Making Small Talk PPT.pptxVIP

Making Small Talk Training In most English-speaking countries, it is normal and necessary to make “small talk” in certain situations. Small talk is a casual form of conversation that “breaks the ice” or fills an awkward silence between people. The ability to make ‘small talk’ is highly valued. In fact, many English students agree that making effective small talk is much more important than knowing correct grammar structures – and rightly so! Small talk gets friendship started and ‘breaks the ice’ before important business meetings and other events. What is small talk? Small talk is pleasant conversation about common interests. Even though you may feel shy using your second language, it is sometimes considered rude to say nothing. So making light informal conversation for the sake of the conversation is a form of social skills. In small talk we express ourselves in the details of what we talk about, the words we use, the ones we don’t, how far we lean forward, how tentatively or aggressively we probe for shared ground. WHO makes small talk? People with many different relationships use small talk. The most common type of people to use small talk are those who do not know each other at all. It is also common to people who are only acquaintances, often called a “friend of a friend”, to use small talk. Other people who have short casual conversations are office employees who may not be good friends but work in the same department. Customer service representatives, waitresses, hairdressers and receptionists often make small talk with customers. WHAT do people make small talk about? “Safe” topics: Weather Current events Sports news Entertainment news Compliments on clothing or hair are acceptable Subjects that are not considered acceptable: Personal information Salaries Recent divorce Religion Politics Never say something (good or bad) about person’s body. Outsourcing to Softheme™ Training: Making Small Talk WHERE do people make small talk? Most often small talk