Shadowing Practice: Winona Ryder’s Closet Picks - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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I'm Winona Ryder and I am so lucky to be in the Criterion closet.
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I basically feel like I'm at church.
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My church.
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This is like my scriptures.
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The scriptures I follow.
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Okay, let's get started.
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Ah, Avoir les enfants.
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So this is a great Louis Malle film.
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I think it's somewhat autobiographical.
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It's about a Catholic school in France, in occupied France, in World War II,
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who are hiding a few Jewish kids.
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And And also a great example of how you could make a film about a war without actually seeing any violence,
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but feeling the emotional toll and the emotional violence.
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Anyway, absolutely beautiful.
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I am going to pick The Learning Tree because I absolutely love Gordon Parks.
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He's one of my absolute favorite photographers of all time.
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and he directed a few films.
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He directed Shaft and he directed this, and I haven't seen it for a while.
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But I really, really love him. And
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if you're not familiar with his work do yourself a favor you will not regret looking at his absolutely stunning photographs
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this five films John Cassavetes Jenna Rollins is I think
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the the greatest actress who's who I've ever seen jenna had a huge impact on me doing what i'm doing
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because my mother was a projectionist and i
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when i was very very young i she had some connection and i got to watch cassavetes films
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at a really young age and i i didn't really understand what was going on
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because i was too young but i remember watching jenna
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and just that's i just wanted to do what she was doing Another absolute favorite,
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Ghost Dog by the brilliant Jim Jarmusch.
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I love every single movie he's made, every frame of every movie he's made.
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He's actually like, he's one of my favorite people.
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Jim has this ability to get subtlety that really works in all of his films.
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But I really do.
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I really do love this one I feel like I mean
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this is an obvious one down by law down by law
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lost in America I'm an enormous Albert Brooks fan this
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is a particularly hilarious movie about a couple who's dropping out of society and the desert inn has heart.
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If there's an expression all the kids you if you know you know.
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Anyway it's so great it's so great I love it.
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I know I keep saying that these are my favorite movies but this truly is.
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This is Meituan, directed by John Sayles.
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I really put Meituan on the top of my list.
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Along with this, Afterlife.
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It is a masterpiece.
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It's a movie about
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what happens when you die and you're sort of in between
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and they're trying to sort of figure out where you go
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and they ask each person to come up with a memory that they really remember that was a beautiful memory.
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And they recreate that memory and they show it to you and you're going to go live forever with that memory.
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I've never told anyone this,
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but the two most comforting sounds growing up for me was my dad's typewriter and my mom's footsteps.
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That would be what I would pick to live forever, because that's when I felt their presence, and they're sort of my favorite people in the world.
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So anyway, I hope I didn't give too much away.
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But these are what a double bill this would be.
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Okay, I'm going to leave, which is very difficult because I could literally be in here forever.
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But I may have to come back
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because word on the street is Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid is going to be in here.
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so it will be worth it just to come back and talk about that.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 58 sentences and 634 words to shadow. The speech runs for 5:36. The speaker talks at a steady 113 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
- scripture /ˈskɹɪpt͡ʃɚ/ (noun) — A sacred writing or holy book.
- actress /ˈæk.tɹɪs/ (noun) — A female who performs on the stage or in films.
- ghost /ɡoʊst/ (noun) — A disembodied soul; a soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death.
- comfort /ˈkʌm.fət/ (noun) — Contentment, ease.
- desert /ˈdɛz.ɚt/ (noun) — A barren area of land or desolate terrain, especially one with little water or vegetation; a wasteland.
- regret /ɹɪˈɡɹɛt/ (verb) — To feel sorry about (a thing that has or has not happened), afterthink: to wish that a thing had not happened, that something else had happened instead.
- photographer /fəˈtɑ.ɡɹə.fɚ/ (noun) — One who takes photographs, typically as an occupation.
- hilarious /hɪˈlɛə.ɹi.əs/ (adjective) — Very funny; causing great merriment and laughter.
- enormous /ɪˈnɔː.məs/ (adjective) — Extremely large; greatly exceeding the common size, extent, etc.
- photograph /ˈfoʊ.təˌɡɹæf/ (noun) — A picture created by projecting an image onto a photosensitive surface such as a chemically treated plate or film, CCD receptor, etc.
- closet /ˈklɑzɪt/ (noun) — A small room within a house used to store clothing, food, or other household supplies.
- occupy /ˈɑkjəpaɪ/ (verb) — To fill.
- masterpiece /ˈmæstɚˌpis/ (noun) — A piece of work that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career.
- recreate /ˈɹɛk.ɹi.eɪt/ (verb) — To give new life, energy or encouragement (to); to refresh, enliven.
- autobiographical /ˌɑtoʊˌbaɪəˈɡɹæfəkəl/ (adjective) — Of or relating to a person's life or an account of a person's life, as told by the subject.
Phrasal verbs you will hear
- come back (verb) — To return to a place.
- come up with (verb) — To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it.
- figure out (verb) — To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce.
- go on /ˈɡoʊˌɒn/ (verb) — To continue in extent.
- look at (verb) — To observe or watch.
- talk about (verb) — Used to draw attention to the speaker's characterization of someone or something.
- work in (verb) — To find time or space for, amid other things.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 15 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you're, didn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- Long words — get the stress right: photographer /fəˈtɑ.ɡɹə.fɚ/, hilarious /hɪˈlɛə.ɹi.əs/, autobiographical /ˌɑtoʊˌbaɪəˈɡɹæfəkəl/
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 scripture, actress, ghost.
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.