Practice Ideas for Hesitation Devices

Classified hesitation devices, how to practise them, and why it’s worth
doing.

I’m sure your students are the same as mine. When they can’t think of
a word, or need to stall for time, they use a hesitation device from their
own language. My Spanish-speaking students would say pues, es que,
cómo decirlo and my Japanese students always say things
like eto, ano or nantoiukana.

I’m equally sure you teach some useful English hesitation devices and
provide opportunities to practise them. The thing is, well, em, actually, I
was working on these the other day with my upper-
intermediate/advanced class (CEFR B2-C1) and took another look at
them. I came up with a couple of fresh ideas that you might find useful
for your classes.

This time round, I tried to classify the phrases a bit. My classification is

probably a bit rough and I’m sure you will have different ways of
categorising them, and many of them probably fit in several categories.
Nevertheless, I have often taught these by just providing a short list of
common examples and hoping for the best. Then you notice that
students are using them inappropriately and it’s hard to pin down
exactly what’s wrong, especially because you don’t want to discourage
them because at least they’ve stopped using hesitation devices from
their own language, right? You know the dilemma I’m talking about.
So, with this somewhat higher level than my usual classes, I wanted to
aim at something slightly more specific. Here’s the classified list I came
up with:

Noises
 em…
 er…
 mm…

Filler phrases
 …you know…
 …I mean…
 …you see…
 Well,
  The thing is…
 It’s like this, you see…

Stalling for time

 Let’s see (now)…
 Now let me think…
 Now, just a minute…
 Hang on…

Stalling for time when answering a question

 That’s a good question…
 That’s an interesting question…
 Gosh, that’s a hard one…
 I’ll have to think about that…

When you can’t find the exact word to describe something

 …sort of…
 …like…
 …kind of…

Introducing ideas that bring contrast, surprise or

something unwelcome
 Actually,…
 As a matter of fact,…
 To be honest/frank,…
 In fact, …
 The fact is…

Searching for a way to express something

 How shall I put it?
 What’s the word I’m looking for?
 How do you say that?
 How can I explain this?
 What is that word?
Showing you are reluctant to speak for fear of the effect
 What’s the best way to put this?
 How shall I put this?
 What I’m trying to say is…
 Let’s put it this way…
 Where should I start?

Framing words
These words open a kind of frame in the conversation which the
speaker controls, at least for a short time. They are quite strong words
that make it a little more difficult for other people to interrupt.

 Now…
 Right (then)…
 OK…

Practice Activity 1: Awareness Raising

One difficulty I always had with this language point was providing a
good model. I would try to speak for one minute on a topic, using the
hesitation devices. It goes without saying that it was never as funny as
Clement Freud or Paul Merton on BBC Radio 4’s Just A Minute, and I
never felt it rang quite true. Then I remembered a scene from the
film Notting Hill where Julia Roberts visits Hugh Grant in his shop after
having behaved very badly twice. The scene ends with that amazing
line “And don’t forget. I’m just a girl standing in front of a boy, asking
him to love her”. The whole scene is packed with beautifully natural
examples of hesitation devices. So, I use a little gap-fill exercise to get
students to notice these phrases and ask them to practise the timing,
stress and intonation. I suspect that good actors slip these devices in,
perhaps even unscripted, so break out your DVD collection and have
another look at films that would be appropriate to use in your particular
situation.

Now I feel they have a better chance of trying out these phrases for
themselves.

Practice Activitity 2: Just A Minute

Yes, I know this is not a new idea, but perhaps you haven’t tried it yet. I
also want to give a couple of tips that might help you avoid minutes of
complete silence. Here are the rules:

Students must speak for one minute without pausing for more than X
seconds – I might try 5 seconds for somewhat higher level classes – or
using fillers from the students’ own language like eto, ano etc.
Obviously, these rules are much more relaxed than the rules for the
famous Radio 4 game: speak for one minute “without repetition,
hesitation or deviation”. Students may, of course, use English
hesitation devices, unlike the panelists on Just A Minute. Again unlike
the original programme, students can have a little preparation time if
you feel they need it.

You will need to give your students easy topics – obscure or awkward
topics will just lead to a minute of silence:

 Last weekend
 My favourite place for sightseeing
 My favourite place for a date
 My family
 My job
 My company
 My hometown
 My hobbies and interests

Practice Activity 3: Making Excuses and Breaking

Bad News
WARNING/DISCLAIMER: With this last idea I’m trusting to your well-
honed sensitivity to the cultural norms of your students. You will also
need to draw on your knowledge of what are age-appropriate topics for
your junior learners. Don’t just give these examples willy-nilly to your
students. You’ll need to adjust them to suit your local situation.

Give your students role cards that provide them with a situation where
they have good reason to hesitate. Encourage them to invent wildly
and embellish outrageously.

For adults in a liberal country, where the class has a good sense of
humour and anything goes:
  You come home late after being with your secret lover. Your
wife/husband is angry with you for being late. Explain what
you’ve been doing without giving away your secret.
 You want to borrow your dad’s/mum’s/friend’s car to take your
secret boy/girlfriend on a weekend trip. Try to borrow the car and
explain the reason without giving away your secret.
 Turn down a request for a date from a colleague that you don’t
like but have to work closely with.

Simple classroom-related situations:

 Explain to your teacher that you haven’t done your homework

(for the third time).
 Explain to your teacher why you’re late.

Between friends:

 You borrowed a book from your friend that is very precious to

them. Your dog took a bite out of most of chapter 1. You can’t
afford to buy a new one. Explain what happened.
 You borrowed your friend’s very good, fairly new bike. There is
now a scratch on the paintwork. You don’t know how it got there.

In the workplace:

 You are going to a party with a group of colleagues but the

political situation in your office is complicated and there is one
person you don’t want to come. Explain to that person why they
have to work late at the office without telling them about the
party.
 You arrive at a meeting with an important customer and discover
that you have not brought any of the files or materials you need
to give your presentation or discuss the contract. Explain the
situation to your customer.

Between flatmates:

 Tell your flatmate how their favourite mug got broken.

 Your flatmate is looking forward to their favourite programme.
You adjusted the TV and now it can’t receive the channel your
flatmate wants to watch. You don’t know how to repair it.

Final Thoughts
Notice how more advanced students who already use some of these
hesitation devices sound more natural than lower-level students, even
when they sometimes make the same mistakes. Getting into the habit
of using these phrases can make a big difference to your students’
fluency and improve the overall impression they give when speaking
English. It’s well worth the effort spending a bit of extra time helping
them to use them more often and more appropriately.