7 Tongue Twisters you Should Try with your EFL/ESL Classes

In this post, EFL Collective shares with you 7 tongue twisters you should try in your pronunciation lessons. The post also suggests different objectives for which you decide what tongue twister to use.

1. “Four fresh fish for you”

Level of difficulty: Easy

Theme: Food/Eating Habits/Health

This tongue twister will help the students:

• internalize the vowel sounds: /ɔː/, /e/, and /i/, and /uː/;

• learn new vocabulary: fresh;

• have fun.

2. “If Charlie chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?”

Level of difficulty: Moderate

Theme: Clothes/shopping

By grappling with this tongue twister, the students will:

• internalize the consonant sounds: /tʃ/ and /ʃ/;
• use conditional type 1;

• learn new vocabulary: chew;

• have fun.

3. “Betty bought some butter but the butter was too bitter, then Betty bought some better butter to make the bitter butter better.”

Level of difficulty: Hard

Theme: Food/Eating Habits

By practising this tongue twister, the learners will:

• internalize the vowel sounds: /ɔ/, /e/, /i/, and /ʌ/;
• internalize one of the uses of the definite article “the”
• have fun.

4. “I can think of six thin things and six thick things, too.”

Level of difficulty: Moderate

Theme: Any

By rehearsing this tongue twister, the learners will:

• internalize the consonant sound: /θ/;
• learn new vocabulary: thin and thick (antonyms);
• have fun.

5. “If two witches watched two watches, which witch would watch which watch?”

Level of difficulty: Moderate

Theme: Any

By drilling the learners in this tongue twister, they will:

• internalize the consonant sound: /tʃ/;
• practise conditional type 2;
• learn new homophones: which and witch;
• have fun.

6. “A big bug bit a little beetle, but the little beetle bit the big bug back.”

Level of difficulty: Moderate

Theme: Ecology/Environment/Insects/Animals

By drilling the learners in this tongue twister, they will:

• internalize the vowel sounds /æ/, /i/, /i:/ and /ʌ/;
• internalize one of the uses of the definite article “the”;
• learn new vocabulary: bug and beetle;
• have fun.

7. "Give papa a cup of proper coffee in a copper coffee cup."

Level of difficulty: Moderate

Theme: Food/Eating Habits

Rehearsing this tongue twister will help the learners:

• internalize the vowel sounds /ɑː/, /i/, /i:/, /ɒ/ and /ʌ/;
• learn new vocabulary: copper;
• have fun.