Interruption Techniques

[Niko]

Overlooked When Teaching Students

Many teachers do a great job in improving the English abilities of their students. However, one thing that is often overlooked are interruption techniques.

Interruption techniques are an important skill, and even more so for the non-native English speaker who travels abroad.

Students often find it difficult to interrupt a fellow student in English, let alone a native English speaker.

We constantly interrupt others in daily life in order to strike up a conversation or ask a question to a complete stranger.

Interruption techniques are simple to teach, and can be used straight away by students.

The following questions can be used whilst touching someone on the elbow to get their attention.

• Excuse me for interrupting.
• Can I ask you a few questions?
• Excuse me, but do you have a minute?

So next time you have a class, try to teach your students some interruption techniques.