Try to ask questions!

Many English learners tend not to ask questions. Instead, they tend to quietly listen to what others speak. This creates an imbalance in which one speaker, often a native speaker, speaks and asks lots of questions and English learners tend to answer questions.

In order to change this balance, it is always good to try to ask questions. They do not have to be important or very good questions. Any questions will do!

A tip is to ask WH questions. WH questions are the questions which start What, where, who, when and why. For example:

What did you do over the weekend?

Where did you go?

Who did you go with?

When did you come back?

Why did you choose that place?

Good luck and happy English learning!

What is “small talk?”

Small Talk is literally a small talk in which people talk very briefly, usually for 1 to several minutes to talk about something not serious. For example, people can talk about:

  • weather
  • recent events
  • sports
  • family

We do not usually think “small talk” is very important but it does have a very important function as we engage in small talk with everyone, such as family, neighbors, colleagues, friends or even strangers.

It is vital for you to know how you can get better at “small talk” as it plays an important function in communicating with lots of people.

Good luck and happy English learning!