这里是一系列语音的发音练习，这些练习已经转换成一系列的操练故事，以便大家来练习。

根据我的经验，这个称为“舌头女士做她的家务工作”的系列不仅很有趣，而且是恩有效的，而且对不同年龄的人都有效。

当你对这些故事的走向熟悉了以后，你就可以对部分所做的练习进行增减，已达到最佳效果。

我的岳母向我介绍了这位“舌头女士”有一段时间了。在她五十多年对言语和戏剧教学中，这是她最喜欢的，也是确保清晰发音的方法之一。她对从非英语为母语国家来的学生使用这个方法，也都不同年龄需要清晰发音的学生使用这个方法。

不知道你是否知道，读正确音有困难是因为舌头“懒惰”所致的吗？舌头其实就一些肌肉，与其他的肌肉一样，只有进行锻炼才能使它工作自如。

讨论问题：

• 1. 你觉得这篇文章有那些地方是你感兴趣的？

  2. 你是否听到过“发音练习”？如果听到过对话，你对它有什么看法？

  3. 你觉得你会怎样以此来练习你对英文发音？

Here's a series of speech drills for articulation that have been turned into an action story to make them more appealing for students to do.

It's called Mrs Tongue Does Her Housework, and I know from experience it's fun, effective and, it works equally well across all age groups.

Once you're familiar with the sequence of the story and the exercises you'll find you can add or subtract segments to suit whomever you are working with.

My mother-in-law, Win, introduced me to Mrs Tongue quite some time ago. Over her many years (50+) of teaching speech and drama, it was one of her favorite methods for assuring crisply pronounced words. She used it with her English as a Second Language (ESL) students, as well as with both adult and much younger pupils needing help with clarity.

Did you know difficulties with enunciation (pronouncing words), could be caused by a "lazy" tongue? The tongue is primarily muscle and like any other muscle, to keep fit it needs a regular work out!

Mrs Tongue Does Her Housework

Mrs Tongue lives in her house, the mouth.

Every morning she mops it from ceiling to floor.

First she sweeps her mop from right to left.

Instruction

Run your tongue in a full circle around your cheek walls and across the front of your top and bottom teeth. Repeat 3 times.

Next she sweeps her mop from left to right.

Instruction

Reverse the direction of the circle. Repeat 3 times.

Now she dusts the furniture.

Instruction

Sweep your tongue as rapidly as you can from side to side across the upper teeth. Repeat at least 10 times.

Then she shakes out the rug out the window.

Instruction

Stick the tongue out, extended as far as you can, and move it rapidly up and down. Repeat at least 10 times.

Then she nails up some pictures in the back of her house.

Instruction

Repeat the sound k, k, k, k, k, k ...

Next she nails up some pictures in the front.

Instruction

Repeat the sound t, t, t, t, t, t ...

Then she remembers she needs to set her clock.

Instruction

Repeat the sounds t, k, t, k, t, k ...

Mrs Tongue looks at the flowers by her front door. They need watering.

Instruction

Repeat the sound sh,sh,sh,sh,sh,sh ...

Goodness gracious! Mrs Tongue sees fallen leaves on the steps. They need sweeping up.

Instruction

Repeat the sound f,f,f,f,f,f ...

Lastly she sweeps away the cobwebs from around the front door.

Instruction

Stick the tongue out as far as you can and sweep it from right to left around the outside of your lips. Repeat 3 times, then reverse the direction and repeat 3 times.

After all that work Mrs Tongue is exhausted. She comes back inside, closes the door and goes to sleep.

Instruction

Pull your tongue in and close your mouth.

Source: https://www.write-out-loud.com/tongue-exercises-for-articulation.html

Discussion Question:

• 1. What do you find interesting from this article？

  2. Have you heard of articulation exercises？If yes, what was your experience?

  3. How will you apply these exercises to your English practice?