WQ # 4: Twist King

 

Description

Del pelo al codo y del codo al pelo, del codo al pelo y del pelo al codo.

Oh, what a fun-filled evening!
Yesterday, you visited your neighbor Carmen. Carmen came from Ecuador and several of her friends from South America as well as U.S. gathered together. During the conversation, you told Carmen about your project and your learning of Spanish. Carmen encouraged you a lot. At one point someone said that Spanish is so phonetic a language and many of guests believed so. Carmen agreed also and said a tongue twister to give an example of Spanish sounds. Then, everyone tried and brought up new ones to try. Even the native speakers got their tongues ‘twisted’ while they tried, as well as non-native speakers did. It was so much of fun to see everyone trying to sound correct and fast. Carmen said it would be fun if you try the tongue twisters with the hosting families of your project while you are visiting the countries. Would like to try?


Task

Find at least 5 Spanish tongue twisters from the resource web site. Practice the tongue twister several times, paying attention to your pronunciation. Record yourself to see how fast and correct you can do them.


Resources

A. Spanish Tongue Twisters

1st International Collection of Tongue Twisters – Spanish
http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/es.htm

B. Spanish Pronunciation Guide

 

Weekly Spanish Lesson by Tyler Jones – a short introduction to Spanish pronunciation.
http://www.june29.com/Spanish/lesson1.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A737723 - Pronunciation guide for English speakers

http://www.smartphrase.com/Spanish/sp_pronunciation.shtml - A pronunciation guide


Process

  1. Visit the provided tongue twister site and navigate through the site.
  2. Choose 5 most interesting tongue twisters and practice them. You can slow down for a better pronunciation.
  3. Refer to the Spanish pronunciation guides, if needed.
  4. Practice the tongue twisters paying attention to your pronunciation.Then practice for speed.
  5. Record your demonstration with digital recording using the computer or any tape recorder.
  6. Time your recoding and see how fast you can do the twisters.
  7. Practice for a better pronunciation and speed.
  8. Repeat steps 5-7 and compare with your previous recording.


Conclusion

Is your tongue ‘twisted’ yet? Did you have fun? You can demonstrate your tongue twisters to your students and practice with them. When you visit your exchange schools, ask the locals for those twisters… Hope you all have fun!


National Standards (ACTFL)

Comparisons
Standard 4.1: Students demonstrate understanding of the nature of language through comparisons of the language studied and their own.

Sunshine State Standards – Foreign Languages (9-12)

Comparisons (FL.D.1.4)
The student recognizes that languages have different patterns of communication and applies this knowledge to his or her own culture.

Evaluation:

Your recording can be evaluated as below:

  Excellent Good Weak Note
Number of twisters included More than 5 twisters 4-3 twisters Less than 3 twisters Use your final recording for evaluation
Clarity of pronunciation Very clear.
All sounds are pronounced correctly.
 Clear enough to distinguish the sounds Sounds are not clear enough to distinguish each other Use your final recording for evaluation
Speed Improved speed with correct pronunciation Improved speed with few mispronunciation Not improved Compare your fist recording speed with final.

Click here to view a printable (PDF) table