Best Netflix Series to Learn English, by Level (Free Viewing Worksheet)
April 16, 2025
Table of Contents
- How to learn English with a series
- Keep the phrases, and the grammar
- A2-B1: Netflix series for beginners
- B1: series with everyday conversation
- B1-B2: faster speech and stronger stories
- B2-C1: Netflix series for advanced learners
- Using series in class
- Lessons built on series and films
A series is the easiest way to hear real English every day: real speed, real accents, real jokes. The hard part is choosing one that matches your level, because a show that is too fast stops being practice and becomes background noise.
Below are 12 Netflix series sorted from A2 to C1, with the accent and episode length for each, a four-step method for watching with subtitles, and a free worksheet that works with any episode. Netflix libraries differ by country, so check what is available where you are.
The series at a glance
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Free · printable PDFLearn English with a SeriesA worksheet that works with any episode of any series, plus three pages to keep what you learn. Catch six phrases, retell the episode, use the phrases in your own sentences and notice the grammar in real speech.Episode worksheetPhrases + grammarA2 to C1Self-study or homeworkDownload the free PDFUS Letter: PDF |
How to learn English with a series
Watching is not the same as practising. These four steps turn an episode into a lesson, and they work with any series on this list.
1.Watch with English subtitles
Watch the whole episode with English subtitles, not subtitles in your language. You hear the words and see them at the same time. Pause to write down phrases you hear twice or like the sound of.
2.Rewatch one scene without subtitles
Pick two or three minutes you enjoyed and watch them again with the subtitles off. You already know the story, so your ears can focus on the sounds.
3.Shadow one minute
Play a line, pause, and say it with the same speed and tone. Repeat until it sounds natural. Shadowing trains your pronunciation and your listening at the same time.
4.Come back next week
Watch the same scene again a week later, without subtitles, and notice how much more you understand. Then use one of your phrases in a real conversation.
| Free printable · page 2An episode worksheet for steps 1 to 3: six phrases, a five-sentence retell and one minute to shadow.Download the free PDFUS Letter: PDF |
Keep the phrases, and the grammar
A phrase you wrote down once is easy to forget. Three short templates help you keep it.
1.Phrases you want to keep
Write the phrase, the line exactly as the character said it, the meaning in your own words and one example from a dictionary. Seeing the phrase in two places shows you how it really works.
2.Use it
For each phrase, write three sentences of your own: one about you, one question and one message you could really send. Then say it out loud, and tick the box when you use it in a real conversation.
3.Grammar in the series
Listen for a sentence you don’t understand, or one with grammar you have learned with your teacher. Write it down, find out what the grammar is and why the character uses it, then make your own sentence in the same pattern.
| Free printable · pages 3 to 5Phrases I want to keep, Use it, and Grammar in the series, each with a filled-in example.Download the free PDFUS Letter: PDF |
A2-B1: Netflix series for beginners
At this level, choose clear voices, short episodes and everyday situations. A documentary with one narrator is the gentlest start.
1of 12A2-B1Britishabout 50 minNetflix original Our Planet (2019) A nature documentary narrated by David Attenborough.
Listen for: Nature and climate vocabulary; passive sentences like it is found in. |
2of 12A2-B1Britishabout 30 minNetflix original Heartstopper (2022) A gentle teen drama about friendship and first love at a British school.
Listen for: Everyday British English, with words like mate and are you alright? |
3of 12B1Americanabout 30 minNetflix original Never Have I Ever (2020) A comedy about a teenager in California, narrated by the tennis player John McEnroe.
Listen for: School vocabulary and sarcasm: Oh, great. Totally fine. |
B1: series with everyday conversation
B1 learners are ready for real dialogue, as long as the situations repeat: the same office, the same café, the same group of friends.
4of 12B1American, plus French speakers of Englishabout 30 minNetflix original Emily in Paris (2020) An American marketing executive starts a new job in Paris.
Listen for: Workplace English for meetings and pitches, and English spoken with French accents. |
For teachers: a lesson on this series Speak Like Emily in Paris uses the first episode of season 4 to teach the phrases her colleagues actually use. |
5of 12B1Americanabout 22 minOn Netflix in many countries Friends (1994) Six friends in New York, mostly in two apartments and a café.
Listen for: Phrasal verbs and reactions: How you doin'? We were on a break! |
For teachers: a lesson on this series Speak Like Friends uses the funniest scenes to teach the idioms the characters use all the time. |
B1-B2: faster speech and stronger stories
6of 12B1-B2Americanabout 50 minNetflix original Wednesday (2022) Wednesday Addams solves a mystery at a boarding school.
Listen for: Formal word choices used for comic effect. |
7of 12B1-B2American50 to 75 minNetflix original Stranger Things (2016) Kids in a 1980s American town face something strange.
Listen for: Fast informal speech, with lots of gonna, wanna and kinda. |
8of 12B2Americanabout 60 minNetflix limited series (7 episodes) The Queen's Gambit (2020) An orphan becomes a chess champion in the 1950s and 60s.
Listen for: Polite 1960s English and competition vocabulary. |
B2-C1: Netflix series for advanced learners
Advanced learners need speed, accents and indirect meaning: what people say when they cannot say it directly.
9of 12B2-C1British (formal)about 60 minNetflix original The Crown (2016) The reign of Queen Elizabeth II.
Listen for: Indirect refusals and formal politeness. |
10of 12B2-C1Britishabout 60 minNetflix original Bridgerton (2020) Romance and gossip in a version of Regency London.
Listen for: Formal compliments, refusals and polite insults. |
For teachers: a lesson on this series Speak Like Bridgerton teaches Regency-style compliments, refusals and polite insults at B2-C1. |
11of 12C1Americanabout 44 minOn Netflix in many countries Gilmore Girls (2000) A mother and daughter in a small town in Connecticut.
Listen for: Rapid-fire banter and pop-culture references. |
For teachers: a lesson on this series Speak Like Gilmore Girls uses authentic clips to teach fast, witty conversation at B2-C1. |
12of 12C1British and Americanabout 60 minOn Netflix (original from season 3) Black Mirror (2011) Stand-alone stories about technology going wrong.
Listen for: Technology and ethics vocabulary; a wide range of accents. |
Using series in class
- Pause and predict. Stop a scene before a key line and ask what the character will say. Then play it.
- Rewrite the line. Students rewrite one line in a different tone: more polite, more direct, more British.
- Act it out. Pairs perform a one-minute scene after shadowing it. Pronunciation improves without a single drill.
- Homework that gets done. Give the episode worksheet for any series students already watch, then share the best phrases next lesson.
| Free printable · page 2The episode worksheet works as homework with any series your students choose.Download the free PDFUS Letter: PDF |
Lessons built on series and films
| Level | Lesson | What students do |
| A2-B1 | Movies | Talk about favourite films and TV shows |
| A2-B1 | Speak Like Gravity Falls | React to bad news with real dialogue |
| B1-B2 | Speak Like Emily in Paris | Workplace phrases from the series |
| B1-B2 | Speak Like Friends | Idioms from the funniest episodes |
| B1-B2 | Speak Like The Holiday | Sound less direct with dialogue from the film |
| B2-C1 | Speak Like Bridgerton | Regency compliments and refusals |
| B2-C1 | Speak Like Gilmore Girls | Fast, witty conversation |
| B2-C1 | Speak Like Fleabag | Pauses, sarcasm and short replies |
