Practice pronunciation with English tongue twisters

Hello everyone and welcome. For those that don’t know us, I’m Vicki

and I’m British. And I’m Jay and I’m American and we’ve

got something different today. Yes. We’re going to get our mouths working

with some tongue twisters. Tongue twisters.

A tongue twister is a phrase that’s difficult

to say quickly and correctly. So they’re great pronunciation practice.

And we’ve got some English learners to help us. Let’s get started.

OK. The first one is ‘She sees cheese’. She sees cheese?

Yeah, so with her eyes. She sees cheese. Let’s see how our learners did.

She sees cheese. She sees cheese. She sees cheese. She sees cheese. All right. She sees

cheese. She sees cheese. She sees cheese. She sees cheese. She sees cheese. She sees cheese.

They’re good.

Yes, now the trick is to start slowly and then speed up.

Yup, speak slowly first and make sure you pronounce the start and endings of the words

very clearly. She sees cheese.

You have to put your tongue up and back a little for the sh sound, then bring it forward

for s. And cheese starts with a t sound. tsh. So it’s t and sh together? tsh

That’s right. Try it. She sees cheese. She sees cheese. Now faster. She sees cheese.

She shes... Oh.. Try it with our students.

She sees cheese. She sees cheese. She sees cheese. She sees cheese. She sees cheese.

She sees cheese. She sees cheese. She sees cheese. She sees cheese. She sees cheese.

She sees cheese. She sees cheese. They were good!

Yeah. Now, what’s the next one? OK. Ready.

Yeah. Eddie edited it.

Yeah, so Eddie is a man’s name and edit is what we do to the text in a document, when

we change the words. OK. Let’s see how our learners did.

Eddie edited it. Eddie edited it. Eddie edited it. Eddie edited it. Eddie edited it. Eddie

edited it. Eddie edited it. How many syllables are in edit?

Edit – two syllables. But this is the past tense, so we add -ed. It’s edited. Three

syllables. Eddie edited it.

Try it. Eddie edited it. Eddie edited it. Now faster. Eddie edited it. Eddie edited

it. Try it with our learners.

Eddie edited it. Eddie edited it. Eddie edited it. Eddie edited it. Eddie edited it. Eddie

edited it. Eddie edited it. Eddie edited it. Eddie edited it.

They’re good! Yeah. You know when you’re learning a new

language, it’s not just grammar and vocabulary you have to learn. You have to train your

mouth muscles to move in new ways. Yes, and tongue twisters are great for that.

OK. What’s the next one? I saved the hardest for last. He threw three

free throws. He threw three free throws. Oh. So like in

basketball, or soccer, a free throw. Not soccer. Football. But yeah, free throws.

So let’s see how our learners did. He threw three free throws. He threw three

free throws. He threw three free throws. He threw three free throws. He threw three free

throws. It’s really hard.

Yes. We’ve got a lot of thr sounds there. Th and then r. You have to pull your tongue

back fast again. Three free throws. We need to slow this down.

Yeah, let’s back chain it. Say it with me. throws

free throws three free throws

He threw three free throws. Try it with our learners.

OK. He threw three free throws. He threw three free throws. He threw three free throws. He

threw three free throws. He threw three free throws. He threw three free throws.

It’s a tough one. Have we got some music? Yeah, let’s get some rhythm going. Are you

ready? He threw three free throws.

Who threw three free throws? He threw free throws.

Three free throws? Three free throws.

He threw three free throws. Three free throws through the hoop.

Could you say it? Let’s speed it up a bit. Say it with us

again but faster. 1 2 3 go. He threw three free throws.

Who threw three free throws? He threw free throws.

Three free throws? Three free throws.

He threw three free throws. Three free throws through the hoop.

Did you keep up with us? You can play it again if you didn't.

Is that it for this week? Yes, we’re done.

We need to say a big thank you to our English learners.

Yes, thank you all so much. You were great. See you all next week everyone.

Bye. Bye bye.

Oh, Eddie edited it. Eddie edited it. Eddie edited it. She sees cheese. She sees cheese.

She sees cheese. Wonderful. He threw free throws. He threw free throws. Brilliant.