After I got Grey's anatomy DVD set, I have been watching DVD with English subtitles. Sometimes I find vocabularies which I didn't know while watching DVD. Before I purchased the DVD, I wouldn't know the meaning because I didn't know the spelling. But now, I can see the spelling with subtitles. I search many vocabularies and learn a lot from my DVD. These are pretty good educational tools.
Three months ago, my ESL teacher said, "One student told me she had decided to watch many TVs in order to improve listening skills. But this may not be a good idea. If you don't know what people are talking on TV, you will feel like you are just listening foreign songs. Like la la la, blah blah blah... What can you learn form TV? You may misunderstand if you choose TV shows which are too difficult to understand for you. If you choose shows which are too easy for you, you may still learn very little from them but you may also feel bored."
I was surprised about that. I used to believe watching TV was the good way to improve my English. I think what my teacher wanted to say is you should understand what people are saying correctly. So, using English subtitles helps your understanding.
Looking back the past three years, my listening skill has been improving by watching DVDs. Three years ago, my English skill was very low. I didn't understand what ESL teachers and my classmates were talking about. I felt very sad during class. I watched English DVDs with Japanese subtitles in order to improve my listening skill. Many people told me try to watch it with English subtitles to improve my English skill. However, I chose Japanese subtitles because if I had watched DVD with English subtitles, I would have given up watching. I tried to get used to listening to English as much as I can while I enjoyed it because English makes me stressful. Soon, I got into watching serial dramas. The serial drama which I chose first time was Lost. When I finished watching all season of Lost, I noticed my listening skill had improved slightly. Then, I watched 24 with Japanese subtitles as well. I learned to understand what people are talking in my class a year later. I continued to do the same for one and half year or so. Even though I could understand in my class, I still didn't understand what American people were saying sometimes even then. Then, I started watching youtube everyday because watching youtube was really fun! Most youtube videos don't have subtitles. However, I was able to understand most of it. It was surprising. Then I tried to watch DVDs without subtitles, but I still finding some struggles even then. I enjoyed the DVDs though. Now, I can watch DVD with English subtitles and I can understand properly. :) I think that's the best way for me now.
I used to think if I could enjoy watching DVDs, I should watch them without subtitles. However, after my teacher advised us about that in our class, I thought the most important thing was that I should understand correctly. In my English level, I still need English subtitles. This way will increase my vocabulary skill as well.
Today's Vocabulary
・ even then : その時でさえ、その場合にも
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