Shadowing Practice: Shawshank Redemption - Rooftop Scene - Learn English Speaking with Video
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102 sentences
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1
He ran off years ago, figured him for dead anyway.
2
So anyway, this lawyer fella says to me, his brother died a rich man, oil wells and shit.
3
Close to a million bucks.
4
A million bucks?
5
Yeah.
6
Fucking incredible how lucky some assholes get.
7
Jeez Louise, you gonna see any of that?
8
35,000.
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That's what he left me.
10
Dollars?
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Yep.
12
Holy shit, that's great.
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That's like winning the sweepstakes.
14
Isn't it?
15
Dumb shit, what do you think the government's gonna do to me?
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Take a big wet bite out of my ass is what?
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Poor Barry.
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Terrible fucking luck, huh?
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Crying shame.
20
Some people really got it off of.
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Andy, you nuts.
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Keep your ass on your mop, man.
23
Andy.
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Well, all right, you're gonna pay some taxes, but you'll still end up with...
25
Oh, yeah, yeah, maybe enough to buy a new car, and then what?
26
I gotta pay tax on the car.
27
Repair, maintenance, goddamn kids pestering you to take them for a ride all the time.
28
At the end of the year, you figure the tax wrong, you gotta pay him out of your own pocket.
29
I tell you, Uncle Sam, he puts his hand in your shirt and squeezes your tit till it's purple.
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The man Ned gets a break.
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Ned!
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What's he doing?
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He said Rich Gidding.
34
Shut this up, Joe.
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Keep telling him.
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Some brother.
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Shit.
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Hey!
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Mr. Hadley, do you trust your wife?
40
Oh, that's funny.
41
You're gonna look funnier sucking my dick with no teeth.
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What I mean is, do you think she'd go behind your back, try to hamstring you?
43
That's it.
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Step aside, Mert.
45
This fucker's having himself an accident.
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You don't push him off the roof, because if you do trust her, there's no reason you can't keep that 35,000!
47
What did you say?
48
35,000.
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35,000?
50
All of it.
51
All of it?
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Every penny.
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You better start making sense.
54
If you want to keep all that money, give it to your wife.
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The IRS allows a one-time only gift to your spouse for up to $60,000.
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Bullshit!
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Tax-free?
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Tax-free.
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IRS can't touch one cent.
60
You knew that smart banker would kill his wife, aren't you?
61
Why should I believe a smart banker like you?
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So I can end up in here with you?
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It's perfectly legal.
64
Go ask the IRS.
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They'll say the same thing.
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Actually, I feel stupid telling you this.
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I'm sure you would have investigated the matter yourself.
68
Yeah, fucking A.
69
I don't need no smart wife-killing banker to tell me where the bear's sitting the buckwheat.
70
Of course not.
71
But you do need someone to set up the tax-free gift for you, and it'll cost you.
72
A lawyer, for example.
73
Bunch of ball-washing bastards.
74
Right.
75
I suppose I could set it up for you.
76
That would save you some money.
77
If you get the forms, I'll prepare them for you, Nearly free of charge.
78
I'd only ask three beers apiece for each of my coworkers.
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Co-workers, get him.
80
That's rich, ain't it?
81
I think a man working outdoors feels more like a man if you can have a bottle of suds.
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It's only my opinion.
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Server.
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What are you, Jimmy, staring at?
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Back to work.
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Let's go to work.
87
And that's how it came to pass, that on the second to last day of the job, the convict crew
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that tarred the plate factory roof in the spring of 49
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wound up sitting in a row at 10 o'clock in the morning, drinking icy cold, bohemia-style beer,
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courtesy of the hardest screw that ever walked a turn at Shawshank State Prison.
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Drink up while it's cold, ladies.
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The colossal prick even managed to sound magnanimous.
93
We sat and drank with the sun on our shoulders and felt like free men.
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Hell, we could have been tarring the roof of one of our own houses.
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We were the lords of all creation.
96
As for Andy, he spent that break hunkered in the shade.
97
A strange little smile on his face, watching us drink his beer.
98
Hey.
99
Want a cold one, Andy?
100
No, thanks.
101
Gave up drinking.
102
You could argue he'd done it to curry favor with the guards.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Shawshank Redemption - Rooftop Scene”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: tax, Andy, wife, banker, Irs. This video has 99 sentences and 703 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:22. The speaker talks at a natural 161 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 20 of its 99 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 |
|---|---|---|
| banker noun | /ˈbæŋkəː/ | One who conducts the business of banking; one who, individually, or as a member of a company, keeps an establishment for the deposit or loan of money, or for… |
| tar noun | /tɑɹ/ | Coal tar. |
| buck noun | /ˈbʌk/ | A male deer, antelope, sheep, goat, rabbit, hare, and sometimes the male of other animals such as the hamster, ferret, salmonid, shad, skunk and kangaroo. |
| apiece adverb | /əˈpis/ | Each by itself; for or to each one. |
| buckwheat noun | /ˈbʌkʍiːt/ | An Asian plant, of the species Fagopyrum esculentum. |
| colossal adjective | /kəˈlɑsəl/ | Extremely large or on a great scale. |
| hamstring noun | /ˈhæmstɹɪŋ/ | One of the great tendons situated in each side of the ham, or space back of the knee, and connected with the muscles of the back of the thigh. |
| hunker verb | /ˈhʌŋkɚ/ | To crouch or squat close to the ground or lie down. |
| magnanimous adjective | /mæɡˈnæn.ɪ.məs/ | Noble and generous in spirit. |
| pester verb | /ˈpɛstɚ/ | To bother, harass, or annoy persistently. |
| sweepstake noun | /ˈswipˌsteɪk/ | A lottery in which the prize or prizes constitute all the money paid by the participants. |
| convict verb | /ˈkɑnvɪkt/ | To find guilty, as a result of legal proceedings, or (informal) in a moral sense. |
| prick noun | /pɹɪk/ | A small hole or perforation, caused by piercing. |
| stare verb | /stɛɚ/ | To look fixedly (at something). |
| squeeze verb | /skwiːz/ | To apply pressure (to something) from two or more sides at once. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| drink up verb | To drink completely; to finish (one's drink). | |
| give up verb | To surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone). | |
| run off verb | To flee or depart quickly. | |
| set up verb | /ˌsɛt ˈʌp/ | To make ready for use. |
| step aside verb | To move out of the way of somebody or something. | |
| wind up verb | /waɪnd ˈʌp/ | To wind (rope, string, mainsprings, etc.) completely. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- That's what he left me.
- Hadley, do you trust your wife?
- What did you say?
- Why should I believe a smart banker like you?
- I'm sure you would have investigated the matter yourself.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form | Keep telling · start making |
| Future with “going to” be going to + verb — a plan or something you can see coming | gonna see · gonna do · gonna pay |
| Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction | you'll still end · They'll say · it'll cost |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 23 contractions and reduced forms, such as gonna, can't, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- Long words — get the stress right: magnanimous /mæɡˈnæn.ɪ.məs/, investigate /ɪnˈvɛs.tə.ɡeɪt/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like banker, tar, buck.
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.