Other possible conversation openers and ways to make small talk:

As I've mentioned before, small talk is the art, in America and other places, of making social talk that acts as a social lubricant.  We make small talk with our colleagues and with people we want to meet or network with.

Small talk is called small talk because topically it is about the small things we enjoy in our everyday lives--sports, kids issues at school, food, pets (dogs, cats, lizards, hamsters, etc)--just about anything can serve as subject for "small talk" as long as you remember that another reason small talk is small talk is that it is "small" in nature--unserious, not deep, not in-depth or deeply emotional.




(American football and baseball are excellent topics for small talk in America, and you may often find that some Americans are interested in what you call football and what Americans call soccer and cricket--for the difference between "American football" and what might be called "football" where you are from, check out this series of posts on David Berlin's ESL and Accent Reduction Training page on Facebook. )

It's worth noting again here that "How are you" is a *greeting* in America, similar to "hello" and the appropriate answer is, "things are fine, thanks" or "things are good, thanks".  It's not that the asker doesn't care how you are.  It's just that if he wants to know he will figure it out in other ways--by observing you to see if your body language or tone of voice indicates upset, emotional stress, or what have you.

(This is why, by the way, it's important to learn good, proper American intonation and speech rhythm--because your if your English intonation and rhythm are not correct, an American may assume that you are upset or not happy in some way and will wonder what he or she can do about it.

(So for instance, if you are from Germany, Russia, Poland, or somewhere similar--Eastern Europe or Russia in particular, your English vocabulary may be fine but your rhythm and intonation will give Americans the idea that you are unfriendly or even hostile, even if you are friendly and personable.  Americans derive emotional content from intonation--mostly musical pitch and other things, rhythm, how you stress your words, syllables, and vowels, and so on.)

In any case, I meant to talk about the art of good conversation in America, but I got sidetracked.  What a shame.  However, if you'd like help with this, give me a call @ (732) 618-4135 or contact me via email @ david.berlin.esl@gmail.com or on Skype @ david.berlin.esl.

I have some really good handouts and a short ebook on the topic.

My Skype rates for simple English conversation practice for international students are considerably lower than my rates for private lessons where I travel to a students location.  Get in touch with me for details.

All right?  All right.  New podcast on American conversation and small talk coming soon.