Tongue Twisters

Setup

You will need some tongue twisters to write/project on the board. If you have the Internet and a projector, simply use our ESL Challenge Generator and select ‘Tongue Twisters’ from the dropdown menu.

Activity

1. Display a tongue twister on the board.
2. Say it once yourself, modelling and stressing the correct pronunciation.
3. Say it together as a class multiple times, gradually increasing the speed.
4. Repeat with as many tongue twisters as desired.
5. Optionally, ask the students to then write their own tongue twisters. You could give each student/pair a different phoneme. They then take turns writing it on the board for the class to perform.

The standalone Tongue Twisters ESL activity is quite basic, so it is often combined with other games. For example, you could use tongue twisters as the challenge/forfeit in a game of Hot Potato or Musical Markers. You could even use them for class management as a ‘punishment’.

Target Language

The Tongue Twisters ESL activity is perfect for practising pronunciation with any level. Try and choose tongue twisters involving sounds your students have trouble with. It works great as a warmer or time-filler.

If you’re teaching phonics, this activity allows you to really hone in on single phonemes. Plus it makes repetitive practice fun! As long as the students are of a sufficient age/level, you should definitely ask them to write their own too, using sounds you have studied recently.