Think in English

Practice thinking in English and learn Vocabulary with these TV Series in American English.

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Video Transcript:

Today we’re taking scenes from TV and we’re using them to practice our English. You can train your mind to think in English so you can recall the words faster and stop translating in your head. 

I’m Rachel, and I’ve been teaching the American accent on YouTube for over 15 years. Visit RachelsEnglish.com/free to get my free course, the Top 3 ways to master the American Accent. 

We’re going to do three scenes today. First, we’ll take a scene from the show ‘Insecure”. The scene is on mute because it’s not about watching the clip for fun, and the audio can be distracting. It’s about describing the clip in English, it’s about thinking through what you see.   

First, you’re going to see 10 seconds of a clip. Think the word in English for the nouns that you see. If you see a donut, think ‘donut’. You’re just naming objects. We’re going to watch this scene later with a different focus, but this is just objects. Here we go.   

There are so many things you could have thought. Let’s go over some of them. I’ll start big and go smaller. 

Conference room 

Conference table 

Bulletin board 

Poster 

door 

window 

People 

Chair 

Drinks 

Donuts 

Plate 

frosting 

Binder 

Papers 

Napkins 

Laptop 

Sticky notes 

This in the middle is a speaker for conference calls 

Pens and pencils 

Water 

Man 

Woman 

Glasses 

crumbs 

If there is a TV show you want me to feature in an English lesson, please put your suggestions in the comments below. Okay, let’s take a look again, and this time think adjectives, words to describe what you see, like colors. 

Let’s review the adjectives. 

frosted,  

open,  

full or busy,  

blonde,  

brunette,  

messy.  

Lots of colors: pink,  

green,  

yellow,  

orange,  

blue. 

We’re going over a lot of words here, and if your brain is moving more slowly, coming up with just one or two words, that’s not a problem. The thing we want to do is, recall the word in English without first thinking in your own native language. Even if you’re just thinking of one or two words without first translating, that’s building the skill we want. 

Now we’ll look at the scene, and I want you to think of verbs. What can you think of to describe the action that you’re seeing?  

Let’s review the verbs. 

This man stands up. That’s a phrasal verb.  

He’s passing out sheets. That’s another phrasal verb. To pass out. You could also say hand out.  

Pass out, passing out papers like you’ve seen but it also means to faint, to pass out.  

He’s walking,  

talking,  

people are listening.  

They’re reading.  

Our next scene is from Schitt’s creek. Remember, this first time through you’re just naming objects in your head. See something, think of the English word.  

Let’s review the nouns. 

phone chain 

necklace 

bracelet 

ring 

eyebrow 

nose 

eyelashes 

shirt 

New part of the scene, we’ve got button down shirt.  

Can’t help but see his eyebrows too.  

beds,  

blankets or covers,  

window,  

curtains,  

bricks,  

lamp shade,  

headboard,  

magazine,  

stars,  

handbag,  

couch, table.  

Now think adjectives.  

Let’s review the adjectives.  

Gold.  

Silver.  

This has a quilted look.  

The blankets are also quilted.  

Colors, we have black,  

white,  

teal,  

tan.  

The background here looks very full,  

a little messy.  

She looks distracted, doesn’t she?  

She’s in a conversation but she’s mostly on her phone.   

And now, verbs.  

Let’s review the verbs.  

She’s holding her phone,  

she’s scrolling.  

She’s arranging her hair.  

Moving her bangs.  

Talking.  

He’s sitting down. A phrasal verb, the opposite of stand up which we saw in our last scene.  

They’re talking.  

He opens the magazine.  

He crosses his legs.  

She’s sitting. 

She shakes her head.  

If you’ve seen Schitt’s creek, leave me a comment with your favorite character.  

Our last scene today, to help you learn vocabulary and start thinking in English, is from the TV show ‘Young Rock’. First time though, notice objects, think their names in English.  

Let’s review the nouns. 

Earring.  

Ponytail 

Belt. .   

They have backpacks 

He’s wearing a sweatshirt. 

There are display cases. 

Jewelry 

Stand 

Column 

Poster 

Frame  

Collar 

Sweater 

They’re in a mall.  

In a store.  

A jewelry store. 

Salesman 

Mom 

Tracksuit 

Mustache 

Straps 

Clips  

Headband  

Now adjectives. There’s a lot of emotion and color in this scene.  

Let’s review the adjectives. 

Pink,  

purple,  

blue,  

red,  

When something has large pieces of color like this, we call that ‘Colorblock’.  

His sweater has green,  

gray,  

it’s knit.  

Black 

yellow 

They’re curious.  

Her outfit is a little bit shiny. 

Okay, now she is mad, angry. 

He’s worried.  

She looks intense,  

like she might be speaking loudly.  

Her brow is furrowed.  

Her headband is braided.  

Her necklace is thin.  

Now, verbs.  

Let’s review the verbs. 

They’re shopping,  

they’re looking around.  

He points.  

She walks up.  

She’s striding into the store.  

He turns his head.  

She’s maybe yelling at him.  

Lots of words and I’m sure some of you came up with totally different words. After you watch this video, try this yourself with a show you like. Go and watch a few seconds on mute. Pause it. Go through all the words you know that could describe the scene. Try a couple times a day to just look around you and think in English describing what you see. It will help you not only think in English, but discover words you need to learn. 

If a word comes to mind that you don’t know in English as you’re doing these exercises, take the time to stop and look those words up. It’s a great way to learn new words because you’ll have a visual to go with it.  

To help build our vocabulary, let’s go back and watch all of the objects again with the name to cement any new words into your mind.  

Conference room 

Conference table 

Bulletin board 

Poster 

door 

window 

People 

Chair 

Drinks 

Donuts 

Plate 

frosting 

Binder 

Papers 

Napkins 

Laptop 

Sticky notes 

This in the middle is a speaker for conference calls 

Pens and pencils 

Water 

Man 

Woman 

Glasses 

crumbs 

Phone chain 

Necklace 

Bracelet 

Ring 

Eyebrow 

Nose 

Eyelashes 

shirt.  

New part of the scene, we’ve got button down shirt.  

Can’t help but see his eyebrows too.  

Beds,  

blankets or covers,  

window,  

curtains,  

bricks,  

lamp shade,  

headboard,  

magazine,  

stars,  

handbag,  

couch,  

table. 

Earring.  

Ponytail 

Belt. .   

They have backpacks 

He’s wearing a sweatshirt. 

There are display cases. 

Jewelry 

Stand 

Column 

Poster 

Frame  

Collar 

Sweater 

They’re in a mall.  

In a store.  

A jewelry store. 

Salesman 

Mom 

Tracksuit 

Mustache 

Straps 

Clips  

Headband 

Check out all my videos designed to help you think in English. They give you the tools and the training to increase your vocabulary and start thinking more in English. And please do subscribe with notifications on. I love being your English teacher. That’s it and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.  

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