Nell's Little Bell: A Final L Tongue Twister

Nell's little bell fell down the hill, still ringing well is a twister that trains the L sound at the end of a word.

Nell's little bell fell down the hill, still ringing well.

Many of the words end in an L sound. If you drop the last L, bell turns into be.

👅 Sounds to Practise

L at the start or middle, as in little. The tip of your tongue touches the ridge behind your top teeth.
L at the end, as in bell, fell, hill, still and well. The tongue tip still touches the ridge, but the back of the tongue also pulls back and up towards the soft part of the roof of your mouth. The L sounds darker and deeper.

Quick test: say light, then tell. Feel how the back of your tongue behaves differently.

Say each chunk slowly.

Nell's little bell
fell down the hill,
still ringing well.

Say it at a natural pace, with the stressed syllables in capitals:

NELL'S LITtle BELL FELL DOWN the HILL, STILL RINGing WELL.

Say it three times in a row, as fast as you can:

Nell's little bell fell down the hill, still ringing well.

If it falls apart, that is normal. Slow down and try again. Keep the tongue tip on the ridge at the end of each L word.

The L at the end of a word is a different L from the one at the start.

bell / little

A final L needs the tongue tip to touch, and the back of the tongue to pull back. If you stop too soon, the L disappears.
Five words end with L: bell, fell, hill, still, well. Each time, the tongue has to touch again.
Little has two L sounds close together, which makes the tongue keep busy in the middle.

These pairs show what happens when the final sound changes:

Say each pair slowly. Make the last sound clear every time.

Bonus round: if you survived all three, try this one:

Bill will tell Nell the bell fell off the hill.