TTO Experience ~ Experience Fluency : January 2014

In our last post we talked about the benefit of using tongue twisters to improve your English pronunciation. Here's a fun way to improve your tongue twister skills--try rapping them! Watch the video below, and then give it a try (you can stop the video periodically while you view, and attempt some of the tongue twisters yourself!) You know this guy must have practiced a lot before sitting down to entertain us with this video!

And now, how about tongue twisters for two: Betty Botter's butter.

Now YOU try!

Betty Botter bought a bit of butter.

The butter Betty Botter bought was a bit bitter

And made her batter bitter.

But a bit of better butter

Makes better batter.

So Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter,

Making Betty Botter's bitter batter better.

We gave "Tongue Twisting in Twos" a try. Here's how we did it:

Students formed "teams" of two and chose a tongue twister (or two) from some printed on a handout* (see below).
Teams had 15 minutes to practice using a rap-style rhythm, and then came to the front of the class for a rap performance.

Now take a look at some of the results!

*Tongue Twisters
A tutor who tooted the flute
Tried to tutor two tooters to toot
Said the two to the tutor
“Is it tougher to toot
Or to tutor two tooters to toot?”

Silly Sally swiftly shooed seven silly sheep.
The seven silly sheep Silly Sally shooed
Shilly-shallied south.
These sheep shouldn’t sleep in a shack;
Sheep should sleep in a shed.

Three sweet switched Swiss witches
Watch three washed Swiss witch Swatch watch switches.
Which sweet switched Swiss witch watches
Which washed Swiss witch Swatch watch switch?

A big bug bit a bold bald bear and the bold bald bear bled blood badly.

Brisk brave brigadiers brandished broad bright blades, blunderbusses, and bludgeons — Balancing them badly.

Can you can a canned can into an uncanned can like a canner can can a canned can into an uncanned can?

If you must cross a course cross cow across a crowded cow crossing, cross the cross coarse cow across the crowded cow crossing carefully.

Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager managing an imaginary menagerie.

What is a tongue twister? According to Wikipedia, "A tongue-twister is a phrase that is designed to be difficult to articulate properly, and can be used as a type of spoken (or sung) word game. Some tongue-twisters produce results which are humorous (or humorously vulgar) when they are mispronounced, while others simply rely on the confusion and mistakes of the speaker for their amusement value."

Tongue twisters are found in all languages. I'll bet you can say a few in Dutch--or another language you know. Watch this video to hear some tongue twisters from native speakers in a few different languages.

Tongue twisters are a great way to practice pronunciation. Here are a few of some common English tongue twisters. They may look easy, but try to say each one 5 times as fast as you can and see how easy it is to loose control of your tongue!

She sells sea shells on the sea shore

A proper copper coffee pot

Around the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran

Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry

A big black bug bit a big black bear

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

You can find many, many more English examples here.

Here's another challenge for you!

So, what is the most difficult tongue twister? MIT researchers in Boston think they found the most difficult combination of sounds ever. You can read more about the research in this article from Mail Online, but in the meantime, let's see if YOU can say the world's hardest tongue twister: "pad kid poured curd pulled cold"

Tongue Twister Lesson:

Once the concept of tongue twisters was introduced, students were given the opportunity to create their own.

This activity is a variation of the old Consequences game. A paper with these questions was given to each student:

Write your first name
What did she/he do?
Where?
When?
Why? Because…

Instructions:

Get into teams of about 5 people.
On a piece of blank paper write your answer to question 1.
Pass the paper to the person on your right. Write an answer to question 2 on the paper you have just received. Your answer must begin with the first sound in the person's name (e.g. Bob - bought a bike).
Pass the paper on again and write an answer to question 3, again using the sound at the beginning of the name.
Continue until all the questions have been answered.

Here are some of the tongue twisters students came up with!

Hugo hugged a huge heart in his head when he hurt the bird he took a shirt.
Nelke knocked in the north of New York at night because Nelke is cool.
Tycho treated Tom in Turkey on Tuesday because he needed to treat a Tom Turkey in Turkey.
Danielle danced a dipidedoo dance in a dipidedoo competition on a dipidedoo day because she loves dancing the dipidedoo.
Michelle made a money maker in the Mac on Money Monday because she loves making money on Money Mondays.
Teun sold Tom in tiny Tilburg at ten to ten because that's Teun's town.
Rens ran the road on the runway on Sunday because Rens is a runner.
Sander saw a saw in Shanghai on Sunday because he was scared.
Veerle fell flawless in France on Friday because she was frightened.
Wanne was worried in Wonderland when we were walking with wonder worries.
Miriam muddled in mud in Middelburg on Mud Monday because she wanted to be muddy.
Romy ran a race 'round the rivers while rainy rivers rained all day.
Hannah hit her hand helping in Harlem on helping day 'cause Harlem helped.
Mees met a monkey in the maze when monkeys murmured because he liked Muppets
Bodine bought bacon in a bacon store while the bacon was baked the bacon was unbaked.
Wessel waited in Wenonah one week in the wild weather.
Josef juggles in the jungle in January and he giggles.
Emma eats eggs anywhere, everytime, because eggs are excellent.
Iris ironed in Iraq when war was on Idols she wasn't important.
Roald runs in Roden at a rare race because he was running.
Roemer runs on the road in Romania as a rolling rat because Roald was wrecking Robin.
Jaimy joined a jogging group at a gym in July and makes a joke of joining the jogging group.
Danielle danced with a donkey at Dusseldorf in Deutstland in December because she doesn't dance with a dude.
Luna looked at a long person in London from the London Eye at lunch time. She loves the long person.
Vianne visited Venezuela on Victory Day because vegetarians hate her.
Jasmijn jumped in Jamaica in January because it's Julia's birthday.
Beau bought a ball in the bouncyhouse between June and July because she built a building.
Inger irritated and insect in India in the middle of the month--I'm happy lots!
Hannah handed in her homework in her house on a holiday because she hates holidays.
Silvy sat on a snake at summer school on a sunny summer day on the seventh of September on Sunday because she sat on a spider earlier, but the spider spit.
Nino ate noodles in Norway at nine past nine and now he needs to knock.
Poetra pushed Peter Pan from a pallet in Praag when the ponies pranced he wanted a pear.
Noah needs nothing in Neverland and nothing needs Noah.
Colin called in the club at 5 o'clock
Bas bit a bear while laughing in the bath when everyone was playing basketball.
Jasper jazzed in the jazz club and just last night he made a joke.
Mitch must make the mountain by Monday because he's moody.
Julian jumped from a plane in jail in July because he's jelly.
Iris irritated in the Intratuin on I-day because she's ill.
Rosalie read a red book in a red room on a rainy day because she reads red books.
Mara made a milkshake at a market on Mara Milkshake Market Day.
Lina liked a Lamp in Lollypopland a long time ago lamps are what she likes.
Joy enjoyed her jojo in the jellybean store when she jogged she jabbered.