Are you going to an interview or an English oral examination? Warm up and improve your articulation with Tongue Twisters.
Did you know tongue twisters teach the brain to connect tongue movements to sounds? It is an important motor skill just like learning to ride a bike. Before going on stage, Actors, politicians, and motivational speakers use tongue twisters to warm up by exercising the muscles in their mouth, so they can gain clarity in their pronunciation and produce clearer speech patterns, its beneficial for correcting previously difficult syllables.
As a English Second Language learner, you can practise, as a learning exercise, having fun with tongue twisters. First of all, the tongue twister must be spoken slowly; to give you the time to say it correctly with its proper pronunciation and articulation. When you're more confident, you can increase the speed until you're able to say the tongue twister at various speeds without mispronouncing or tripping up your tongue.
Here are a few to practise.
Peter Piper ( You can see a Youtube video, walking you through the pronunciation, with the subtitles and the IPA code : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqrfk-RdRDU&t=24s
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
One of the shortest but hardest ones is to say: Toy Boat, over and over again.
Do you need to practise you TH sounds? Try saying Red Leather, Yellow Leather over and over again. Have fun.
October 26, 2018