one do you recommend more to English learners? TV dramas or Books?

Greg said that for just improving your mind in any language, reading is best. He said “If you really want to improve your English, take the time to study books.” He thinks that books are better for developing vocabulary, and developing reading and writing ability. However watching dramas or movies are better for developing conversation skills and listening and speaking.

Thomas Webster

Do you recommend any specific TV drama for learning English?

             For this question Tom replied that he actually doesn’t enjoy watching TV, but he said that he can suggest ‘Friends’ for English learners. This is because that drama shows repetition. Episodes of Friends take place in the same places between the same characters, and those characters keep their specific personalities through whole story. Therefore, people can learn situational English easily.

What do you think about using subtitles when watching dramas?

             Tom suggested that it depends on the student’s English ability. For beginners, it would be better to use Korean subtitles to understand the situation. However, for more proficient learners, it would be better to use English subtitles only, and not to use subtitles when the English becomes much better. He suggested that it can be a good way to use a piece of paper to cover the subtitles and remove the paper when you cannot understand the contents. He also stated that students from purple and blue class should try not using Korean subtitles.

Do you recommend any specific books for learning English?

             The most important thing is your preference, and the second important thing is adjusting the book to your level. He recommended reading books which are published at least 5 years before. This is because, as time passes, some other versions of the same book with different language levels are published. For example, easier versions of the “Hobbit” with easy words were published a few years after the original.

Which one do you recommend more to English learners? TV dramas or Books?

             Tom answered that both have benefits. When you watch TV dramas, you can understand the contents easily, because it shows contextual clues or body language of characters. On the other hand, when you read books, you can control the time. You can stop for five hours on one word if you like and find synonyms, antonyms or sample sentences for that word. Therefore, English learners can choose between two options, considering which one will be most suitable.

Bruce Barnes

Do you recommend any specific TV drama for learning English?

Bruce recommended the Movie "A Fish Called Wanda", a British movie. The reason he thinks it is good is because it is very funny because something is happening all the time and there is a lot of interesting language throughout. So he thinks it is excellent for developing English skill.

Do you recommend any specific books for learning English?

Bruce said that it depends on the learner. There are a lot of good books. So the important thing is to find a book which is interesting to you. Everyone has their own preference, so you need to find the books that match your own interest.

What do you think about using subtitles when watching dramas?

He answered that it also depends on the learner. Watch first without any subtitles. If you don’t understand anything, try English subtitles. If you still have a lot of troubles, use English and Korean mixed subtitles. You can check across. A good thing to do when you don’t have a transcript is to rewind. You can do that very well with movie DVDs or old VCR videos. He thinks the idea of watching a movie just one time for language isn’t good. He said that to use a movie for developing English, you have got to run bits again and again.

Do you have any suggestion about listening?

He suggests that if you have an analogue cassette tape, you can listen to little sections. He think it is too bad these days that a lot of English listenings are only available on CD or online, because it is very hard to repeat phrases or sentences. He knows people who have developed listening skill by using tapes and they used to listen to news reports and stop the tape and do dictation. If they want to be sure of something, they rewind and play again. This process is not very interesting but it is really good exercise and those people who did that really improved their listening skill automatically.

Which part is the most important for learning English? (speaking, listening. writing and reading)

He answered all is important. It depends what you are going to do. For students, the most important skills are reading and writing. But for people in business, speaking and listening may be the most important skills. It is different what purpose do we have.

Which one is better? Reading books or watching dramas?

He said that both have advantages. The book has advantages because you can read them at any my pace and you can stop and check. But you can’t develop listening skill. The advantage of movies are that the recordings are often much more interesting. They are often are more motivating.

To summarize, we interviewed EIE professors about effective ways to improve English skills. If you want to improve your English skills, how about trying the professors’ advice? If you really want to learn more English, don’t be frustrated that you are not good at it. At first, even though watching dramas or reading books is not familiar with you, follow the professors’ advice slowly. In addition, if you spend a lot of time studying English, you may feel your English skills improve.