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Tongue twisters are a mouthful! They're phrases or sentences that are difficult to say
quickly because your tongue literally gets in a jam. They might not make a lot of sense,
and are usually very silly, but along with the fun and giggles, tongue twisters are a
powerful tool for improving pronunciation skills and fluency. As if that weren't enough to
gain, the alliteration that often accompanies tongue twisters are great for improving
accents through repetition of sounds.
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Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
We'll dive into those in more detail below. So, without further adeau, let's spice things up
a bit and inject a dose of silliness into the classroom. Try using some of these classic
tongue twisters combined with our useful suggestions for teaching.
Peter Piper
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Did Peter Piper pick a peck of
pickled peppers? If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where's the peck
of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
2. 2
Woodchuck
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.
3. 3
Seashells
She sells seashells on the seashore. The shells she sells are surely seashells. So
if she sells shells on the seashore, I'm sure she sells seashore shells.
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4. 4
Shoeshine Shop
I saw Suzie sitting in a shoeshine shop.
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Fuzzy Wuzzy
Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't very
fuzzy, was he?
8. 8
9. 9
10. q
Betty Botter
Betty Botter had some butter, “But,” she said, “this butter's bitter. If I bake this bitter
butter, it would 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.
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12. e
Doctor doctoring
When a doctor doctors a doctor, does the doctor doing the doctoring doctor as the
doctor being doctored wants to be doctored or does the doctor doing the doctoring
doctor as he wants to doctor?
13. r
Swiss wristwatches
Which wristwatches are Swiss wristwatches? I wish to wash my Irish wristwatch.
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How To Proceed
1. 1
Hand out copies of the tongue twister to your students and have them read it to
themselves.
2. 2
Discuss any words they may not be familiar with, like “batter” in Betty Botter. Make
sure they understand what the tongue twister is trying to say; there’s usually
a logic to what initially seems to be a random jumble of words.
3. 3
Ask a student to read it out loud, but don’t make any corrections. Make a note of
the problem areas. Do the same with the rest of the students in the class. Have
them take turns reading the tongue twister, and you’ll see which have greater
difficulties.
4. 4
Read each line or section, one at a time, and ask students to repeat after you. You
may wish to do this with one student only, small groups, or the entire class, but this
is a great opportunity to work especially with students who have pronunciation
difficulties.
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What do you think about our top ten tongue twisters? If you’re looking for even
more good ones to use in class be sure to check out our Tongue Twisters Worksheets,
where you’ll find plenty to choose from. What's your personal favorite?
P.S. If you enjoyed this article, please help spread it by clicking one of those sharing
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where we share more about creative, non-boring ways to teach English.
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