Shadowing practice: Disney's Encanto l Story of a Scene l Rebecca Perez

This clip is not a movie scene, it's a short interview, and that is what makes it good material for american accent training. Walt Disney Animation Studios asked artist Rebecca Perez about a moment in Encanto that stayed with her, and she answers in one long, personal take, 17 lines at a measured 179 words per minute, faster than 42 percent of the catalogue but still one thread of speech to follow, not overlapping dialogue.

If you're learning english with movies, this is the version behind the movie: she describes the scene where Abuela and Mirabel sit on the rock, then traces it back to her own family's arrival from Cuba. The emotion is real, not scripted, so her pace shifts with the content: the sentences about her family run long and unbroken, while the ones about pressure land short and heavy. That shift in rhythm is exactly what makes this clip worth using for english speaking practice, you have to move your voice, not just repeat words.

At B2 this recording is mostly one continuous sentence stitched together with "and", the way people actually talk when they're remembering something, not writing it. Three lines are worth building your english shadowing practice around.

• This opening line is short and abstract, said as a headline before the story starts: "The specificity of it is what makes it universal." Practice landing stress on specificity and universal without rushing either word.
• This line ends mid thought, on purpose, the way spoken memory works: "Mirabe like takes her hand and says I can finally see you know all the struggles all the sacrifices that". Say it as one unbroken run and let the next line finish it.
• The doubled phrase here is the emotional beat of the whole answer: "It was again, just a dream, a dream I never even knew I had to have worked on the film". Copy that exact repetition rather than smoothing it into one dream.

Work this clip in the order the story actually builds, not top to bottom by sentence length. That is how you improve english speaking and listening together on a piece this personal.

• Start with line 1, "The specificity of it is what makes it universal." Repeat it slowly, then at full speed, until the two stressed words land clearly.
• Take lines 3 and 4 together, from "There are so many relatable scenes" through "on the the rock and". It is one breath group, shadow it slow first, then bring it up to the clip's own 179 words per minute.
• Move to line 5, "Mirabe like takes her hand and says I can finally see you know all the struggles all the sacrifices that". Shadow it as one breath, then read straight into line 6's list of sacrifice without a new pause.
• Close on line 16, "It was again, just a dream, a dream I never even knew I had to have worked on the film". Keep the repeated words exactly as said, that repetition is the whole clip's payoff.