Mastering Pronunciation 9 Tongue twisters

A stall selling seashells by the seashore

Can you guess the tongue twister?

Image Credit
Matt R via Stable Diffusion

Good practice is targeted and consistent. Tongue twisters are a perfect way to zero in on your own pronunciation challenges. This lesson will help you pick or create some good tongue twisters, and show you how to use them correctly for rapid improvement. 

Introduction

Do you know any tongue twisters in your native language? Tell your teacher. What about in English?

We want to get them to reel off a tongue twister at breakneck speed. See how they go with the English one.

Examples:

  • Red lorry, yellow lorry.
  • He threw three free throws.
  • Six Czech cricket critics.
Warm Up

What are the sounds in English you need to improve? Tell your teacher.

Make a note of the difficult sounds. We will re-visit them in the practice.

Your student should have a really, really good understanding of what sounds they struggle with. This was covered in the first few lessons of the course (in particular Mastering Pronunciation 4 Problems with vowels & Mastering Pronunciation 5 Problems with consonants. Build a list with them. You will use this as the basis for the language section.

If they cannot answer this, then they are not following the mastery course as designed and they will fail. Give them an extremely hard time for being lazy and making excuses! Make them go back to Lessons 3 & 4 and review their weaknesses for homework.

A list of 75 tongue twisters
Language

Let's learn how to use tongue twisters correctly.

Pick one

  1. Choose a random tongue twister from this list of 75 tongue twisters or one you already know.
  2. Say it out loud for your teacher.
  3. Listen to your teacher say it & repeat it back.

Invent one

Your teacher will now help you make up your own tongue twister.

The point: in your native language a tongue twister is a feat of dexterity and speed. Not so if you are building up muscle memory, smoothness and correct speaking. SLOW. RIGHT. DOWN. This is the motto of the lesson:

Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

More info and detail in the detailed notes below (click to expand).

Pick one

Help the student pick a tongue twister that is going to help them practice sounds or clusters of sounds they find difficult using the list linked above (this one: 75 tongue twisters).

  1. Ask them to say it once.
  2. Now you say it really slow with super clear diction and enunciation.
  3. Ask them to copy slowly, clearly and smoothly and then use the target from the part on clarity in the language section in lesson 1 to evaluate themselves.
  4. Repeat (2) & (3) a few times to drive home the message that slow and smooth is the objective.

Invent one 

Make up a tongue twister that focuses on a difficult sound or sounds for your student.

  • It should only be three or four words.
  • It doesn't need to make sense.
  • It also doesn't need to trip people up, so it can just be the same sound repeated ("Sheep eat peas")
  • It should be memorable and something that they can practice throughout the course of their day.
  • Your starting point can be IPA or spelling (e.g. /eɪ/, /ɑ/ and /æ/ or "a")

Examples:

  1. For someone who struggles with /v/ and /b/: Viviane's visitors visa.
  2. For someone who struggles with /thr/: Three thrifty philanthropists. 

Don't forget vowel sounds with minimal pairs (as per Mastering Pronunciation 4 Problems with vowels, but remember this is going to be dependent on your own accent!

  1. For someone who struggles with /ɪ/, /æ/ and /e/: Bid for a bad bed.
  2. For someone who is working on "a" sounds: Alan ate apples.

Whatever works. It doesn't have to be complex. It just needs to include the sounds and be something they an remember. Bonus points if there is some new vocab in there as with (2) above. Make sure you practice slow and clear pronunciation. Not speed! 

Practice

Go back to the list from the warm up of consonants, consonant clusters and vowel sounds you have trouble with.

Make up or find a three- or four-word tongue twister for your most challenging sounds. Practice them a few times with your teacher. Remember to be slow and smooth.

HOMEWORK

Recall Mastering Pronunciation 4 Problems with vowels and Mastering Pronunciation 5 Problems with consonants and use your list of the consonants, consonant clusters and vowel sounds you have trouble with. Use your list to work through all the sounds and attack the ones you find most difficult. Complete your list of tongue twisters. Make a plan for practicing them.

Practice Notes (detailed)

Objectives:

  1. For the student to produce a list of easy-to-remember tongue twisters they can use to practice the sounds they find challenging.
  2. To find times, places and ways that they can actively practice them every day.

The practice section here is about the following:

  • Reinforcing the slow and smooth approach. Speed will develop naturally.
  • Repetition is your friend. You are not one and done. Fight against the boredom and keep doing reps.

Hold your student to account:

  • They should already know the sounds they find tough without your help. If they don't, they are not taking this seriously. They will not succeed. 
  • They need to buy into the idea that this is something that they have to put time and energy into, but all it requires is saying these out loud in the shower, on the way to the station, when they are doing the dishes. Whatever.

Remind them: they are responsible for their own success. We cannot do this for them.

If your student is higher level, give them this 5-minute video to watch for homework on 'speaking vertically'. The essential point here is to open your mouth and clearly enunciate your words.

Here is another good list of consonant clusters with examples.