Tongue Twister Pronunciation Drill of Flap T

Text of Audio Clip: Tongue Twister - Flap T Hello, my name is Dionne. Welcome to my Buy Me a Coffee Pronunciation studio. This audio is brought to you by TEFL Training and Recruitment. For more information please visit www.dionneseslcyberlounge.com For English learners, tongue twisters are a fun way to work on one or two sounds at the same time to improve their pronunciation of those sounds. In this pronunciation audio, we are going to practice a tongue twister that focuses on the flap T sound, which sounds similar to a quick and soft 'd' and is found between vowel sounds. You can hear the flap t sound in words like water, better, thirty, forty, university, hospital. Keep in mind that the pronunciation of the ‘t’ sound varies from British to general American pronunciation, and is different across all different types of English accents. The second sound that you can hear regularly in this tongue twister is the /b/ as in "ball" sound. Let's begin our practice with the short version of the Betty Botter tongue twister. You can follow along by reading the words of this audio. Please, repeat after me. [Short version] Betty bought a bit of butter but the butter betty bought was bitter so Betty bought a better butter and it was better than bitter butter. Now let's try to say the whole tongue twister. [repeat tongue twister] Let's Practice the long version. Please repeat after me. [Long version] Betty Botter bought some butter But she said this butter's bitter If I put it in my batter It will make my batter bitter, But a bit of better butter Will surely make my batter better. So she bought a bit of butter Better than her bitter butter And she put it in her batter And her batter was not bitter. So t'was better Betty Botter Bought a bit of better butter. WOW! Now let's try to say the whole tongue twister. [repeat tongue twister] Oh my goodness!!! That was not easy! When using tongue twisters to improve your pronunciation, challenge yourself by following these rules: First, you should start by saying the tongue twister slowly. Second, you should speed it up; try to say the tongue twister faster and faster. Third, when you feel more comfortable saying the tongue twister, you should try to say the tongue twister 3 times, as fast as you can. Try to do it for a few minutes each day until you've improved the sound you're practicing. You can even practice these with your children, your friends , your family, co-workers - with everyone - and everyone will have fun! Thanks for practicing with Dionne's Buy me a Coffee Pronunciation Studio. Good luck with this tongue twister! Bye.