What are tongue twisters for?

Tongue twisters are short texts whose purpose is for the person who recites it to be able to pronounce it correctly , without errors in pronunciation. For this reason, it “locks” the language of the person who wants to express it. Tongue twisters are often used as a game, so that the person who manages to recite the tongue twister clearly, quickly and without errors wins.

Thus, a tongue twister can be defined as the elaboration of a text used for people to put it into practice and serve both for fun and also for teaching or therapy, in the sense that if the person has pronunciation problems will help improve and perfect it.

The difficulty of the tongue twister lies mainly in the presence of rhymes and alterations from the use of phonemes that are very similar . They are usually word games that combine similar phonemes, thus creating alterations and rhymes. For this reason it is so fun for children, their difficulty in reciting it makes it a very entertaining game for them, that is why they themselves are the main recipients.

TONGUE TWISTERS HAVE SEVERAL BENEFITS

At first glance, tongue twisters seem very fun and entertaining, especially for the little ones. But behind all this there are many benefits that you do not stop to think about when reciting or listening to any of them.

Tongue twisters promote reading fluency , which is why it is so good to play with children through them. The faster they learn to recite them, the more fluent they will be in both speaking and reading. In addition, it not only promotes reading fluency, but also improves reading speed and pauses, which makes the child acquire knowledge of both reading and vocabulary more quickly.

The fact of wanting to recite the tongue twister perfectly and without errors makes the person who is going to try to say it surpass himself in each attempt . For this reason, tongue twisters are a perfect tool to compete against yourself and want to improve yourself every day.

Thus, tongue twisters are often very useful to improve diction and even to solve certain pronunciation problems in both adults and children. It is very common that they are used, together with other types of exercises, in theater groups and in singing lessons, as a warm-up.

THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTIONS OF THE TONGUE TWISTER

Tongue twisters are also very useful in children for many reasons. In the first place, reciting them over and over again improves memorization considerably , thus helping to pass some school subjects that require memorization of the contents.

In addition, they encourage the child’s imagination and creativity , because they try to create their own tongue twisters or change some words for others to complicate or facilitate the recitation of the same. Children laugh and have fun inventing them and it also strengthens relationships with their peers, because they will all play together to try to recite it without errors.

Tongue twisters indirectly intervene in the teaching of basic knowledge of the child , especially if we focus on the subject of “language” that is taught in educational centers. Aspects such as fluency in speech, memorization, increase in vocabulary mentioned above, imagination and creativity help the child to internalize in a fun way some contents of this subject.

Thus, tongue twisters make children exercise language, memory and vocalization . In memory, children must learn the tongue twister to be able to recite it perfectly. In vocalization, children will have to make an effort to be able to say the tongue twister without making any mistakes. This learning will be done without realizing it and they will have a lot of fun during it.

In addition, it makes children show interest in the language, which makes it possible for them to speak properly in the future. In the same way, tongue twister games can serve as therapy by helping children to use correct pronunciation when they have trouble pronouncing certain letters or specific words.

HOW TO WORK WITH TONGUE TWISTERS?

In order for everyone to acquire the benefits of the tongue twister, it is important to know how to work with them in a fun way . For children, you can recite a tongue twister for each season of the year to make it more fun, such as: Christmas tongue twisters, summer tongue twisters, spring tongue twisters … Thus, each content corresponding to the time of year will be studied. while having fun and improving their vocabulary and pronunciation.

You can also work them with music , singing a song to make the tongue not lock constantly and at the same time they are memorizing the lyrics of it. It can also be played with palms of the hands, jumping rope, holding contests to see which person can recite it best …

It should be borne in mind that the use of tongue twisters among children encourages peer relationships and acquires a multitude of social skills at the same time . In addition, tongue twisters make children able to laugh at themselves (when they make a mistake in reciting it), something that will greatly improve their self-esteem and their acceptance of making a mistake.