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Shadowing practice: Sue Becomes 'Turtle Girl' | The Middle

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

Full transcript

  1. There should be different categories of tardy.0:00
  2. I got put in detention with a marijuana salesman.0:02
  3. Hey, maybe you want to go check out those tardies on the school website.0:06
  4. What's the password again, Sue?0:09
  5. Oh, I'll see you at the sawmill, because you just got axed.0:10
  6. Woo!0:14
  7. Axel eats four donuts every day for lunch.0:15
  8. Oh, see you in court, because you just got sued.0:17
  9. Just remember, Sue, too many tardies and it goes on your permanent record.0:21
  10. Now the one person whose permanent record you don't want to mess with is Sue.0:25
  11. She knew with a little planning there had to be a way to beat the sweep.0:30
  12. She tried cutting through the auditorium.0:33
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  1. Party sweep!0:35
  2. Same with the cafeteria.0:37
  3. Party sweep!0:39
  4. She even tried a shortcut outside the building.0:42
  5. Party sweep!0:48
  6. But finally, after studying the map all weekend, she cracked it.0:50
  7. She learned the quickest way was through Mr.0:55
  8. Bertram's shop class.0:58
  9. All that cross -country had paid off.1:01
  10. Sue was going to make it to her locker right on schedule.1:03
  11. If only Lucy Howard hadn't developed over the summer.1:06
  12. And Steve Johnson hadn't taken notice of it.1:10
  13. Um, excuse me.1:12
  14. I need to get to my locker, please.1:14
  15. Dude!1:17
  16. Um, don't know if you know, but if you're late to class, you're going to be tardy, and it could1:19
  17. go under permanent record.1:24
  18. Tardy, sweet!1:28
  19. See?1:30
  20. So the next day, she moved to plan E.1:31
  21. If she couldn't stop at her locker, she was just gonna have to bring her locker with her.1:33
  22. Hey!2:05
  23. A little help?2:06
  24. A little help here, please?2:08
  25. If someone could just give me a hand.2:10
  26. Axel!2:22
  27. Do you really think it's bad being the oldest?2:27
  28. Are you kidding?2:30
  29. Mom and Dad have been all up in my business ever since I was born.2:31
  30. When I started high school, they were all, How's it going, Axel?2:34
  31. How are your classes?2:38
  32. Who are your teachers?2:39
  33. Who are your friends?2:40
  34. But when you're the middle kid, you kind of disappear.2:43
  35. I'd kill for less attention.2:46
  36. You can get away with whatever you want.2:47
  37. Fly under the radar.2:49
  38. But I don't want to fly under the radar.2:51
  39. I just feel like when you're...2:53
  40. Walk away.2:54
  41. I just feel like as the middle child, people don't see me.2:58
  42. It's like sometimes I'm invisible.3:03
  43. Hey, accent!3:06
  44. Yeah, you know it!3:07
  45. Maybe feeling invisible is a good thing.3:10
  46. Like, because you're the middle kid, you want people to notice you, you just keep trying.3:12
  47. Not yet.3:17
  48. Okay.3:17
  49. I mean, if I turned like that at school, I would have packed it in and made Mom homeschool me,3:19
  50. but you're weird.3:24
  51. You don't give up.3:26
  52. It's actually kind of almost impressive.3:27
  53. You're like this dork optimist.3:32
  54. That was the nicest thing Axel had ever said to her.3:34
  55. Her brother was right.3:38
  56. She was a dork optimist.3:39
  57. And dork optimists never give up.3:41
  58. Sue didn't turtle, which was a miracle.3:57
  59. And as she passed her locker, she noticed an even bigger miracle.3:59
  60. There were no hormonal teenagers groping each other in front of it.4:03
  61. This was her opportunity.4:06
  62. This time, she was gonna make it.4:07
  63. Sean Hagee?4:24
  64. Sue Heck?4:26
  65. Here!4:27

American Accent Training with a Fast Sitcom Scene from The Middle

This clip is a scene from The Middle, an American sitcom, so the accent is American and the setting is an ordinary high school: tardy slips, lockers, siblings needling each other. The pace comes in at 212 words per minute, faster than 71 percent of the catalogue, and the level is B2, so this is not a slow starter clip. If you are building american accent training around real dialogue instead of scripted lessons, this is closer to the speed you actually hear in conversation.

Two threads run through it. First a quick joke exchange about tardy slips, then Sue's slapstick attempt to beat a locker sweep, then a longer monologue from her brother Axel about being the oldest child versus feeling invisible as the middle one. If you want to learn english with series instead of textbook audio, a scene like this gives you full sentences, interruptions and reactions in one take, and working through it line by line is a direct way to improve your english accent.

The Reductions and Sitcom Slang in Sue's Tardy Sweep

A few lines here are worth slowing down for before you try them at full speed.

  • "If she couldn't stop at her locker, she was just gonna have to bring her locker with her." Gonna is the only reduction actually measured in this clip, and it lands here exactly where going to would collapse in fast speech, right before the main verb.
  • "Oh, I'll see you at the sawmill, because you just got axed." and "Oh, see you in court, because you just got sued." This is a two line pun pair built on Axel's name, and the joke only works if the stress falls on "axed" and "sued" at the same speed as the setup.
  • "But when you're the middle kid, you kind of disappear." The filler "kind of" here is doing real work, softening a blunt statement into something more conversational, which is the natural rhythm of spoken English rather than written English.
  • "I'd kill for less attention." A short, idiomatic complaint dropped into the middle of a longer turn, useful for hearing how stress can sit on a single word, here "kill," to carry the whole line's tone.

How to Shadow This B2 Scene for Daily English Speaking Practice

Work through the clip in this order rather than starting from the top and hoping the pace sorts itself out.

  • Start with the pun exchange, "Oh, I'll see you at the sawmill, because you just got axed." and "Oh, see you in court, because you just got sued." Repeat these two short lines first, since the joke depends entirely on timing and they are short enough to loop many times.
  • Move to "she was just gonna have to bring her locker with her." Shadow it slowly once to catch the gonna reduction, then again at full pace.
  • Finish on Axel's monologue, where "But when you're the middle kid, you kind of disappear." sits among longer sentences. Shadow it line by line to work on stress and rhythm across a full argument rather than isolated lines.
  • Once you can keep up line by line, run the whole scene again at full pace. Matching 212 words per minute is what turns this from listening comprehension into actual english speaking practice.
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