Shadowing Practice: Matilda | Revenge On Dad (ft. Danny DeVito) | CineClips - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Sometimes Matilda longed for a friend.
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Someone like the kind, courageous people in her books.
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It occurred to her that like talking dragons and princesses with hair long enough to climb, such people might exist only in storybooks.
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But Matilda was about to discover that she could be her own friend.
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That she had a kind of strength she wasn't even aware of.
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I'm great.
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I'm incredible.
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Michael, pencil and paper in the kitchen.
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Did we sell some cars today, honey, too? Did we?
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Does that mean I can get that new TV?
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Yeah.
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Son, one day you're gonna have to earn your own living.
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It's time you learned the family business.
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Sit down.
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Write this down.
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All right.
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The first car your brilliant father sold cost $320.
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I sold it for $1,158.
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The second one cost $512.
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I sold it for $2,269.
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Wait, Dad, you're going too fast.
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Just right.
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The third cost $68.
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I sold it for $999.
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And the fourth cost $1,100.
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I sold it for $7,839 big American buffers.
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Oh, Harry!
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What was my profit for the day?
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Could you repeat the last one?
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$10,265.
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check it if you don't believe me you're a little cheat you saw the paper from all the way over here
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are you being smart with me
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if you're being smart with me young lady you're gonna be
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punished punished for being smart for being a smart aleck
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when a person is bad
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that person has to be taught a lesson person get up
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get up Harry Wormwood had unintentionally given his daughter the first practical advice she could use he meant to say
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when a child is bad instead he said when a person is bad
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and thereby introduced a revolutionary idea that that children could punish their parents.
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Only when they deserved it, of course.
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I'm
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going to
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go ahead and get some more of the stuff I've been doing.
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Oh, man.
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Come.
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Michael, come
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into my room.
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What?
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My boy, today's the day I take you to the shop.
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What do you say?
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I don't know.
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What do you say, Dad?
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I say appearance is nine-tenths of the law.
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People don't buy a car.
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They buy me, which is why I personally take such pride in my appearance.
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Well-oiled hair, clean shave, snappy suit.
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Now run along and get ready for a big day of learning, kid.
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It's gonna be a big day of learning, too.
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There's a sucker born every minute.
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We're gonna take him for all they got.
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Give me the cookies.
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Yeah.
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Okay, my boy, hair to the throne, today we diddle the customer.
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What's wrong with you?
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What are you looking at?
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Lovekins, where's my breakfast?
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Here we are, my heartstrings.
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Snickerdoodle, what did you do to your hair?
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What?
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My hair?
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Ah!
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Give me those things.
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Give me that.
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Get in the car.
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Come on.
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Dirty dealings, like buying stolen car parts, never stay secret for long, especially when the FBI gets involved.
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917. Suspect exits domicile.
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I've got 918.
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917 is correct.
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Michael, one day all this will be yours.
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This?
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See this junker?
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I paid $100 for her.
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She's got 120,000 miles on her.
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Transmission shot, bumpers have fallen off.
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What do I do with her, hmm?
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I sell her.
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We really should weld these bumpers on.
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But that takes time, equipment, money.
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So, we use super super glue instead.
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Go ahead.
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Put it on there.
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Would it fall off?
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Definitely.
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Isn't that dangerous?
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Not to me, okay?
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Transmission.
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The sawdust quiets the gears and lets the engine run as sweet as a nut for a couple of miles.
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Daddy, that's cheating.
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Of course it's cheating.
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Nobody ever got rich being honest.
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Twenty years ago, we could turn the numbers back by hand.
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But here, take my hat.
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But the feds, like the Tesla ingenuity of an American businessman.
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Two-directional drill.
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You run it backwards, the numbers go down.
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Watch the speedometer.
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Cool.
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See?
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Yeah.
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Daddy, you're a crook.
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What?
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This is illegal.
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Here, keep drilling. Do you make money?
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Do you have a job?
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No, but don't people need good cars?
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Can't you sell good cars, Dad?
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Listen, you little wiseacre.
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I'm smart, you're dumb.
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I'm big, you're little.
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I'm right, you're wrong and there's nothing you can do about it.
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Harry!
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I won!
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I won!
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I hit the double bingo!
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Come on, everybody!
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I'm taking you all to Café Le Ritz!
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Let me see the money.
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Never mind.
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Double bingo, huh?
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Ooh.
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God, your hair looks awful.
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I hope they let you in.
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They'll let me in.
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Here's your hat, Taddy.
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Get in the car.
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Go on, get in.
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How much?
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It's for me to know and you to find out.
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It's nice to go out sometimes, isn't it?
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Yeah.
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You never take us out.
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Of course I do.
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I took you to the flipper.
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I don't remember any of the flipper.
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The fish joint.
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You found that comb in the bouillard base.
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Oh, yeah.
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I like that joint.
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Bonjour.
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This is my piece.
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Harry, take your hat off.
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You can't.
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This is a nice place.
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You can't wear a hat inside.
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I can't take it off.
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Harry, nobody cares what your tail looks like.
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I can't get it off.
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I can't get it off.
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I can't get it off.
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Just a minute.
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I'm gonna get this hat off.
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I'm pulling it.
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I think your head swelled up really bad.
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You caught on the skin.
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You're such a baby.
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You're such a baby!
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Stop it!
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Five is a fuse to the head!
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Five is a fuse?
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What is that supposed to mean?
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I will not be the figure of ridicule.
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I want respect, and I want it now.
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I still don't see how you glued your hat on, Harry.
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I mean, I know you say you didn't, but obviously you didn't.
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I did not glue my hat to my head.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
The speaker keeps coming back to these words: hat, Harry, hair, smart, sold. This video has 176 sentences and 982 words to shadow. The speech runs for 9:58. The speaker talks slowly, about 99 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 31 of its 176 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| glue noun | /ɡlu/ | A hard gelatin made by boiling bones and hides, used in solution as an adhesive; or any sticky adhesive substance. |
| punish verb | /ˈpʌnɪʃ/ | To cause (a child, student, or someone else being looked after, or a suspect or criminal) to suffer for crime or misconduct, to administer disciplinary action… |
| cheat verb | /ˈt͡ʃiːt/ | To violate rules in order to gain, or attempt to gain, advantage from a situation. |
| flipper noun | /ˈflɪpɚ/ | In marine mammals such as whales (or other secondarily aquatic animals such as sea turtles), a wide, flat limb adapted for swimming. |
| fuse noun | /fjuːz/ | A wick or cord used to convey flame to gunpowder, a bomb, or similar explosive. |
| bumper noun | /ˈbʌmpəɹ/ | Someone or something that bumps. |
| bingo noun | /ˈbɪŋ.ɡoʊ/ | A game of chance for two or more players, who mark off numbers on a grid as they are announced by the caller; the game is won by the first person to call out… |
| drill noun | /dɹɪl/ | A tool or machine used to remove material so as to create a hole, typically by plunging a rotating cutting bit into a stationary workpiece. |
| transmission noun | /tɹænsˈmɪʃən/ | The act of transmitting, e.g. data (signals) or electric power. |
| bonjour | /bɒnˈʒʊə/ | Good morning; hello. |
| diddle noun | /ˈdɪdəl/ | In percussion, two consecutive notes played by the same hand (either RR or LL), similar to the drag, except that by convention diddles are played the same… |
| directional adjective | /dɪˈɹɛk.ʃə.nəl/ | Indicating direction. |
| domicile noun | /ˈdɑ.mɪ.saɪl/ | A home or residence. |
| heartstrings noun | /ˈhɑɹtˌstɹɪŋz/ | Synonym of chordae tendineae (“the cord-like tendons that connect the papillary muscles to the tricuspid valve and the mitral valve in the heart”). |
| ingenuity noun | /ˌɪnd͡ʒəˈn(j)uːəti/ | The ability to solve difficult problems in original, clever, and inventive ways; ingeniousness. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| fall off verb | To become detached or to drop from. | |
| get up verb | To move in an upward direction; to ascend or climb. | |
| go ahead verb | /ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/ | To proceed with; to begin. |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. | |
| go down verb | To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one. | |
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. | |
| run along verb | To leave; to make one's way somewhere else. | |
| sit down verb | To assume a sitting position from a standing position. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Did we sell some cars today, honey, too?
- What was my profit for the day?
- Could you repeat the last one?
- What's wrong with you?
- What are you looking at?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Future with “going to” be going to + verb — a plan or something you can see coming | gonna have · gonna be · gonna take |
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | you're going · you're being · I'm taking |
| Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction | will be · They'll let · will not be |
| Obligation: must / have to / need to saying that something is necessary | have to earn · has to be |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 47 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I'm, can't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: tenth /tɛnθ/, thereby /ðɛɹˈbaɪ/, throne /θɹəʊ̯n/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: punish /ˈpʌnɪʃ/, transmission /tɹænsˈmɪʃən/, bonjour /bɒnˈʒʊə/, directional /dɪˈɹɛk.ʃə.nəl/, shave /ˈʃeɪ̯v/
- Long words — get the stress right: directional /dɪˈɹɛk.ʃə.nəl/, ingenuity /ˌɪnd͡ʒəˈn(j)uːəti/, speedometer /spɪˈdɑ.mɪ.təɹ/, revolutionary /ˌɹɛvəˈluʃənɛɹi/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like glue, punish, cheat.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.