Tongue exercises for articulation

Here's a sequence of tongue stretches to improve articulation that have been combined with a story to make an action-packed show-and-tell, which makes them much more appealing for students to do.  

The story is called Mrs. Tongue Does Her Housework, and I know from experience its accompanying exercises are fun, effective and, that they work equally well across all age groups. 

Once you're familiar with it you'll find you can add or subtract segments to suit whoever you are working with. 

The words of the story are in italics. The instructions or action for each segment is below them.

(And if you think it could be useful for your classes, be sure to grab the printable!)

Mrs Tongue Does Her Housework

Mrs Tongue lives in her house, the mouth.

Every morning she mops it from ceiling to floor.

First she sweeps her mop from right to left.

Instruction/Action

Run your tongue in a full circle around your cheek walls and across the front of your top and bottom teeth. Repeat 3 times.

Next she sweeps her mop from left to right.

Instruction/Action

Reverse the direction of the circle. Repeat 3 times.

Now she dusts the furniture.

Instruction/Action

Sweep your tongue as rapidly as you can from side to side across the upper teeth. Repeat at least 10 times.

Then she shakes out the rug out the window.

Instruction/Action

Stick the tongue out, extended as far as you can, and move it rapidly up and down. Repeat at least 10 times.

Then she nails up some pictures in the back of her house.

Instruction/Action

Repeat the sound k, k, k, k, k, k ...

Next she nails up some pictures in the front.

Instruction

Repeat the sound t, t, t, t, t, t ...

Then she remembers she needs to set her clock.

Instruction/Action

Repeat the sounds t, k, t, k, t, k ...

Mrs Tongue looks at the flowers by her front door. They need watering.

Instruction/Action

Repeat the sound sh,sh,sh,sh,sh,sh ...

Goodness gracious! Mrs Tongue sees fallen leaves on the steps. They need sweeping up.

Instruction/Action

Repeat the sound f,f,f,f,f,f ...

Lastly, she sweeps away the cobwebs from around the front door.

Instruction/Action

Stick the tongue out as far as you can and sweep it from right to left around the outside of your lips. Repeat 3 times, then reverse the direction and repeat 3 times.

After all that work Mrs Tongue is exhausted. She comes back inside, closes the door and goes to sleep.

Instruction/Action

Pull your tongue in and close your mouth.

Note: lead by example

If you are doing this exercise with a class and they're particularly self-conscious reassure them that everyone looks funny doing it. Demonstrate it yourself! I do. The teacher poking out her tongue and waving it around is always good for a giggle. And that's generally enough to get them over their reluctance.

Thanks to my mother-in-law

My lovely mother-in-law, Win, introduced me to Mrs Tongue quite some time ago. Over her many years (50+) of teaching speech and drama, it was one of her favorite drills for assuring crisply pronounced words. She used it with her English as a Second Language (ESL) students, as well as with both adult and much younger pupils needing help with speech clarity.

With the advent of the net, I realized there were multiple versions! It was not, as I initially thought, exclusive to her. Instead, it was one of those adaptable evergreen resources beloved by teachers everywhere.

Get the printable and get those tongues wagging the way you want them to!

To get the printable (pdf) of Mrs. Tongue Does Her Housework to use with your own classes either click this link: tongue stretches for clarity and speech accuracy or on the image below. (Please note the file will open in a new window.)

For more diction drills:

Did you know difficulties with enunciation (pronouncing words), might be caused by a lazy tongue? The tongue is primarily muscle and like any other muscle, to keep fit it needs a regular work out! You'll find more tongue exercises for articulation on this page of tongue twisters. Choose the ones that will help you overcome your known pronunciation problems and repeat them daily along with 'Mrs Tongue Does Her Housework'. If regularly done, you'll hear improvements quite rapidly.

You'll love my ebook ...

... if you lead a public speaking group & you're always on the look-out for activities to improve confidence and delivery!

28 public speaking games (with many more variations and extensions), full instructions, PLUS printable topic, tongue twister, poem and image sheets.

A complete one-stop-select-print-go public speaking resource for busy people.

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Other pages to help with effective speech delivery:

• Easy to master vocal variety techniques and exercises.
• Tips for slowing a galloping speech rate or motor mouth.
• How to give yourself the power of the pause. Tips to make your silence speak louder than words.