Fun, Filler Word Busting Exercise

Here’s a fun, repeat, fun exercise to minimize the use of filler words. I periodically do this myself and have used this with students and clients. 

Do you remember making a game out of tongue twisters as a kid by repeating them as fast as possible without making a mistake?  This non-sensical game helps improve articulation, pronunciation, and fluency. It also helps to reduce the use of filler words - yay!  

Here are a few tongue twisters to get you started (repeat each phrase multiple times)

• Which Swiss wristwatch

• Fresh fried fish

• Give Papa a proper cup of coffee in a copper coffee cup

• Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers

• She sells seashells by the seashore

Have fun practicing with others – your kids, partner, or anyone.  Invest in a tongue twister board game such as Tricky Tetra Tongue Twisters and Memory Games, or make your own game by writing tongue twister phrases on cue cards, placing them in a jar, and then randomly selecting one at a time to practice. Try also using AI tools like Yoodli that offer similar speaking game exercises.