extra English practice
hi everybody today we want to talk about
small talk small talk refers to light
conversation it's not in-depth you're
not talking about important topics or
deep meaningful things so usually you're
also talking with someone who you don't
know very well or you've just met so
imagine you're at a gathering of many
people and you are introduced to
somebody new in this context what would
you say to this person like what are the
things that you can talk about with that
person so we're going to give you some
examples of different topics and we're
going to talk about whether those are
appropriate topics or inappropriate
topics for small talk this is something
that's different between different
cultures so it's a good thing to think
about in a new cultural context
so we're thinking specifically of
Western cultures what you should and
shouldn't say or ask to someone who is
from United States or Canada or parts of
Europe ok Australia yeah there's lots of
ways possible hey what is that yeah it's
really hot out today
I know I really I can't wait till the
fall yeah me neither
are you a Christian
oh no oh okay
missa you've lost weight
so what kind of work do you
I'm a teacher mmm cool yeah how much do
you make every year
I'm I'm not really comfortable talking
about that so how long have you been
teaching 15 years whoa that's a lot how
old are you
did you see the game last night
oh yeah oh my gosh another good way yeah
what did you vote in the last election
yeah yes would you vote for
Oh son of your business do you see
American Idol lastly my favorite singer
won
whoa I'm meaning I didn't see it but
tell me more Leisha you're looking a
little pale are you okay
yeah I'm fine did you get a haircut
yeah do you like I love it Thanks oh
nice phone Thanks
yeah how much did it cost
Oh Oh give any kids
no sorry so what have you been up to
today what much I just dropped off my
kids at school oh how many kids do you
have
I have to how old are they they're seven
and twelve so as you can see people will
have different reactions to different
questions and sometimes the same
question will cause a different reaction
in different people so for example when
Misha asked me about my children I was
very happy to tell her about them and
how old they are and what they're doing
and I will talk about them for an hour
mm-hmm but if I ask it to Misha maybe
that's a sensitive issue for her and so
I'm bringing up something that is
painful think about if someone has lost
a family member or if they haven't seen
them for a long time it can make it can
bring up negative emotions so with
family or or relationships like new
marriage or things like this maybe you
want to wait for the other person to
bring it up so Larisa I asked her what
she did this morning and she told me she
dropped her kids off at school so then I
asked follow-up questions because it was
something she already brought it seemed
appropriate yeah so in general the
topics you want to avoid all together or
anything having to do with money
so never ask someone what something
caused how much they earn none of those
questions ever if they volunteer the
information you can ask more that's
right don't detach yeah don't don't
bring it up yourself and also you want
to avoid talking about religion and
politics these are kind of taboo topics
in in our culture and specifics of
health if you had known that someone was
unwell and you're asking they're feeling
better that's okay yeah oh you were gone
yesterday feeling better yeah I'm
feeling better right that's appropriate
but but don't bring it up yourself or
don't ask specifics right don't don't
get too detailed in general we don't
like to talk about body very much
changes in body okay but the things you
can talk about easily our weather
especially Canadians love to talk about
the weather all the time any situation
bring it up
there's no way fine it'll go for the
whole minute so conversation also you
can talk about sports or entertainment
like singers music TV shows movies yeah
movies news mm-hmm that's right news you
can if you want to talk about some of
appearance in a complimentary way only
hair or clothing okay yeah yeah and and
anything that the other person brings up
first exactly this is the best way to
keep a conversation going
you listen to what they say and then ask
more about that so give it a try
your business come up in the course
younger than I look older than I like
I'm gonna make you do business yes
brother so did you do this