In this solo instructional podcast, Hadar Shemesh guides listeners through a structured pronunciation workout using English tongue twisters that progress from easy to hard, followed by a Spanish R‑roll twister. She explains why tongue twisters connect the mouth, eyes, and brain, and how they boost clarity and confidence in any language. The practice method involves saying each twister slowly, then together with the host, then faster, with pauses for repetition. She emphasizes a non‑judgmental attitude, encouraging listeners to keep trying. Throughout the episode she highlights specific sound challenges—such as the sh/ch contrast, N/L confusion, and rolling Rs—by selecting twisters like “Peter Piper,” “Toy boat,” “Good blood, bad blood,” “A cheap ship trip,” “The great Greek grape growers,” “Sheena leads, Sheila needs,” “Elizabeth’s birthday…,” “Real rare whale,” “Lesser leather never weathered, wetter, weather, better,” and “Truly rural.” After the English set she demonstrates a Spanish tongue twister (R con R cigarro, R con R barril, rápido corren los carros cargados de azúcar del ferrocarril) to model R‑rolling. She repeatedly promotes her masterclass (hadarshemesh.com/masterclass) and a pronunciation workout playlist for further practice. The episode ends with gratitude, a reminder to rest, and a teaser for the next session.
Chapters
Truly rural toy boats. Sheena leads Sheila needs real rare whale. Hey everyone, it's Hadar. Thank you so much for joining me. Today we are going to practice tongue twisters from easy to hard. I love practicing tongue twisters because it helps you connect your mouth to your eyes to your brain, and it's good to do it in any language. And if you're practicing your English, then let's do it in English. It's going to help your clarity, and it's a lot of fun. All right, so here's how we're going to practice it. I'm going to say the tongue twister first slowly, we're going to do it together, and then we're going to go a little faster. If you need, you can pause the video at any time, repeat it a few more times, and then move on to the next one. It is very humbling, so don't feel bad if you don't succeed the first time. It takes a little longer, especially if you're new to the language or new to the sounds. Also, at the end, I'm going to try and do a tongue twister in Spanish, the language I'm currently learning, so you can tell me how I'm doing in the comments afterwards. Also, if you like pronunciation work and you want more of that, definitely go check out my masterclass at hadarshemesh.com/masterclass where I teach you some of the best strategies to improve your clarity. Your pronunciation and your confidence as a result. All right, let's get started. The first one is Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Yeah, that's the easiest one, I know. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Let's do it a little faster. Peter Piper picked a a peck of pickled peppers. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. One more time. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Good. The next one is short but confusing. Toy boat. Oi, oh, oi, oh. Toy boat. Toy boat. Toy boat. Toy boat. Toy boat. Go faster. Toy boat, toy boat, toy boat, toy boat, toy boat. Good. If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose? This is really good, especially if you confuse the sh and the ch. If that's you, you know it. If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose? If a dog chews shoes, chews shoes, chews shoes. If a dog chews shoes, Whose shoes does he choose? If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose? Okay, good. The next one is short as well. Good blood, bad blood. Good— uh, good blood. Keep your jaw relaxed for this one. Bad blood. You need a lot of space in the mouth for this. Good blood, bad blood. Good blood, bad blood. Good blood, bad blood. Good blood, bad blood. Good blood, bad blood. Good blood, bad blood. Good blood, bad blood. Okay, good. Let's take a deep breath. Moving on to the next one. A cheap ship trip. Ship trip. Shh. Ship. TR ends up sounding like a ch sound as well with an R. Trip, trip, trip. Ship trip. Ship trip. Ship trip. A cheap ship trip. A cheap ship trip. A cheap ship trip. A cheap ship trip. Good. Next one. The great Greek grape growers grow great Greek grapes. All these consonants together, that could be confusing. Let's do it again. The great Greek grape growers. Let's do just that part again. The great Greek grape growers. The great Greek grape growers grow great Greek grapes. Let's do that part again. Grow great Greek grapes. Altogether, the great Greek grape growers grow great Greek grapes. Well done. Next one, especially important for people who tend to confuse the N and the L. Sheena leads, Sheila needs. Sheena leads, Sheila needs. Sheena leads, Sheila needs. Sheena leads, Sheila needs. Sheena leads, Sheila needs. Sheena leads, Sheila needs. Sheena leads, Sheila needs. At some point it just, it starts sounding like gibberish, like I don't even know what I'm saying. Okay, the next one. This one is my favorite because many years ago when I first started my YouTube channel I did this massive challenge and invited my followers to record it, and we had a winner, and it was so much fun. So let's say it now together. Elizabeth's birthday is on the, on the, on the, on the, on the third Thursday of this, of this month. Elizabeth's birthday is on the third Thursday of this month. Elizabeth's birthday is on the third Thursday of this month. Elizabeth's birthday is on the third Thursday of this month. All right, the next one is real rare whale. Real rare whale. Real rare whale. Real rare whale. Real rare whale. Real rare. Real rare. Real rare whale. Next one. Lesser leather never weathered. Wetter weather better. Again. Lesser leather. Never weathered, wetter, weather, better. Lesser leather never weathered, wetter, weather, better. Lesser leather never weathered, wetter, weather, better. Wetter, weather, wetter, weather. The first one is a flap T, wetter, wetter. The second one is a TH, weather, weather. Lesser leather never weathered, Wetter, weather, better. Well done. Okay, good. The last one. Truly rural. Short but painful. Truly rural. Truly rural. Truly rural. Truly rural. Truly rural. Truly rural. Truly rural. Okay, we need a lip drill here just to relax everything. Good. You did really, really great. I hope, I hope you did great. I hope you were doing it with me and not just listening to me because then it would just be boring and ineffective. I actually made a similar video if you like tongue twisters, and the comments were so funny that I felt like I had to make another video for you guys so you can keep practicing with tongue twisters. All right, as promised, now I'm going to try and do a tongue twister in Spanish. I'll do it slowly first. You can follow me whether you're a Spanish speaker or not. We can do it together. R con R cigarro, R con R barril, rápido corren los carros cargados de azúcar del ferrocarril. Okay, okay. Let's do it again. R con R cigarro, R con R barril. Rápido corren los carros cargados de azúcar del ferrocarril. Okay, woohoo! Oh wait, let me try it with a Spanish accent. R con R cigarro, R con R barril. Rápido corren los carros cargados de azúcar del ferrocarril. Okay, thank you, thank you. All right everyone, thank you so much. You can go and rest. You did your workout for today. If you had plans to go to the gym, you don't need to because you just went to the gym with me, the tongue gym. You're invited to do more workouts with me for your pronunciation. I'm going to create a special workout playlist for you and you can check it out in the comments below. And if you want to dive deeper into pronunciation, definitely join my free masterclass at hadarshemesh.com/masterclass. Have a beautiful, beautiful rest of the day, and I'll see you next week in the next video. Bye. Bye.
