Tongue Twisters, Scioglilingue

When we went to the beach last week (see my post Oh I do like to be beside the seaside) I collected some shells for my grandchildren. As it was the beginning of the season the beach was covered with a crunchy crinkly carpet of them and my husband had to curb my enthusiasm. When I showed them the shells they were enthralled. The two year old ran around shouting out "Il mare! Il mare!", flinging them into a bucket and throwing them around in glee. The three year old quietly arranged them in patterns and in rows calling to me to see what he had done, he said"Hai fatto proprio bene a portarci il mare" You did well to bring us the sea. Talk about giving satisfaction. mi hanno dato soddisfazioni.
While I was collecting the shells I thought of the tongue twister we sued to say.

She sells sea shells on the sea-shore
The shells she sells are sea-shells. I'm sure
For if she sells sea shells on the sea shore
then I'm sure she sells sea-shore shells.

My mum loved tongue twisters. She was really good at rolling her rs. I was useless. She would proudly recite

Around the rugged rock
the ragged rascal ran.

I tried to copy her in vain. We always ended up in a heap of giggles and just to add salt to my wounds she would sing a song that went like this

The shades of night were falling fast, you pie dee, you pie da


When through an Alpine village past, you pie dee aye da
It ended up with her rolling her Rs for about a minute, show off !

When I was teaching I used to like tongue twisters for those moments when you need to restore order and feel a bit of power.
Red Lorry,yellow lorry. always worked wonders.

the first ever tongue twister I was taught was
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper,
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper
Where's the peck of pickled pepper
Peter Piper picked?

In the film "Singing in the rain", they sing a tongue-twister song when they are talking about the change from Silent movies to ones with sound.
Moses supposes his toeses are roses, but Moses supposes erroneously.
Other popular tongue twisters are
 Irish wristwatch, Swiss wristwatch
A proper copper coffee pot.

Looking at Wikipedia I read that the following tongue twister won a prize in Grand Magazine in 1979
Shep Schwab shopped at Scott's Schapps shop
One shot of Scott's schnapps stopped Schwab's watch.

Italian also has popular tongue twisters that everyone knows,

Trentatre Trentini            Thirty three people from Trento
entrarono a Trento           Entered Trento
Tutti  e Trentratre             All thirty three of them
Trotterellando                   Spinning around



Tigre contro tigre           Tiger versus tiger

Sopra la panca  la capra campa       On top of the bench, the goat thrives
Sotto la panca la capra crepa            Under the bench, the goat doesn't


I have come a long way from my shells on the beach but I hope you enjoy my post.
        

She sells sea shells on the sea-shore

Simple drawings help students remember

Red lorry, yellow lorry, always impresses (if you can say it really fast)