Tongue Twisters - A Good Way to Practice Difficult Sounds

One of the best ways to practice individual sounds in English is to use tongue twisters. Here's the first line of one of my favorites: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Listen to 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? In this tongue twister, Peter Piper, you can work on your 'p's. The 'p' sound is voiceless and is similar to the 'b' sound which is voiced. The difference between the two sounds is that the 'p' does not use the voice. Practice the difference in these sounds with minimal pairs - words that only have a difference between the 'p' and 'b' sound. bob - pop blob - plop beg - peg pitch - bitch peck - beck

Feel the Sound Difference Place your hand on your throat and say 'pop' and you will feel no vibration. Place your hand on your throat and say 'bob' and you'll feel vibration. Use lots of breath to help you get the plosive 'p' sound strong. Pronounce your 'p' with a strong explosion of air through the lips.

Here is a list of tongue twisters on the site with a link to a recorded version for each: Betty Botter
In this tongue twister, Betty Botter, you can work on your 'b's. Use lots of breath to help you get the plosive 'b' sound strong. Remember that 'b' is voiced - pronounced using the vocal chords by a strong explosion of air through the lips. 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.

Sea Shells by the Sea Shore

In this tongue twister you can work on your 's's. Use lots of breath to help you get the hissing 's' sound strong. Remember that 's' is voiceless - pronounced without the voice by pushing air between your teeth and through open and rounded lips. Sea Shells by the Sea Shore She sells sea shells 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. Sea Shells by the Seashore helps you practice 's'. The 's' sound is voiceless and sometimes confused with the 'z' sound which is voiced, or the 'sh' sound which is also voiceless. Practice the difference in these sounds with minimal pairs - words that only have a difference between the 's', 'z' and 'sh' sound. sip - ship - zip sea - z - she sign - shine zap - sap Feel the Difference between Voiceless and Voiced Sounds Place your hand on your throat and say 'sea' and you will feel no vibration for the 's' sound. Place your hand on your throat and say 'zebra' and you'll feel no vibration at all for the 'z' - a voiced sound.

A Flea and a Fly Tongue twisters are fun words games we use to challenge our pronunciation. As an English learner, you can use tongue twisters to help with pronunciation of certain sounds. In thistongue twister, A Flea and a Fly, you can work on your 'f's. Use lots of breath to help you get the fricative 'f' sound strong. Remember that 'f' is voiceless - pronounced without the voice by a strong push of air through pursed lips. A Flea and a Fly A flea and a fly flew up in a flue. Said the flea, "Let us fly!" Said the fly, "Let us flee!" So they flew through a flaw in the flue. Listen to Flea and Fly a number of times and then try it for yourself! Improving Your Pronunciation of F A Flea and a Fly helps you practice 'f'. The 'f' sound is voiceless and sometimes confused with the 'v' sound which is voiced. Practice the difference in these sounds with minimal pairs - words that only have a difference between the 'f' and 'v' sound.

vie - fie food - voodoo fain - vain van - fan Feel the DIfference between Voiced and Voiceless Sounds Place your hand on your throat and say 'van' and you will feel a vibration for the 'v' sound. Place your hand on your throat and say 'fan' and you'll feel no vibration at all for the 'f' - a voiceless sound.

Woodchuck In this tongue twister, Woodchuck, you can work on your 'w's. Round your lips and make a small gap between your teeth to make the 'w' sound. Woodchuck 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. Listen to Woodchuck a number of times and then try it for yourself! Improving Your Pronunciation Woodcheck helps you practice 'w'. The 'w' sound is voiced and sometimes confused with the 'v' sound which is also voiced. The difference between the two sounds is that the 'w' uses rounded lips and 'v' is the voiced version of the voiceless 'f' sound. Practice the difference in these sounds with minimal pairs - words that only have a difference between the 'w' and 'v' sound. wood - voodoo why - vie went - vent whip - vip Feel Voiced Sounds Place your hand on your throat and say 'what' and you will feel a vibration for the 'w' sound. Place your hand on your throat and say 'pop' and you'll feel no vibration at all for the 'p' - a voiceless sound.