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Shadowing practice: Beverly Goldberg Forces Her Family to Take a Road Trip - The Goldbergs

Listen to the line, then say it out loud
Line 1

Full transcript

  1. Back in the 80s, National Ampun's vacation was the best road trip comedy ever.0:00
  2. Yep, the Griswold family tore across America, and no one loved it more than my mom.0:05
  3. Yes!0:10
  4. This movie has everything I love and deserve.0:11
  5. So pack your bags so I can unpack them and then repack them again properly, because the Goldbergs are going on vacation!0:13
  6. I don't know, Mom.0:21
  7. That family's trip seems super stressful and difficult, and they like each other.0:22
  8. But we have one week left before Barry and Erica jet off to college.0:26
  9. It's 10 minutes away.0:30
  10. On nice days, I might walk.0:31
  11. And Adam's starting life as a high school upperclassman.0:33
  12. Now when the juniors throw food at me, he'll be my peers.0:35
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  1. Such a dork.0:39
  2. He's shameless daily.0:40
  3. So we're gonna take one last unforgettable family vacation before everybody starts the next big chapter in their lives.0:41
  4. What do you say?0:47
  5. We love you, but pass.0:48
  6. You're gonna pass on a trip to Disneyland.0:50
  7. Oh, boss!0:53
  8. I love you now!0:55
  9. Ah, that's right.0:55
  10. Embrace your mama.0:57
  11. Star Wars just opened a ride there.0:58
  12. It's called Star Tours.1:00
  13. You get to travel to the Forest Moon of Endor.1:01
  14. Well, I, Endor, you.1:03
  15. But even you can't ruin this.1:05
  16. Star Wars teaming up with Disney is just so big.1:07
  17. Sure, I wish they'd dedicate a whole land to Star Wars, but that's just a little boy's dream.1:10
  18. Ha, ha, ha.1:14
  19. Barry wanna give mama a huggy, because she's the best in the game.1:15
  20. I'm not going to Disneyland.1:19
  21. I'm a grown adult man who will be starting a fully accredited university in a week.1:21
  22. But you love that snow white.1:25
  23. You've had a crush on her since you could talk, which was late for your age, but still.1:28
  24. Sure.1:32
  25. Miss White is pretty hair, and she's patient with those dwarves.1:33
  26. In a way, you know you just vibe with her, but not at all.1:36
  27. Who cares?1:38
  28. I can't believe we're flying to California.1:39
  29. Ha, ha, ha.1:41
  30. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.1:42
  31. That won't give me enough time to squish together with my squishies.1:43
  32. We're driving.1:47
  33. To the airport, and then we're flying.1:48
  34. When will I learn not to hug until I hear all of the details?1:51
  35. It'll be just like the Griswolds.1:53
  36. We're gonna see America.1:55
  37. This America?1:56
  38. I've seen it.1:57
  39. It's all corn.1:59
  40. Look, I just finished following the Grateful Dead in a van with Jeff.2:00
  41. I'm not going back out there.2:03
  42. Me neither.2:05
  43. If you don't, I won't pay for college.2:05
  44. Yay, everyone's in.2:07
  45. What's all the noise?2:09
  46. I can barely hear myself eat my cream cookies.2:10
  47. We're driving to Disneyland.2:12
  48. I get the feeling I don't have a say in this.2:14
  49. Mm -hmm.2:16
  50. I get that feeling too.2:16
  51. Yay.2:17
  52. Why did I come in here?2:18
  53. And I got a Polaroid, so I can take a photo diary of our trip.2:19
  54. Come on, squeeze together.2:22
  55. I don't want to be near your dad.2:24
  56. He smells like coffee and onions.2:25
  57. Squeeze in.2:26
  58. You ain't exactly cinnamon and sugar, sweetheart.2:26
  59. I don't know where my body ends and atoms begin.2:29
  60. Trip is already the worst thing that's ever happened to me.2:31
  61. Just take the damn picture!2:33

Why this fast paced Goldbergs scene is good for american accent training

This clip comes from The Goldbergs, a sitcom scene rated B2 that runs at 239 words per minute, faster than 90 percent of the clips in this catalogue. Beverly announces a family road trip, Erica pushes back, Barry defends his college plans, and Adam worries about starting high school, all inside a handful of quick exchanges. That density of speakers switching every line is exactly what daily english conversation practice needs: real interruptions, real overlap, not one voice reading slowly into a microphone.

The accent is American, and the register is casual family bickering rather than news anchor English, so it is a fair test of how much everyday english you can actually follow at speed. If you already learn english with series like this one, the clip is a natural next scene to work through. With 73 lines in the full clip, there is enough material to spread across a few short daily sessions rather than one long sit.

Practise english speaking with the reductions and rare words in this scene

Line 15, "So we're gonna take one last unforgettable family vacation before everybody starts the next big chapter in their lives," is one long breath with the reduction gonna carrying almost no stress. Line 33, "I'm a grown adult man who will be starting a fully accredited university in a week," puts real stress on accredited, a word most learners only ever read and never say out loud.

  • "So we're gonna take one last unforgettable family vacation before everybody starts the next big chapter in their lives." The gonna reduction disappears into the sentence, practise saying it fast without separating the syllables.
  • "I'm a grown adult man who will be starting a fully accredited university in a week." Stress lands on accredited, break it into syllables before rejoining the full line.
  • "That won't give me enough time to squish together with my squishies." The doubled squish and squishies plays on the same sound twice, say it slowly first, then at the clip's pace.
  • "That family's trip seems super stressful and difficult, and they like each other." The contrast sits on the second half, said almost as an aside, match that drop in pitch.

How to shadow this clip line by line

Work through the opening in order rather than jumping around, since the lines build on each other as Beverly's pitch meets each family member's objection.

  • Start with line 5, "So pack your bags so I can unpack them and then repack them again properly, because the Goldbergs are going on vacation!" Split it at the comma and repeat each half five times before joining them.
  • Move to line 15 and isolate the word gonna until it comes out as one soft syllable, then say the full line at native speed.
  • On line 33, say accredited alone three times, then drop it back into a fully accredited university before shadowing the whole sentence.
  • Finish with line 43, the squish line, and read it twice: once slow to get the double s clean, once at the clip's own pace to improve your english accent on that sound.
  • Once lines 5, 15, 33 and 43 each feel automatic, run lines 1 through 15 back to back with no pauses to hear how they connect as one scene.
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