Tongue+Twisters

** Before class ** Choose (or write) a tongue twister in the target language that is suitable for the level of your students. You may choose a tongue twister that repeats a particular sound that has proved problematic for your students. ** In class ** 1. If you speak your students’ first language, elicit from them a tongue twister in their language and get them to teach it to you. 2. Write your chosen L2 tongue twister on the board. 3. Explain the meaning of any unknown words and check that students understand the meaning. 4. Repeat the tongue twister a few times to model the sounds, stress and intonation. 5. Say it again slowly a few times and have students ‘track’ it with you, i.e., say it simultaneously with you. 6. Say the twister again repeatedly, gradually increasing the speed, while students continue to track your speech. 7. Once you feel students have grasped the pronunciation, stress and intonation, divide the class into teams of 3-4. 8. The students in team 1 say the tongue twister one-by-one. Use a stopwatch to time how long it takes the team to say the twister. Repeat for every team in the class. 9. Decide on a winning team, based on best time and best pronunciation. ** Variation ** · Use a short poem with plenty of rhymes, e.g., a nursery rhyme. Rhymes often provide a rich source of pronunciation practise and can be motivating for adults as well as children. · Decide on a winning team based solely on best pronunciation and not on speed. ** Rationale ** Play with words, sounds and meaning is a common occurrence in language use and language learning. This is a fun activity, which also gives students practise in pronunciation, stress, and intonation.
 * Tongue Twisters **
 * ** Focus ** || Pronunciation and language play.  ||
 * ** Level ** || Any (adapt material to level)  ||
 * ** Time ** || 15-30 minutes  ||
 * ** Resources ** || A tongue twister in the target language.  ||


 * Here are a few tongue twisters:**

مشمشنا مش من مشمشكم خشبات الحبس خمس خشبات و خشبة خيط حرير على حيط خليل روحي و روحك يا روحي روحين بروح ان راحت روحك يا روحي روحي بتروح