Tongue twisters by MK teachers engage preschoolers

In our PLC (Professional Learning Community) discussions, our Mother Tongue Language teachers wanted to improve the students’ language pronunciation. As research has shown that the use of “Tongue Twisters” (TT) helps to improve language articulation, our MTL teachers decided to use this strategy in their classes.

Different compositions of TT were put together and recited at the beginning of lessons on a bi-weekly routine. This was done over a period of five weeks, and our teachers made careful observations to track the progress of the students. Three key areas were noted; pronunciation of vocabulary, understanding of the language, and pronunciation when reading our big books. Pre and post observations carried out showed that our children had made improvement in these 3 areas.

Our teachers were satisfied with the outcome and have continued to use tongue twisters in our MTL classes in future. Our pre-schoolers also found reciting TT fun and engaging. Zafran, from the Malay Language class that was observed, reminded his teacher to allow the class to recite the TT. He said “I like to say the tongue twisters as it is fun and I try to say it faster each time!”. Teacher Norhidah shard, “The reciting of tongue twisters gave the children the opportunity to exercise different parts of the muscles in their mouth and this helps to improve articulation.”

For their wonderful effort, the MTL teachers’ were awarded the Outstanding Contribution Award (OCA).