Nursery rhymes and tongue twisters in English
The following nursery rhymes are perfect for practising pronunciation. Ask your teacher to read them for you and learn them by heart. Some are easy, some are more complicated. Some of them are tongue twisters. What about a contest in your class? Who is the fastest speaker?
As Tommy Snooks and Bessy Brooks
Were walking out on Sunday,
says Tommy Snooks to Bessy Brooks,
tomorrow will be Monday.
In winter I get up at night
and dress by yellow candle light.
In summer quite the other way
I have to go to bed by day.
What do people say
On a rainy day?
Rain, rain go away,
come again another day.
Rain on the green grass,
and rain on the tree,
rain on the house-top,
but not on me.
Peter Piper picked a pack of pepper
Where's the pack of pepper
Peter Piper picked?
The south wind
brings wet weather,
the north wind
wet and cold together.
The west wind
always brings us rain,
the east wind
blows it back again.
Down, down, yellow and brown,
the leaves fall down,
all over the town.
Father, mother, sister, brother,
hand in hand with one another.
Jack and Jill went up the hill
to fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown.
And Jill came tumbling after.
One, two, three, four, five,
Once I caught a fish alive.
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
then I let it go again.
Why did you let it go?
Because it bit my finger so.
Which finger did it bite?
The little finger on the right.
Three swiss witches watch
three swiss swatch watches.
Which swiss witch watches
which swiss swatch watch?
A rabbit ran around a rock
Around a rock a rabbit ran.
›One-One-One‹ was a racehorse,
›One-One‹ was one too.
›One-One-One‹ won one race,
›One-One‹ won one too.
She sells sea shells by the sea shore.
Betty bought some butter,
but the butter Betty bought was bitter,
so Betty bought some better butter,
and the better butter Betty bought
was better than the bitter butter Betty bought before.
The thirty three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne throughout Thursday.
How much wood, would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
He would chuck, he would, as much as he could, and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would.
If a woodchuck could chuck wood!
If two witches were watching two watches,
which witch would watch which watch?
Thanks to Debbie, Imke, Kathie, Lena and Stephan.