Learn English Small Talk about WORK in English - Conversation Starters

So here, let's look at small talk  at work. So of course, at work,  

we see the people we work with every day  or five days a week, or you know depending  

on what your job is. So, we are a little  familiar, we know them. So, we often have  

small talk with the people we work with. So,  let's look at some work small talk questions.  

A great question to ask is, “so how did you  get into…,” and whatever the job is. So, I’m  

a teacher, so let's say I am at my school, and I  meet a new teacher, or I just see them very often,  

and I want to know them a little better. Or  just want to chat. I might say, “so how did  

you get into teaching?” “How did you get into  teaching?” And then they'll tell me about why  

they started teaching and so on. So, this is  a great question to ask someone at work. “So  

how did you get into sales?” “So how did you get  into medicine?” Right, whatever your field is. So,  

this is a great small talk question for someone  you work with, that you just want to get to know. 

Let's see another great question.  “How long have you been working here?”  

So, maybe uh you don't know  right. You're just being  

conversational. You just want to have some small  talk. “So how long have you been working here?” 

A very common small talk question at work is  looking forward to the weekend, or just asking  

about the weekend right. Many of us at some time  in the week feel so tired at work, so we might  

ask, “are you looking forward to the weekend?” Or,  “what are you going to do this weekend?” Right,  

we can also in small talk just make comments about  what is happening. Right so we could say something  

like, “I can't believe how busy we are today.” Or,  “I can't believe how slow we are today, can you?”  

So maybe it is a very busy day, so busy  that normally it is not this busy. “I can't  

believe how busy we are today, can you? Oh no,  I can't believe it. I have so much work to do.”  

Okay, and last one. We can also just talk  about the week right. “This week has gone  

so slowly.” Maybe it feels like Friday, but  it's only Tuesday. “Oh, this week has gone  

so slowly, hasn't it?” Or maybe it's a busy  week, it's going very quickly. So, I think  

it's only Wednesday, but it's already Friday.  “This week has gone so quickly, hasn't it?”  

So here we see some very common, or very normal  and typical questions for small talk at work.