We’re going to start with two short tongue twisters.
The first one is great for /s/, /Ʌ/, and /ŋ/, and the /ɪ/ and /i:/ contrast, and you’ll hear a /k/ sound in there in that tricky /ks/ cluster – something we’ll come back to in the future.
Six southern sailors sailing southern seas.
The second one is great for /Ʌ/ and /ɒ/, and again has /k/ and the short /ɪ/ sound. It’s also a lovely recap of the /t/ sound from last season, schwa in unstressed syllables, and the weak form of “the”. I have posted this on my Instagram before, so you may recognise it from there.
The bottom of the butter bucket is the butter bucket’s bottom.
Ok, now on to a longer tongue twister or short rhyme: this one is great for the weak form of “and”, and for those /s/ and /ʃ/ sounds. It’s super tricky!
Susan shines shoes and socks,
Socks and shoes shines Susan.
She ceases shining shoes and socks,
For socks and shoes shock Susan.
To finish, we’re going to look at a couple of traditional songs – the type of songs kids have been learning and singing for generations – great for singing around a campfire, or practising your pronunciation!
The first one is about Bingo the dog: it’s called B-I-N-G-O. This one seems to be about 200 years old, and its origin is unknown.
It’s great for the weak forms of “a”, “and”, “was” (all taking schwa, though notice how the first “was” is stressed) and “his” (often dropping that ‘h’ – something we’ll talk about more next season). There is also an /ŋ/, /g/s, an /ɒ/, and we have an intrusive /j/ between the B-I and I and N, and G and O letters, and plenty of /əʊ/s!
We’ll just do the first verse here. To continue, the first and then subsequent letters of Bingo’s name is clapped out in each verse. I’ll put the full version in the script.
There was a farmer who had a dog,
And Bingo was his name-o.
B/j/I/j/NG/j/O
B/j/I/j/NG/j/O
B/j/I/j/NG/j/O
And Bingo was his name-o.
There was a farmer who had a dog,
and Bingo was his name-o.
(clap)-I-N-G-O
(clap)-I-N-G-O
(clap)-I-N-G-O
And Bingo was his name-o.
There was a farmer who had a dog,
and Bingo was his name-o.
(clap)-(clap)-N-G-O
(clap)-(clap)-N-G-O
(clap)-(clap)-N-G-O
And Bingo was his name-o.
There was a farmer who had a dog,
and Bingo was his name-o.
(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-G-O
(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-G-O
(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-G-O
And Bingo was his name-o.
There was a farmer who had a dog,
and Bingo was his name-o.
(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-O
(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-O
(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-O
And Bingo was his name-o.
There was a farmer who had a dog,
and Bingo was his name-o.
(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)
(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)
(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)
And Bingo was his name-o.
The second song is another animal-themed one: “The animal fair”. This one is again of unknown origin, but we know it’s been sung for over 120 years. There are quite a few versions, and we’ll go with the one I’ve always known. This one has a great rhythm, and is great for weak forms. There are also a lost of /Ʌ/ and /k/, /ŋ/, /g/, /ɪ/ and /i:/, and more than one intrusive /j/ - see if you can hear them
The animal fair
We went to the animal fair,
The birds and the beasts were there,
The big baboon by the light of the moon
Was combing his golden hair.
The monkey fell out of his bunk,
And slid down the elephant's trunk,
The elephant sneezed
And fell on his knees,
And what became of the monkey,
Monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey?
I will be back next year with season 4… I’ve got some ideas lined up, but, as always, if there are sounds or combinations you’d like an episode on, get in touch! You can message me on Patreon, via Facebook or Instagram, and I love hearing from you! I’ll keep the tongue twisters coming most weeks on Instagram and Facebook, too.
In the meantime, practise as often as you can to keep building muscle and muscle memory. Go back over all the episodes, and try to notice things you didn’t notice the first time around, too.
Enjoy sound building, and I’ll see you in 2022!