How’s your day been so far?

This ESL lesson aims to teach students how to have some polite conversation with colleagues in a professional environment.  The primary skill is “small talk”; the lesson focuses on building a student’s ability to speak in this way.

Warm-up

The lesson starts with a few questions about the first day of a new job and meeting new colleagues. The student shares their experience. This is followed by some basic tips on how to introduce oneself.

Video: Small talk

The student watches a video in which small talk is explained and some suggestions on starting small talk are given. The student learns new vocabulary from the video (temperature check, cultural intelligence, be all business, etc.)

Vocabulary: Asking questions, responding, misunderstanding

The student learns about proper intonation when responding to what someone is saying.

They also learn what to say when there is a misunderstanding.

Next, they sort out small-talk questions based on the topic.

Finally, the student gets to discuss their personal experience with small talk.