right aubry i'm excited for this second episode of our uh small talk series today guys we did a
poll of our youtube um audience and you guys said you needed small talk and we're giving you small
talk lessons so last time guys we talked about how you can have conversations about
tv shows if you have not seen part one go back and watch that video guys and today we are expanding
on these small talk topics um and we will teach you how to discuss free time and activities
with co-workers and friends yes being able to make small talk about hobbies what someone does
in their free time is the best way to build on a connection that you have made or to make a new
friend everyone has an answer to this question and everyone's very interested in it right because we
don't have enough time to spend on our hobbies everyone wishes they could spend more time on
whatever this fun interesting thing they do and they love talking about it totally exactly
um and people do like to talk about themselves sometimes if you know it makes them feel strong
because they're talking about something they love or they're good at or they enjoy so it's such a
great way to connect with other people guys and yes this is a great topic for anybody um a new
client you know a customer a co-worker that you don't know very well you can connect to anybody
about this topic guys um okay so let's uh let's explore this first now when you meet someone new
how do you start getting to know them right i mean we all know that first question what do you do
um but if you're if you already know if you're talking to a co-worker you're not gonna ask that
and like that doesn't go that far that question you know what i mean like we want to develop more
of a relationship than just talking about a job with someone so you can also say what do you get
up to outside work and this is a great question um could you see yourself being like confident
in asking this to anybody you're just like trying to get to know oh yeah for sure and i
love that casual way of acting asking instead of saying what are your hobbies or something to say
what do you get up to when you're not at work it's so fun it's really um disarming right or
kind of putting yourselves both in a pretty friendly situation and i think it's really
opening it up to a fun interesting conversation because everyone would prefer to not be at work
everyone pretty much what they do when they're not at work so it's just smart to give people a chance
to talk about it and and give this positive um atmosphere to your conversation totally and like
aubrey said we um we don't want you to you guys to sound like you're talking like a textbook right
that's that's what we're all about getting away from the textbook so don't say like um
what do you do in your leisure time or like what hobbies do you get pleasure from i don't know like
nobody talks like that so you could say what do you get up to outside work um you could also
say what do you get up to in your free time that's also totally natural um now when someone tells you
about their hobbies or interests how should you respond like how how do you keep that conversation
going i think a lot of times people are tempted to hijack the conversation and say oh interesting i
do this and that's it about themselves and i think that's a bit of a mistake i think the best thing
you can do is ask follow-up questions yeah and you will be inspired to do that it will feel natural
if you genuinely are interested in what they're saying you're going to want to know more about it
it's them how often they do it where they do it how long ago did they start did they do it when
they were a kid whatever it is ask more get them to talk about it more to show that you really are
interested and also to find out more about it exactly exactly um and this is really just the
if you if you're looking for just one conversation strategy this is it ask questions ask the person
questions about themselves um so after you have explored uh those ideas from that person you've
asked as many questions as you want to ask um then you can tell them what you know or what you like
or what you have done related to what they gave you right so if they said you know they love to
travel be like you know what i i love to travel too in fact i'm planning a trip to spain next year
you know what i mean um it'll connect take what they give you and add something from yourself and
keep in mind the person you're speaking to might not ask you they might not say what about you
what do you get up to it exactly you can't expect that you can't be waiting to share until they ask
because they might not have the conversation skills they might not have the language level
don't worry about it you be the one to take the awkwardness out of the conversation and just
transition there yourself be like that is awesome i actually love that too or yeah i've never tried
that no problem don't wait to be asked yes that is such a great tip oh my gosh that okay two big tips
today guys if you get nothing else ask that person questions about themself and if they don't ask you
that's okay give them information about yourself okay um and just as a quick side note here besides
talking about like hobbies and free time interests and stuff you can also connect by talking about
specific events or experiences you've had and again like aubry and i connect a lot about
this you know like what'd you get up to over the weekend um it's not exactly like a hobby or free
time interest all the time sometimes it's just like you know what we had um we had a great time
at this uh free bicycle event we went to or we went to an arts and crafts fair and made christmas
ornaments like that is also a more specific way you can ask questions and share about yourself
so because this question's pretty broad right like what did you get up to it might you they
might end up talking about a sport they did or their hobbies or they might talk about attending
a child's concert or it's very broad it gives them a chance just to talk about anything they did over
the weekend totally totally um so before we get into the role play guys i want to remind you that
if you look at the description below the video you will see the role play aubrey and i are going to
do but before we do that i want to just review three quick vocabulary phrases you guys need for
small talk around this topic so as we mentioned get up to awesome phrasal verb it just means do
that's it like it's so easy to use um obsessed with this is a an extreme adjective you could use
to sound more interesting and it just means you really really love something i'm obsessed with
um watching tv shows i'm obsessed with reading this new series i'm into i'm obsessed with um
drums i don't know like we use this all the time to exaggerate right we're not literally
saying we're obsessed and stalking something we just it just means we really like it yep totally
um and a last phrasal verb guys check out uh it can mean do or look at so i might say
um you should check out that new van gogh exhibit right it means you should go look at it you should
see it you should do that go check it out uh all right so in this role play aubry is playing a role
uh she just started at the company and i have been at the company a long time and i want to create
a connection with aubrey she's a new co-worker we're going to be working on the same team and i
want to start developing a relationship a trusted relationship with aubrey because we're going to
be working together okay um all right hey aubrey right yep that's me well welcome to the team so
what do you get up to outside work aubry right now i'm spending a lot of time gardening actually
oh yeah what do you grow i try to grow all edible plants like veggies and herbs and stuff
honestly i don't know how much food i'll actually be able to eat from my garden but it's a good
excuse just to be outside and listen to podcasts totally i hear that i listen to tons of podcasts
i'm obsessed with this show called hello from the magic tavern right now i've never heard of
it what is that okay so i'm kind of a dork just warning you it's a fantasy improv comedy podcast
it's hilarious if you like comedy stuff you should check it out cool i will for sure all right see
like again guys this role play all the role plays we do in these series these are all conversations
that you could really actually have in real life guys none of this is from a textbook none of this
is just like formulated for you know english students this is all native english guys such
great vocab i loved where you said totally i hear that that's such a native phrase just to be like
oh i know what you mean yeah not used as commonly you guys use these phrases practice this role play
there's so much good vocab in there exactly um so guys remember you can take a english quiz
that we made for you it is free it gives you your english fluency score and you get free materials
based on that score so definitely guys it just takes a few minutes get started know where you're
at what is your english fluency level go right now guys to allayersenglish.com fluencyscore and if
you haven't checked out episode one of this series go back and watch that um and aubrey and i will
see you in the next episode of this small talk series yes i'll see you there jessica bye guys bye
you