The Best Online Dramatic Video Series Specifically Designed For English Language Learners

Obviously, our students can learn a lot of English by watching regular television series and using closed captioning.

But there are also decent online dramatic series that are specifically designed for language learning.

During my first years of teaching English Language Learners, my students and I enjoyed The Connect With English dramatic video series designed to teach English.

It eventually got to be a bit dated, and so we stopped using it. It is still available for free online. They even had accompanying workbooks, though Katie Hull and I developed our own worksheet that could be used for any of the videos (and other ones, too).

I recently learned about a New Zealand-based organization called Chasing Time English that produces multiple similar series for ELLs. They’re all available to stream for free, and they have tons of accompanying teaching materials for each one. There may be some minor issues with accents and certain vocabulary if you’re going to use in the United States, but those can be easily handled. If I still had my own classroom, I’d definitely give them a try….

You can find many episodes of another similar series, Extra English, online.

Sesame English is good for young learners.