Shadowing practice: Adam Figures Out His Senior Year Identity - The Goldbergs
Listen to the line, then say it out loud
Line 1
Full transcript
- So if I'm not as buff and rad as I thought I was and I'm not a dork anymore What am I?0:00
- You're a little bit of everything now.0:07
- I'm super confused in high school You feel like you can only be one thing or belong to one group But did you get older you can be lots of0:09
- things to lots of people and once you realize that the whole world opens up for you So I can have cool friends and new friends you can even have0:17
- friends that are guidance counselors I'd like that.0:27
- Thanks John.0:31
- Nope go back.0:32
- That does not make my ears feel good as Mr.0:33
- Glasscott reminded me I could be anything my mom was scared she'd only ever be one thing any idea why Erica's sitting out on the front lawn and Berries up0:35
- in a tree.0:43
- I kicked them out.0:44
- Yeah works for me I was trying to end the great regression, but Jinzy's phrases didn't work and then They refused to make me a cobbler when I wouldn't move0:45
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- a couch.0:56
- I Have no idea what any of that means, but I do know that when our children stay home too long They turn into morons and it's my fault our0:58
- whole relationship is based on me indulging them their entire lives Because I thought that's what a good mama did But now that they're older.1:06
- I just I want something more Tell them that I tried but it didn't work and then I threw them out on the street.1:14
- Well then keep trying You deserve to have the relationship you want with your kids.1:22
- You think?1:28
- I know Now go outside and get Barry before he falls on his head Sometimes we can indulge the people we love so much.1:29
- It's hard to see we're holding them back.1:40
- Hey Look, I'm sorry I kicked you out.1:42
- We're sorry too You do so much for us and it was wrong to take advantage of your love.1:48
- You will always be my babies But I'd really like to try something new Way ahead of you I cut down most of the cramps pear tree while we were1:54
- homeless Mind if we chat while we make you a cobbler?2:04
- Yeah, like what's your story?2:08
- My story is that I am the luckiest mom in the world Sure it can be scary to change something that's been the same for a long time Oh, hey2:10
- Come to invite us to group dodgeball or a wedgie tournament or throw my glasses in that long urinal where you sometimes touch shoulders with Strangers, I'm really sorry for2:21
- forcing you to do things you weren't comfortable with But you won't mean the world to me and I guess what I'm trying to say is Madamina Tomodachi Sit tight2:30
- What you know Tochukan what oku desu guy Bremen sonko aromasu you've been back.2:44
- Oh, man.2:51
- I just learned one thing You'll catch up In the end when we change who we are it doesn't mean we lose who we were or who we care about2:52
- And through all those changes the people who love us will always be there Truth is we never stop growing up Everyone just does it at their own speed.3:01
- Yeah, I'd come a long way since I was a freshman It was my senior year and it was gonna be different for all of us One thing was for3:12
- sure.3:20
- I couldn't wait for the adventure to begin3:20
American family sitcom dialogue for english speaking practice
This clip is a scene from The Goldbergs, an American family sitcom where a teenager works out who he is after high school knocks him off his old identity. It runs at a B2 level and moves at 180 words per minute, faster than 44 percent of the catalogue, so it rewards someone who already has some english speaking practice under their belt rather than a total beginner.
Several people talk in the scene: the son, a friend, and a parent, so the accent stays American throughout but the voice, pace and emotional pitch shift line to line. That switching is exactly what makes it useful for daily english conversation practice: you are not shadowing one flat delivery, you are shadowing a kid's confused question, a friend's reassurance, and a mother's guilty confession back to back.
The colloquial turns in this scene worth shadowing
Whisper transcribed the audio as it was actually spoken, run on sentences and all, and that rawness is useful: it shows you how Americans really chain clauses together without stopping for breath.
- "So if I'm not as buff and rad as I thought I was and I'm not a dork anymore What am I?" is a single breath of self doubt. "rad" and "dork" are casual, dated in a knowing way, and the line only works if your pitch climbs on "What am I?" like a real question, not a flat statement.
- "But did you get older you can be lots of" has no comma where you would expect one, and even drops a word a careful writer would keep. Say it as one unbroken run, the way the speaker did, instead of inserting a pause that was never there.
- "We're sorry too You do so much for us and it was wrong to take advantage of your love." packs an apology and a confession into one exhale. Notice how "You do so much for us" leans harder than the rest, that is where the stress sits.
A line by line order for practising this Goldbergs scene
Work the clip in short passes instead of trying to shadow all 35 lines at once.
- Start with line 1, "So if I'm not as buff and rad as I thought I was and I'm not a dork anymore What am I?", alone. Repeat it five times before moving on, and get the rising question at the end right.
- Pair it with line 2, "You're a little bit of everything now.", so you feel the question and the answer as one exchange, not two isolated lines.
- Move to "But did you get older you can be lots of" and say it in one breath, matching the run on rhythm rather than your own instinct to pause.
- Finish on the apology exchange, "We're sorry too You do so much for us and it was wrong to take advantage of your love.", which is slower and heavier, a good contrast drill after the faster opening lines.
- Once those four lines land clean, loop the whole opening section again at full speed to check the accent and timing hold up together.
