Tongue Twisters to help improve your child’s word pronunciation and improve their reading fluency
Tongue twisters have been around for a very long time, in fact, two very popular and very challenging tongue twisters, Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers and She Sells Seashells Down by the Seashore have been around since the 1800s!
More often than not, tongue twisters, can be spoken or sung in the form of a game, are designed to be difficult to articulate . While the laughter they produce when a group of children gather and attempt to read them aloud is infectious, tongue twisters are a fantastic way to improve a child’s fluency and pronunciation in a language. Through their usage, muscles in the tongue are strengthened which helps to develop better pronunciation and clearer speech patterns which in turn, helps to develop greater confidence during public speaking events, for example when a child gives a presentation in front of his/her classmates.
Tongue twisters are a great tool to show which sounds a person may struggle to pronounce and where more attention and practice is required in order for him/her become a more proficient speaker.
It is also a well-known fact that tongue twisters are not only utilised by children alone. Adults enjoy using them too! Particularly before a speaking event themselves as a warm-up activity! So if you haven’t used a tongue twister before, today might just be the day to begin using them.
Here is a list of my top 5 favourite tongue twisters for you to try!
1. Growing grey goats graze great green grassy groves.
2. 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. 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
4. Purple Paper People, Purple Paper People, Purple Paper People
5. She sells seashells by the seashore
…and for those of you who are Maltese speakers!
1. Platti ċatti platti fondi, int u tiekol tikkonfondi
2. Patri minn Napli mar Kapri għall-papri, Mela f'Napli m'hemmx papri, biex patri minn Napli mar Kapri għall-papri
3. Toni tagħna tani tina tonda talli tajtu tuta tajba
4. Qafas tal-qasab imdendel mas-saqaf
5. Trakk fuq trakk. Trakk taħt trakk
Here is a fun Tongue Twister Challenge, one in English and one in Maltese that you can download for your children. A special message of thanks is sent out to Ms. Maris, a fellow colleague, who helped out with the Maltese version of this game. Help your children to develop better pronunciation and clearer speech patterns, in both languages, in a fun-filled way by clicking on either of the games below to download your personal copy!
If you would like to see what other free activity sheets are available for you to download to use with either your own children or students, please click on the following link to take you to the pertinent section.
