Practice Public Speaking with These Tongue Twisters

I remember first learning to present in front of classmates as a child. To improve our speaking skills, the teacher asked the class to recite tongue twisters — sentences designed to be difficult to recite. Here are a few examples that may bring back memories:

  • She sells seashells by the seashore. 

  • If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

  • How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

  • You know New York, you need New York, you know you need unique New York.

As a kid, tongue twisters simply seemed like a fun game. In reality, they helped build a strong foundation for speaking with proper pronunciation and fluency. In fact, tongue twisters have been shown to strengthen facial and tongue muscles, support clear speech, and alleviate some of the anxiety that comes with hearing the sound of your voice (something many of us dread).

When new Public Speaking Methods members come to me, their anxiety tends to result in the following:

  • They rush through their presentations.

  • They have difficulty speaking clearly and enunciating words.

  • They blank on what to say next in the middle of their speech.

  • They experience a shaky voice or cottonmouth.

  • They avoid speaking up in meetings out of fear that they may stumble over their words.

Together, we’ve successfully worked through these challenges using complex tongue twisters. 

The Benefits of Tongue Twisters

  • Tongue twisters are uncomfortable and awkward. (This is a good thing! Overcoming discomfort through speech exercises is a great way to set yourself up to feel more confident when public speaking in front of an audience.)

  • They force you to use your facial muscles and tongue to enunciate difficult phrases.

  • They can help you find a rhythm with your words — an important public speaking skill.

  • You can practice them anywhere. Whenever you have downtime, pull up one of the tongue twisters below. 

Practice These Tongue Twisters to Improve Public Speaking

Below are a few of my favorite tongue twisters. Start off slowly, carefully enunciating every syllable and exaggerating each word. As you get more comfortable, test your ability to increase the speed of your speaking while maintaining clarity and proper pronunciation. 

  1. To sit in solemn silence in a dull dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a lifelong lock. Awaiting the sensation of a short sharp shock, from a chippy chopper on a big, brown bark.

  2. In tooting two tutors astute tried to toot a duke on a flute. But duets so grueling end only in dueling when tutors astute toot the flute.

  3. Brisk brave brigaders brandished broad bright blades, blunderbusses, and bludgeons—balancing them badly.

  4. Rory the warrior and Roger the worrier were reared wrongly in a rural brewery.

Ready to overcome your fear of public speaking for good? I offer private online coaching. Set up a free first time consult with me to learn more about Public Speaking Methods. To get started, contact me at miranda@publicspeakingmethods.com or contact me here.

MH