Week 2: Greeting, small talk and giving opinions

• Engels
• MBO
• Studiejaar 1,2

Week 2: Giving your opinions

in a friendly way

Learning goals

At the end of this lesson, you would be able to:

1. Greet your speaking partner in a friendly manner.
2. Conduct a small talk with your neighbour for 3 minutes in total.
3. Talk about a subject matter and give your opinions about it in 4 minutes.

Task 1: Friendly way of greeting each other

• Find a speaking partner
• Discuss with each other what are the ways people greet each other: in the morning, afternoon, evening, beginning of a presentation.
• Practise these ways with each other.
• Done? Turn to another team and see what they have written down. Practise those.

Types of greetings

What was your favourite greeting/opening?

At the spreken/gesprekken exams, what will you use?

What will make you stand out for the examinators?

Small talk

Small talks are chit chats that you have with people you just met at a party or when you are standing at the cashier's. It isn't a deep conversation but it is a 3-5 minutes talk with someone about general things like the weather and World Cup or specific things like the lecture you just heard. 

How to prepare?

Think of the wh-questions:

• What do I want to talk about? (Pick familiar topics.)
• Who am I speaking to? (Old/young? Amateur/professional? Woman/man/child?)
  
• When do I start/end the conversation? (Be willing to start. It's okay to end conversations, politely. Eg, "I'm sorry to cut this short but I have to go.")
  
• Where am I? (Act appropriately. Eg, don't over-smile at an employment interview.)
  
• Why? Because making small talks is an essential skill for life.
  
• How long is a typical small talk? (3 minutes.) 

What makes a good small talk?

How should you behave?

Be prepared 

Prepare some topics for any situations--e.g., the weather, your major/school, the Netherlands.

Be engaging

If you're not enthusiastic about your topics, no one else will.

Ask questions to make that person part of the conversation.

Be willing to tell

When you are engaging the other person, the person may have questions. Be willing to answer them, or come up with reasons why you don't wish to answer.

Be friendly and courteous

Smile. You don't know the person, and in all likelihood, you may not see her/him again. So, be nice and friendly. Leave a good impression. Say "thank you, goodbye".

Chatting is an art you can learn.

Task 2: Conduct small talk

1. Use the steps and prepare yourself for a small talk with your speaking partner (5 minutes).
2. Have you chosen your topic? Go for it!
3. Talk to each other for at least 6 minutes. If you fall short of the timing, continue talking.
4. Check: Have you used 3 linking words in your chat?

Task 3: Think and conduct conversation

Prepare yourself (3 minutes) and talk about any of these topics for 4 minutes each person:

Family

School

Work

• Family members.
• Who works? As what?
• What is the norm in the family?
• Name something special about someone. Why?
• Your opinion about your family/specific person.

• What is your major? 
• Favourite subject?
• Worst subject?
• Funniest thing that happened to you in school.
• Your opinion about your school/specific person/subject.

• What is your job title?
• Where do you work? 
• What is your best quality at work? Worst?
• What is the most challenging thing at work?
• Your opinion about your work/colleague.

Done early?

Conduct the task again with another partner.

Learning goals

At the end of this lesson, you would be able to:

1. Greet your speaking partner in a friendly manner.
2. Conduct a small talk with your neighbour for 3 minutes in total.
3. Talk about a subject matter and give your opinions about it in 4 minutes.