Welcome to the Business Small Talk online course, designed to help professionals feel more comfortable in English business surroundings. Small talk and socializing are important skills in the business world, no matter what language you’re speaking. That’s especially true among English speakers, who generally want to fill silences with friendly, warm, informal chatting. Mastering English small talk is key to successful networking, sales and partnerships!
This course teaches you how to open conversations with strangers, acquaintances, colleagues, potential networking partners and customers in English. It also looks at (1) how to keep the conversation going to avoid awkward pauses, (2) the safest and most popular small talk topics in the English world, and (3) how to politely leave a conversation if you have to get to your next meeting (or simply want to talk to someone else!). You’ll learn lots of useful vocabulary for English small talk, too.
Introduction to English Small Talk
– The Importance of Small Talk in Business Settings
– The Best and Worst Small Talk Topics
Small Talk Vocabulary
– Sample Small Talk Dialogues
– Small Talk Conversation Starters
– Small Talk Farewells
Small Talk Techniques
– Echo Questions
– Echo Words
– “Wh” Questions
– Showing attention/agreement
How to Use This Course
You must complete all of the topics in the lesson including the quizzes before you move on. The quizzes attached to the topics are short, and you can repeat them as often as you wish.
At the beginning of each section, an audio file lets you hear the text that you are reading (as you are now). Good luck!