a lot of people suggest to watch movies, but I think that the first step is to read a lot, so you can learn words.
If you dont know words how can you understand what the actors say during the movies?!!
What do you suggest?
watching subtitled movies would help a looot.... u will learn the spoken language... and the pronunciation oof the words.....
1) You can use keepsub.com to get the cc (closed captions) of any youtube vidoe as text file -- this file will have time annotations but that can be deleted. This only works if the subtitles of your chosen video are good / accurate but since subtitles are used in the back end of embedded videos (sometimes) (to make the page searchable for the words / content of the video) I'm finding more and more good youtube channels include quality transcripts.
2) Also -- MOOC courses (coursera, EdX) include a lot of videos and the embedded player allows users to play the audio at 2x slower or 2x faster. They transcripts are usually accurate. The pace of delivery / the words they choose are (often) geared for second language learners.
3) Better to do 2 min in detail than to gloss over a whole episode but not take anything in. If you have a transcript, one thing people have found useful is to pick 30 seconds of a video, play it over and over again on repeat and try to write every word. Do this 20 or 30 times. Then see where you went wrong. I adapted classroom dictagloss (this activity) for people working on their own and some people like it (some don't, but hey) I think it works because you have to commit to what you're hearing -- listening + writing require engagement of an otherwise passive activity. By comparing your draft with the transcript you can see where you are hearing phonemes (single sounds) wrong, where you are not percieving contractions (would have been > woulda bin) and other PHONOLOGICAL problems. As well, you're learn words (via ears, with some struggle -- which (I think) makes that new word memorable.
Reading will greatly help in the early stages in learning English. Every new word you learn you have to refer to a dictionary to get the meaning. Watching educational shows help too. A dialogue in a movie is way too fast for a beginner to follow. There are websites available that will help in pronounciation. An occasional lesson with a professional teacher will help too.
