Another R Tip

Today, I’m sharing a tip for getting placement for the /r/. This sound is SO difficult to teach. I find myself trying several different strategies to find one that will work for my students. I’ve used this one for awhile, but never blogged about it.

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First you will need small altoids. They are small, square shaped mints. There are blue and white varieties, but it doesn’t matter which ones you get. See below for an example:

I often remind my students to pull their tongue up and straight back. To help visualize this, we put a mint in the center of our tongues and practice pulling our tongues back. I tell the student you’re taking the mint for a ride to the back of our mouths.

This doesn’t always work, but it has helped some of my students get better tongue placement. We look in the mirror a lot so we can see the mint “riding” backwards.

Will you try this tip? Comment below and let me know how it went for you!