Speaking Activity #2

Tongue Twisters

Applicable for all levels
Length: 15 minutes

The aim is to improve pronunciation, rhythm and stress, to take away the fear of making mistakes
while speaking and to have some fun while learning.
The Tongue Twister’s difficulty depends on students' level. It does not have to be meaningful. Many Tongue
Twisters are just a challenging grouping of words based on their pronunciation not their meaning. I find it helpful
to have easily accessible in class pronunciation activities so students can look at the position of instructor's mouth.
When you use tongue twisters in class to work on pronunciation with your students, take some time to point out
where your mouth is when you produce the target sounds and make sure your students have their mouths in the
same positions. In Tina’s case (speaking sample 3), this is a good activity to practice words that have the same syllables except for a single sound (like ship/sheep, wish/wash).

Create a purposeful Tongue Twister. Find the criteria that your students need to practice and create Tongue Twister
(e.g /sh/, /θ/ or/ð/ sounds).

Write down the twister on board, read it out load and ask students to repeat it two or three times.

• Sean shows his shiny shoes to Shane. 
• He thought, she thinks those things are tiny.
• Big fat cat sat on the rat.
• Sit on your seat.

Then, ask students to read it as fast as they can without making a mistake. Erase some of the words you have written
and have students say it again, filling in the blanks, until they remember and pronounce the Tongue Twister correctly.
After that, divide students into groups give each group a word (e.g. which) and ask them to create a Tongue Twister with
similar syllables words.  Ask them to read it and try to say it as fast as they can. This is a fun interactive speaking practice
that would help students to practice and remember words' sounds, rhythm and stress.

Here is another example for Tongue Twisters:

Betty Botter bought some butter,

"But," she said, "this butter's bitter.

If I bake this bitter butter,

It will make my batter bitter.

But a bit of better butter -

That would make my batter better."

So she bought a bit of butter,

Better than her bitter butter,

And she baked it in her batter,

And the batter was not bitter.

So 'twas better Betty Botter

Bought a bit of better butter.

Now, erase some of the words and have students say it again, filling in the blanks.

Betty Botter bought some _____,

"But," she said, "this butter's _____.

If I ____ this bitter butter,

It will make my _____ bitter.

But a bit of ____ butter -

That would make my ____ better."

So she _____ a bit of butter,

Better than her _____ butter,

And she _____ it in her batter,

And the _____ was not bitter.

So 'twas better Betty _____

Bought a bit of better _____.

Refrences:

IELTS Essentials from IDP (2014), Band 5 – IELTS Speaking test sample – Part 2 (Tina)
[video], retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0n_1VEXLK4

Rachel's English (2017), English Tongue Twisters,  American Accent, [video], retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McJ6JI_2JQo