English Tongue Twister Practice: Happy Hippo

2 Nov 2021 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

1:31

A short YouTube practice video by Hadar Shemesh that teaches and drills the tongue twister "A happy hippo hopped and hiccuped." The speaker models the phrase, breaks down individual sounds (schwa, lax vowels, H and K consonants, past-tense -ed pronounced as /t/), demonstrates syllable boundaries and transitions, repeats the phrase for practice, and closes with a viewer call-to-action.

Chapters

Hey, everyone, it's practice time, and today we're gonna practice the tongue twister. A happy hippo hopped and hiccuped. A happy hippo hopped and hiccuped. Let's break it down. First, a happy. A schwa. Happy. Ha. A as in cat. Drop your jaw. Pull the lips to the sides a bit. Happy. It's a high E, but a short one at the end. A happy hippo he. An H sound. Make sure you feel the air coming out and you hear it. He, he, he with a lax e. Po o as in go. Hippo. Hippo. A happy hippo hopped. It's an h sound. And then the ah as in father hopped. The ed is pronounced as a t. Hopped and hiccuped. Hiccuped. Hic. A lax I sound. Hi cupped. The k sound can begin the next syllable. Hiccoughed. Hiccoughed. A happy hippo hopped and hiccoughed. A happy hippo hopped and hiccuped. A happy hippo hopped and hiccuped. A happy hippo hopped and hiccoughed. A happy hippo hopped and hiccuped. A happy hippo hopped. Hiccuped. Okay, very good. I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any other awesome tongue twisters, share them in the comments below and maybe I'll make a video about those tongue twisters. Have a beautiful day and I'll see you in the next video.