What To Talk About With Your Speaking Partner @HannahKhoma

So, you’re obviously learning English if you clicked on this video. And the hardest

part for you is probably speaking just like the most of the learners, so don’t feel

bad. And I’m sure that you want to find or have already found a conversation partner.

However, have you ever wondered about what to do and what to talk about with your conversation

partner? Sure, the first couple of times you have lots

of things to talk about and you’re both super enthusiastic and ready to learn but

then comes a “moment of silence” so to speak.

So, if you’ve experienced this or you are nervous that it might happen and this is stopping

you from finding a conversation partner - I have a couple of ideas to help you make your

communication more effective, less awkward and something you’ll always look forward

to. So let’s dive in.

Don’t jump on calls unprepared. Everybody’s busy, you might have only an hour a couple

of times a week and you don’t want to waste that time on silence, awkwardness or anything

like that. Even if you start off with just talking about

general things like the weather, what you did that day or just what’s new you always

want to have a backup topic up your sleeve. Or what is even better is to make a list of

questions that you would like to ask. First- as so not to forget (and this is totally me.

I forget everything and I need to jot down literally everything). Second with a backup

topic or a list of questions you’ll be more confident and this in turn will help you calm

down and pull yourself together before a conversation. And the third thing - this time will be used

a lot more efficiently and will give you a lot more satisfaction and knowledge.

When I’m holding speaking clubs for instance, I have a topic that we’re going to be talking

about and I always have a long list of questions to ask. Because in my experience even when

there’s 6 or 10 people there comes a moment of silence because everyone is out of things

to say. Not that silence is bad it’s just that we have a limited amount of time to be

wasting it on silence.

Some of the things I find very interesting to discuss are: movies, TV series, shows,

interviews, just some YouTube videos and maybe news.

So you and your conversation partner decide and agree on whatever it’ll be before your

conversation by talking to or texting each other.

Sure thing that it has to be something that both of you are interested in and could enjoy.

It could be anything - fashion and latest trends related, medicine and physiology related,

I don’t know - celebrity rumors. Anything. The important thing is that it’s a mutual

interest. A little side note. Sometimes you’ll come

into contact with people who are completely different from you, whose mindset is different,

who like other things and you might find that communication with them is just weird and

not coming together. This is ok. Just be polite and honest. You can’t find a common ground

and vibe with everyone. It’s impossible. If you are feeling this way don’t waste

your time and torture yourself. Just say it as it is and try to find someone else. Someone

who could eventually become your friend rather than an enemy.:)

So, you decided on something to watch. You watch it, then you write down some key things

you found important or interesting and that you’d like to discuss. Make a list a questions

to ask your partner to find out their thoughts on some particular moments.

Then another important thing to do is to write down the words and phrases you don’t know,

seeing as you’re learning English . Find out their meanings. Then exchange these with

your partner and talk about them. Why is this stage important, aside from the fact that

you’ll learn and memorize new words better? It’s important because very often we miss

new words. This happens because either our listening skills aren’t fully developed

yet and we just can’t hear them or we don’t know the words at all and our brains, understanding

the context just drop those words. Or there are just too many unknown words. This practice

will allow you to see your “blind spots” and give you the opportunity to work on them.

So there you go - you might discuss something both of you have watched or read or heard.

You can discuss articles or books, or chapters from a book. The key thing is to be ready,

to show up prepared. It might seem like a lot of preparation and work and you certainly

don’t have to do this, however, I must remind you that everything you do adds to your fluency.

So going the extra mile is even necessary sometimes.

For starters it’s better to choose some videos, let’s say interviews no longer than

10 min. There’ll be fewer words and phrases you might not know.

Another great activity is a role play. My personal favorite is “interview” . I

think everyone knows what the word “interview” means. So you can actually get ready for the

upcoming interview by preparing questions and answers and practicing them with your

partner. The possible questions and answers you can find on the internet or on YouTube.

Or you can make a list of question that you usually get asked and sometimes don’t know

how to answer or a list of questions people usually ask each other when they meet, so

you prepare answers and practice them. Going over those several times will help you memorise

the answers and feel a lot more confident and prepared for your next possible conversation.

Reading dialogues. Although it’s an activity mostly for beginners but I think that a learner

of any level can benefit from it a lot cuz you might choose dialogues with different

difficulty levels. When you have an already-put-together dialogue,

with questions and answers, correct grammar, correct word order which is something not

to be overlooked and you practice saying it a lot you memorise those things - you memorise

those questions and answers and then you can use them with someone else. They are going

to pop up in your head and then you’ll be able to use those patterns to come up with

your own questions and answers. Love this activity.

Picture description. It’s a little bit more challenging but if you’d like to challenge

yourself this activity stimulates your brain by making it think. If you want to translate

or just forgot a word you can search for needed words on the internet. It’s not forbidden

- it’s a learning process.

Apart from these you can also play games for improving your speaking skills and vocabulary

and also playing games is fun. I’ll suggest my favorites to you but there’s

a lot more games you can play. And it goes without saying that they stimulate and improve

your brain activity a lot better than if you are just sitting and trying to memorise words.

I really enjoy and love playing “charades” where you need to show the word to your partner

or partners without speaking and they need to guess it based on your expressions and

body language - pantomime in other words. There are different difficulty levels - meaning

harder and easier words. And everyone has a camera these days. This

is really so much fun, you’ll have lots of laughs. Plus it helps you relax, stop taking

yourself too seriously and get rid of your insecurities.

There’s another similar game called “Taboo” where you need to explain the word - you describe

the word using any words you want except, of course, the one that is on your card.

These two games are more suitable for intermediate advanced speakers -There’s a lot more games

you can play to boost your vocabulary, speaking skills of course and comprehension in general.

You can find them and their rules online Plus it’s super fun. The time will just fly by.

Yes, all these things require some preparation and work but it’s all for a good cause,

right? And if you’re worried that you and your partner are going to be making mistakes

and none of you are going to be able to fix them. Well, it might be the case but usually

people are pretty good at catching other people’s mistakes. And if you have a doubt or a question

regarding grammar or pronunciation or anything else - just stop and ask or check it on the

internet. It’s self education. However, if you want a qualified person to

correct you, you can always hire a teacher or tutor but it’s not going to be free unlike

having a speaking partner.

Thanks guys for watching. Hope my suggestions were useful to you. If that was the case give

this vides a like.