International Tongue Twister Day
International Tongue Twister Day
In 2012, International Tongue Twister Day is on 7th
November. Why not use this month to introduce
tongue twisters into your classroom and have
some fun with pronunciation?
Tongue twisters can be great fun to try out. They
are a way to practise getting the mouth used to
certain sounds. In class you can get students to
have short tongue twister competitions to see how
fast they can go – start slowly, and each time you
repeat the tongue twister, try to go a little faster.
Mary
Anning
found
the
fossils
of
prehistoric animals. Mary Anning was not
a scientist, but her finds changed science. Famous
scientists came to see her. They wanted to see the
fossils she found.
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/famouspeople
‘The sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick,’ is
recorded as the most difficult one by the Guinness
Book of World Records.
Some tongue twisters have some history behind
them. Why not get students to search the internet
and discover the truth behind these two famous
tongue twisters – Peter Piper and She Sells
Seashells. Ask students to make displays to put up
in the classroom telling the stories of these people.
Some information for teachers
She Sells Seashells
This tongue twister is based on a girl named Mary
Anning.
When did she live?
Tongue Twister Culture Quest
You know the story of Mary Anning, why not ask
your students to do an internet culture quest to
discover the secret truth behind this tongue
twister?
Instructions
Students work in small teams to discover the story
of Mary Anning.
Presentation
Mary was born in 1799. She grew up while Britain
was at war with France. She was 16 in the year of
the Battle of Waterloo (1815). She was alive when
Victoria became Queen, in 1837. Mary Anning died
in 1847.
Students can make small displays or posters to put
around the classroom to show the story of this
tongue twister. Some groups could give a short
oral presentation of their discovery.
Why is she famous?
It’s also fun to have competitions to see who can
say the tongue twister fastest.
Today many children like finding out about
dinosaurs. When Mary Anning was a child, no one
knew about these long-dead animals. Mary's fossilhunting helped change the way people thought
about the world.
Edite Frias · Neil Mason · Tiago Tavares
Extra challenge
Discover the secret story behind Peter Piper!
Learn, and have fun!
International Tongue Twister Day
Tongue Twister teaching ideas
The Tongue Twister Culture Quest is one idea of
what you can do with your students. Here are some
other options you might like to try.
The goal of these exercises is not to make work for
the students in the traditional way with worksheets.
The idea is to make a fun activity which gets
students practising their tongue twisters outside the
classroom and having fun with English.
1. 1. Tongue Twister Team Competition
Divide the class into small teams.
Choose a tongue twister that all the teams can
practise saying in their group.
After they practise, the team chooses their best
person to do it in front of the class.
They have 3 opportunities to do it correctly.
The teacher writes down the best time for correctly
said tongue twisters.
Repeat the game with a different tongue twister
each time with a different team member reciting it
in public.
2. Tongue Twister Poster Challenge
Some students love design and creating displays.
Ask them to make something to display in the
classroom to show examples of different tongue
twisters or the story behind them.
They can also make small posters with illustrations
for different tongue twisters.
2. 3. Tongue Twister Research
This is similar to the Culture Quest, however, the
Culture Quest asks students to find out about the
person in the tongue twister (Peter Pepper, or
Mary Anning).
The tongue twister research asks students to
discover the origin of the tongue twister.
Who wrote it? Why? When?
3. 4. Write a Tongue Twister
This is a challenging exercise, but if you have
students who would like to try – hey WHY NOT?
Encourage them to attempt this challenge!
Tongue Twisters
Allie’s alligator ate apples.
Bobby’s brother bought beautiful
bowls.
Carter carried carrots carefully.
Donna danced during dinner.
Earlene eagerly eats eel.
Fred fell feet first.
George gladly goes golfing.
Haddie has hot hamburgers.
Ida itches in Idaho.
Jackie joyfully jumps Jupiter.
Karla kept kicking kangaroos.
Leo likes lime lollipops.
Resources
http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/tongue-twisters
http://www.esl-resources.com/tonguetwisters
http://tonguetwisters2009.wikispaces.com/Resources
Edite Frias · Neil Mason · Tiago Tavares
Mark makes marvelous machines.
Natalie noticed neat nuts.
Oscar observed opened olives.
Penny pinched pink petals.
Queen Quitan quilts.
Ralph really runs relays.
Sammy smells spoiled squash.
Taylor took two turtles to Tennessee.
Ulma usually understands ugly
unicorns.
Vera views very vain veterinarians.
Walter watches wiggly walruses.
Xavier x-rays extra axes.
Yesterday, Yancy yanked yellow
yearbooks.
Zeke’s zealous zany zippers.
International Tongue Twister Day
Practise these tongue twisters
Betty Botter
Betty Botter had some butter,
“But,” she said, “this butter’s bitter.
If I bake this bitter butter,
it would make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter –
that would make my batter better.”
So she bought a bit of butter,
better than her bitter butter,
and she baked it in her batter,
and the batter was not bitter.
So ‘twas better Betty Botter
bought a bit of better butter.
Peter Piper
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers?
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
She sells seashells
She sells seashells by the seashore.
The shells she sells are surely seashells.
So if she sells shells on the seashore,
I’m sure she sells seashore shells.
Edite Frias · Neil Mason · Tiago Tavares