Shadowing Practice: The Simpsons - LISA PRESIDENT ? (S29E05) - Learn English Speaking with Video
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1
so Don't!
2
Great birthday trip!
3
One more thing to remind me of my insignificance.
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Two adults, one student, one boy who just phones it in, and a senior citizen veteran on his birthday.
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Woo-hoo!
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182!
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Oh, that's your weight on the moon.
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Forged in a nanosecond in the Big Bang, Our universe is so enormous every NFL stadium could fit inside it
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approximately 13.8 billion years ago the universe consisted of a tiny singularity of enormous mass
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Which suddenly burst forth in the greatest explosion ever Damn it.
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I was developing film I can't hear it!
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Shut it up!
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I can't hear it!
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Louder!
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Happy birthday to you!
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Say my name, you cowards!
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I got you the one birthday present you can really use.
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A call girl that kills me after?
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A hearing aid.
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Huh?
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Oh!
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Ha-ha!
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Thank you.
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Listen, the planetarium said the universe is 13.8 billion years old, but I turned in a paper where I said million!
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I was just wondering if you were planning on breaking into the school any time soon.
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You know, like maybe tonight.
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Nope, not till next month.
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Please!
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How did you know this door was broken?
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Willy keeps me posted.
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I keep him in licorice.
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Look who's got pumpkin stickers!
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Bart, those are for Halloween!
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Come on, let's go!
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Okay, you fixed your stupid paper, and I scored the teacher's nicotine gum.
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What's that?
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Maybe it's the ghost of that boy who had to climb that rope in gym until his heart exploded.
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Principal Skinner, are you living in the school?
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Absolutely not.
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And you have no proof.
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Seymour, why are you living here?
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You have a house.
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And it's not my house, it's Mother's.
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But after what I just found out she did, I can never go back.
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Well, they say it's better to talk about it, but I never will.
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Okay, we understand.
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Seriously, don't ask what it was.
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Fine, I'll tell you what it was.
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Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a drummer.
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In a rock band?
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No, marching.
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I would have given all I had to be the dot on that eye.
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I did everything I could to make that band.
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In my application, I sent songs and choreographies.
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I'm a shoo-in.
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Then the fateful day came.
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Son, you got a letter from Ohio State University.
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I'm sorry.
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You were rejected.
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Uh, seems kind of thick.
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Well, they gave you a lot of reasons why you weren't good enough.
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There's more, I have to tell you.
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I was going to surprise Mother by papering her drawers.
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Then I found this.
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I was accepted.
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What makes this really tragic is it was also a personal handwritten letter from the director of admissions.
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Hmm.
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Let me tell you the wonderful present I just got.
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Dad, what a surprise!
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What's he doing here?
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Didn't we just see him yesterday?
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Maybe if we pretend we're tired, he'll go home.
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But you too!
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Goodbye!
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Dad, wait!
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What's wrong with the old coot?
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I got a hearing aid, and I heard everything you said.
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I am gone forever!
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A little mall walk will cheer me up.
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Old Guy, don't make eye contact.
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Old Guy, here he comes!
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Here he comes!
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I had to cheat.
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I was doing it for the bell curve.
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And with 99% of the vote in, the next president is Lisa Simps...
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Wait a minute.
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I'm being told she cheated on a paper in second grade.
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She is disqualified.
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No!
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Hey, welcome to Bob Hope's USO show.
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Oh, that could have been me on those drums.
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What'll it be?
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Can an old vet have a beer and tell you his troubles?
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Sure.
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So, um, my mother didn't tell me I got in.
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That's all right.
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You can enroll now. Can I?
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No, this is a school, not an 80s comedy.
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That letter you sent me, is that something you send every student?
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No, I only sent that once. To you.
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Oh, I'm sorry.
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Should I not have told you about the letter?
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No, it's actually good because I'm no longer sad.
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I'm angry.
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Loser, loser, loser.
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Missed opportunity all over now.
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Okay, Mother, it's time for an unpleasant confrontation.
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Class, I'm going to hand back your astronomy papers.
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Lisa Simpson, come to my desk.
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Miss Hoover, I have to confess, I changed my paper.
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I know you changed your paper.
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I don't care about your grade.
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Where the hell is my nicotine gum?
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My brother had it, and he was hanging around the class pet. Can I help you?
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What are you doing here?
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Your mother rented me your room.
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What do you want?
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You know?
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Yes.
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Oh, son, forgive me.
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I'm so sorry.
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What you did to me was the worst thing anyone could do to anyone.
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Son, I guess when you get right down to it, I've always felt marching bands are a colossal waste of time.
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The music and the walking both suffer.
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You may have a point. Is that a tear?
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Maybe.
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Please, I beg you, will you move back in?
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There are gonna have to be some changes.
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I want the parental controls taken off the TV.
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Welcome back, son.
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You still haven't found Grandpa?
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No, but I found this guy who's willing to take his place.
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I am Grandpapa.
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I don't think anyone can replace our grandpa.
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Yellow?
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Is this the no-good, ungrateful son of Abraham Simpson?
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Speaking.
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I'm gonna send him back to you, and I don't want to see him here again.
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When is Grandpa gonna get here?
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I know it's still bad-mouthing me behind my back.
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I can't believe it, but I miss him so much.
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Why?
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I love him too.
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I love how he knows what every building used to be.
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Come get your grandpa, you sweet slices of melon.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “The Simpsons - LISA PRESIDENT ?”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: paper, grandpa, birthday, letter, mother. This video has 144 sentences and 975 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:42. The speaker talks at a steady 127 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 80% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding. 27 of its 144 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 |
|---|---|---|
| litter noun | /ˈlɪt.ɚ/ | Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals. |
| grandpa noun | /ˈɡɹæm.pɑː/ | grandfather. |
| loser noun | /luzɚ/ | A person who loses; one who fails to win or thrive. |
| nicotine noun | /ˈnɪkətiːn/ | An alkaloid (C₁₀H₁₄N₂), commonly occurring in the tobacco plant. |
| bind verb | /ˈbaɪ̯nd/ | To tie; to confine by any ligature. |
| cheat verb | /ˈt͡ʃiːt/ | To violate rules in order to gain, or attempt to gain, advantage from a situation. |
| choreography noun | /ˌkɔɹiˈɑɡɹəfi/ | The art of creating, arranging and recording the dance movements of a work, such as a ballet. |
| colossal adjective | /kəˈlɑsəl/ | Extremely large or on a great scale. |
| disqualify verb | /dɪsˈkwɔləfaɪ/ | To make ineligible for something. |
| enroll verb | /ɪnˈɹəʊl/ | To enter (a name, etc.) in a register, roll or list |
| fateful adjective | /ˈfeɪtfəl/ | Momentous, significant, setting or sealing one’s fate. |
| handwritten adjective | Written with a person's hand, as opposed to typed. | |
| insignificance noun | the state of being insignificant | |
| licorice noun | /ˈlɪ.k(ə).ɹɪʃ/ | A plant of species Glycyrrhiza glabra, or sometimes in North America, the related American licorice plant Glycyrrhiza lepidota. |
| nanosecond noun | An SI unit of time equal to 10⁻⁹ seconds. Symbol: ns |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
| go back verb | To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time. |
| hand back verb | To return (something) to where it came from. |
| hang around verb | To stay, linger, or loiter. |
| take off verb | To remove. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- How did you know this door was broken?
- Seymour, why are you living here?
- Didn't we just see him yesterday?
- Should I not have told you about the letter?
- What are you doing here?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was broken · were rejected · was accepted |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've always felt · haven't found |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 30 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, can't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: licorice /ˈlɪ.k(ə).ɹɪʃ/, confrontation /ˌkɑn.fɹənˈteɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: choreography /ˌkɔɹiˈɑɡɹəfi/, disqualify /dɪsˈkwɔləfaɪ/, planetarium /plænɪˈtɛəɹɪəm/, singularity /ˌsɪŋɡjəˈlæɹətɪ/, astronomy /əˈstɹɑ.nə.mi/
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 litter, grandpa, loser.
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.