Job Discussion Forums

[Guy Courchesne]

Ahem.

What kind of tongue twisters, if any, have you used in class? I found it interesting that some tongue twisters that have my own Anglo tongue perplexed are often easy for Mexican students. So, it was necessary to come up with some that gave my students a bit of a challenge and a reason to go home to stand in front of the mirror and spit for awhile.

Chinese and Japanese speakers struggle with Ls and Rs, correct? As Spanish speakers have a hard time with w's, g', and th's, I've often worked these into some perplexing passages.

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I thought through the thicket although the thirty third thing there thought through

[Nauczyciel]

"She sells sea shells on the sea shore"

It takes a lot of time for my Polish students to get this one right!

[denise]

There are several good websites with tongue twisters--a quick google search will turn 'em up. I sometimes use them in listening/speaking classes, and I choose them according to which particular sounds we are working on that week--r/l, s/th/z, etc.

d

[Glenski]

Sadly, in Japan high schools, there is little attention paid to pronunciation in most cases. When I have introduced it in rare occasions, I have to focus on what Japanese students are weak in... L/R, V/B, S/Th variations.

The most common tongue twisters I have used are these two.

Red Lorry, Yellow Lorry

The sixth sick sheik's sixth sick sheep's sick.

Even in conversation schools, this is largely ignored.

[spidey]

Here's a couple of old favorites of mine...

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,
and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would
if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

And...here's one with w's...

One-One was a racehorse.
Two-Two was one, too.
When One-One won one race,
Two-Two won one, too.

And one more with sh's and th's together...

The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick.

And this one because it's just plain cool...


I am not the pheasant plucker,
I'm the pheasant plucker's mate.
I am only plucking pheasants
'cause the pheasant plucker's running late.

That's all for now...

S

[kev7161]

my Chinese students seem to enjoy:

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
If a woodchuck could chuck wood?
A woodchuck would chuck
All the wood he could chuck
If a woodchuck could chuck wood.

It really is a challenge for them not to add "-uh" at the end of most every word

(how much-uh wood-uh would a wood-uh-chuck-uh chuck-uh, if a wood-uh-chuck-uh could-uh chuck-uh wood-uh?) It's cute to hear them do it this way (and the other kids get a good laugh out of it), but it's a good opportunity to try and teach them to stop adding "-uh" to the end of all their words!

[Ariadne]

Sometimes when I have a few minutes of classtime left I will ask the students to make sentences using words that all start with the same letter. I make it a race to see who can come up with sentences the fastest. When the students have a sentence they then stand and read it to the class. It's fun. Gloriously gangling gams gave Gertie gumption. The students usually use simpler words, but they never cease to amuse and surprize me. The students get some practice making sentences (albeit strange ones) and working on pronunciation.
.

[shmooj]

Well, as this is a SERIOUS thread, could I ask those of you who use tongue twisters to justify how this helps students acquire the phonemes in question?

I'm not saying it doesn't, merely asking if anyone has found research that tends to suggest tongue twisters help. I haven't myself so I don't use them... perhaps someone like Professor Moriarty or Moonraven does as they seem well read.

[denise]

shmooj--

When I use them, it's only for about five minutes--certainly not the crux of the lesson, as I am equally uncertain about their actual use. I haven't used them regularly in several months, but when they do pop up, it is in the context of the weekly pronunciation practice/quizzes that my students have. Every week there is a different set of minimal pairs, including a pair of troublesome sounds. For their quiz, all they have to do is hear the difference, but I make the students pair up and practice pseudo-quizzing each other as well, so they have to produce the sounds as well. If I can find a neat-o tongue twister featuring the weekly troublesome sounds, I will throw it in just for fun. The students are generally amused for about five minutes anyway. Then it's time to move on.

d

[hesterprynne]

With Chinese students, I think tongue twisters are helpful in reiterating the correct pronunciation of certain letter combinations which are not pronounced the same in pinyin. They say "sh" instead of "s" for 'sa' 'so' and 'su'. I started with "She sells seashells by the seashore" and went to "saw see sigh so sue" and "shawl sheet shy show shoes".

[dajiang]

I think they definitely are great teaching materials.
Dunno about official research, but it seems to me a tongue twister helps a student to practise making sounds they find hard.
In other word to create those muscles in the mouth they lack to be more fluent.

In some cases there's a rhythm in the sentence to follow, and there's usually a lot of gemination, and words are really connected. Great for practising fluency. (as was mentioned before, Chinese ss tend to say '-uh' after every final consonant. Tongue twisters are a nice tool to cure this with)

I've also had ss make their own tongue twisters. Just write down a list of troublesome consonants (series like s-sh-th), and ss pick one or two they find hard, and try to come up with a tongue twister of their own. When they're done the other ss in their group have to practise it until they think their pronunciation is acceptable.

This way they get to use their vocab as well (or dictionaries, why not?). The meaning of a tongue twister doesn't matter that much, as long as the grammar is alright.

(btw, i've noticed Japanese ppl can say the 'r' and the 'l', but they tend to switch them. Or is it more they've got a sounds that's about in the middle of the 'l' and 'r'?)

[merlin]

Discussions A-Z both Intermediate and advzance have a few nice ones.

The one I myself have difficulty with is:

The sixth sheiks sheep's sick.

Or something like that.

[Glenski]

I don't use tongue twisters much, and when I do, I don't use JUST tongue twisters.

I start by presenting one to the class. We warm up to it slowly, then do it slightly faster, then faster still, till everyone is laughing or exhausted.

Next step is to do specific phoneme practice.

After several activities on the one or two phonemes, we repeat the tongue twister, and people see that they do it better.

[Guy Courchesne]

[carnac]

I use tongue twisters as a way to relax the class after/during/before looooong sessions of work. (5 hours a day, 5 days a week, intense!)

So, ahem back atcha.

Theophilus Thistle, the thistle sifter,
in sifting thousands of unsifted thistles,
thrust thrice three thousand thistles
through the thick of his thumb.

or, poetically:

A fly and a flea in a flue
didn't know quite what to do.
Said the fly "Let us flee!"
"Let us fly!" said the flea,
So they flew through a flaw in the flue"

Or, more dangerously:

I slit the sheet.
The sheet I slit.
Upon the slitted sheet I sit.

You might enjoy http://rumkin.com/fun/ttwisters/

Finally, and I warn you, this is long, is a song guaranteed to challenge the teacher as well as the students:

Now the ladies of the harem of the court of King Caractacus
Were just passing by,
(All together),
Now the ladies of the harem of the court of King Caractacus
Were just passing by,
Now the ladies of the harem of the court of King Caractacus
Were just passing by,
Now the ladies of the harem of the court of King Caractacus
Were just passing by,

Now the noses on the faces of the ladies of the harem
Of the court of King Caractacus
Were just passing by,
(All together),
Now the noses on the faces of the ladies of the harem
Of the court of King Caractacus
Were just passing by,
Now the noses on the faces of the ladies of the harem
Of the court of King Caractacus
Were just passing by,
Now the noses on the faces of the ladies of the harem
Of the court of King Caractacus
Were just passing by.

Now the boys who put the powder on the noses on the faces
Of the ladies of the harem of the court of King Caractacus
Were just passing by,
(All together),
Now the boys who put the powder on the noses on the faces
Of the ladies of the harem of the court of King Caractacus
Were just passing by,
Now the boys who put the powder on the noses on the faces
Of the ladies of the harem of the court of King Caractacus
Were just passing by,
Now the boys who put the powder on the noses on the faces
Of the ladies of the harem of the court of King Caractacus
Were just passing by.

Now the fascinating witches who put the scintillating stitches
In the britches of the boys who put the powder on the noses on the faces
Of the ladies of the harem of the court of King Caractacus
Were just passing by,
(All together without taking a breath),
Now the fascinating witches who put the scintillating stitches
In the britches of the boys who put the powder on the noses on the faces
Of the ladies of the harem of the court of King Caractacus
Were just passing by,
Now the fascinating witches who put the scintillating stitches
In the britches of the boys who put the powder on the noses on the faces
Of the ladies of the harem of the court of King Caractacus
Were just passing by,
Now the fascinating witches who put the scintillating stitches
In the britches of the boys who put the powder on the noses on the faces
Of the ladies of the harem of the court of King Caractacus
Were just passing by.

Now if you want to take some pictures of the fascinating witches
Who put the scintillating stitches in the britches of the boys
Who put the powder on the noses on the faces
Of the ladies of the harem of the court of King Caractacus,
You're too late!
Because they've just... passed... by!

A sadist is someone who is kind to masochists.