| My favorite TV shows in English are comedies, talk shows and kung fu movies. Comedy shows can make me laugh, be happy, and relax in my free time. Talk shows make me better understand different people's life styles in the world now. These two kinds of shows always say words more than one or two times, so it's easy for me to learn the language every day. As for kung fu movies, I've been used to watching them for a long time. I don't know how I can love them. Maybe I enjoy the actions of the movie which make me feel interested. But I hate to see movies about love stories because they always make me feel unhappy and cry.--Julie |
| Hollywood movies of America have lots of influence in other countries, including my native country. We can watch most famous or popular programs not only in the U.S., but also in my native country. The fee to pay for cable TV is much cheaper in my native country than here. Some channels are kind of controlled by the government, but it gets fewer because people have the ability to choose what they really like. "Three's Company" and "Friends" are my favorites. They are not too difficult to understand and they're funny. My English teacher in the university even chose "Three's Company" as our listening material in teaching. They often talk with double meanings. It's good for me to improve my English ability.--Emily |
| Since I came to San Francisco, I haven't watched too many TV shows in English. Most of the time I watch a Chinese channel, because I can understand all of the language. My favorite TV show in English is "Everybody Loves Raymond." This is a comedy show, which makes me laugh a lot and is easy to understand. But now I try to watch the news in English. It's difficult for me, but I think little by little, I can understand it all. In my native country, most of the movies we call "soap operas." They are a reflection of life, and many, many people like to watch them every night.--Li |
| I usually get my news information on the Internet. Sometimes I read this information in English, and sometimes in Spanish. I like to compare the same news in different international newspapers. The media in my country is controlled by the government, or by big business, or sometimes by religion. It's a pity!! But right now things are changing. I hope some day a free and independent media will exist.--Jorge |
| I've watched TV since I came here. It helps me a great deal to improve my speaking and listening to "American English." As this year is a presidential election year, I can see and hear a lot of political opinions. They talk to each other every day. It is very interesting to me. I know former president J. F. Kennedy took political advantage by using the media. That affected the people of the world so much. In my country, TV stations belong to a major newspaper, and the newspaper belongs to a political party.--Keiko |
| I think the media in the USA is truer than in my country. It's because the media in the USA is freer than in my country. I watch English TV and Russian TV. English is better and more interesting. In my native country, the media is more controlled by the government and all channels show the same thing. American media is more open. I like to listen to classical music and see comedy shows. American TV helps me to practice listening and better understand English.--David |
| I think different kinds of media don't have the opportunity to be free and independent because all of them depend on money. But democratic countries don't have only one general political line and you can hear different opinions from the media supporting different political parties. Of course, it's very hard to believe the media, especially during election time. In my country I liked intellectual shows and good serious movies, but here it's very hard for me because my English is limited. I try to watch somethng easy and understandable for me, for example comedies.--Inna |
| Before we couldn't afford to buy a TV so we only listened to the radio. We especially listened to the news, music, and weather reports. Nowadays we have a TV and we can watch a person appearing in front of us on the screen, dancing and different kinds of techniques. You can learn a lot of things from TV. I like to watch English TV on Sunday at 8:00 at night, movies on Channel 9. It mostly shows good and famous films. In the morning we watch shows for children like Barney, Dora and Blue Clue. These are all ones that my grandchildren love--Yin Yin May |
| One of my favorite TV shows in English is Discovery Channel. I like it very much. In this TV show you find out more about different kinds of animals, how they live and survive, and how hard it is for them to get food. Even if you thought that you knew this kind of animal very well, in this show you find out that it wasn't like that. One of the interesting things about this show is that you don't have to understand English to watch it. You can understand it without a word. And, of course, I also like to watch this show in my native language.--Albina |
| The TV shows in America have more freedom than those in my country. Here you can make different kinds of movies if the people like them. In my native country, the government has a lot of laws. If you make a movie the government doesn't like, maybe you will go to jail.--Tiffany |