Full video

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Hi there. This is teacher Harry and

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welcome back to English lessons with

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Harry where I try to help you to get a

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better understanding of the English

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language. What are we going to talk to

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you about today? Well, today we're going

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to talk about small talk and small talk

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is a really important part of the

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English language and in particular we're

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going to talk to you about small talk

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questions about food. So, small talk

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questions to do with food. As I said,

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small talk is a really important part of

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the English language. Some people

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dismiss it a little bit as chitchat, but

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remember when you use small talk, it

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helps you to get involved in

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conversations. It's the easiest way for

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you to get involved. So, not only will

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it help you and ease you into the

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conversation, it will avoid those

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awkward silences that you might have in

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an elevator if you got stuck there, for

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example, or at the beginning of a

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meeting when you're waiting for somebody

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to arrive or one of your your colleagues

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hasn't arrived. So there'll be generally

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a lot of small talk in those situations.

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It'll help you and present you as a

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little bit friendlier. It will come be

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make you a little bit more acceptable to

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your colleagues, particularly new

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colleagues if you've moved jobs. So you

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know you don't feel like the outsider

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and you'll sound much more like a native

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speaker. Okay. So that's the general

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overview of small talk and why it's

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important. So, as I said to you, we're

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going to look specifically at small talk

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questions about food. Well, as well as

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small talk being really important, food

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is important to all of us. We all like

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eating it, preparing it or most of us,

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and certainly talking about it. So, when

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we have small talk conversations, food

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is one of the ideal topics and usually

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it centers around a number of particular

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areas. So, I've broken this down into a

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few sections. So, I'll take them one by

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one. I'll read them to you first and

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then I'll come back to them. So the

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first one is about your favorite food or

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it could be about eating out where you

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might eat out cooking at home

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just generally breakfast lunches and

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dinners

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and finally diets which is also an

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important part of eating food. If you

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eat too much of it we have to go on

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diets or we have to do a little bit more

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exercise. So diets are another important

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part of that general classification of

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food. So let's take them one by one. So

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the first one as I said is your favorite

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food. So the questions that you could

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ask people when you're in that situation

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is well simply what's your favorite

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dish? Now in English dish means a plate

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of food or something that somebody's

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prepared. It's not just the dish or the

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plate that the food arrives on. So that

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can be sometimes a little bit confusing

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for non-native speakers. So, what's your

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favorite dish? What's your favorite

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meal? Or just simply, what do you like

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to eat? Yeah. So, you can put it in any

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of those situations. Are there any foods

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that you absolutely hate? Or there are

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any foods that you absolutely won't eat.

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So, again, you're trying just to find

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out from people, you know, what their

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customs are or what their cultures are,

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what sort of food they like or what food

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they don't like. Do you like trying new

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foods? Okay. And what's the most recent

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food that you've tasted? You know, have

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you had Vietnamese or you have tried

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other Japanese styles? Whatever it might

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be, you can broaden it out to include

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specific or just generally what have you

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eaten recently or what have you tried

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recently or what new food have you tried

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recently?

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Okay. So then when we're talking about

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eating out, that might be to do with

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places that are local. So, you know, if

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you're sharing offices with these people

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and you've just joined them, you might

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want to know the places to eat locally

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for lunch or perhaps for an early

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dinner. So, you could ask questions

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like, "How often do you eat out?" "Have

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you tried any new restaurants recently?"

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or "What are the restaurants like around

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here? Are there any nice small cafes? Or

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what are the prices like?" you know, are

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they good for lunches or dinners? So,

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you can get into it in much more detail

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as you go along once you feel

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comfortable about asking those

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questions. You could also like and ask,

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do they like fast food? Because

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obviously people eat it, particularly if

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they're in a hurry. So, do you like fast

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food? If you do, what type of fast food

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do you like? Or what fast food

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restaurants are available here? Do you

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order food as a takeaway? Do you order

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food as a delivery? Do you try some of

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those apps where you order food to be

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delivered to the office or to to be

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delivered to your home? And then you can

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talk about your experiences, your your

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experiences that were good or what most

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people have is some experience that was

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absolutely bad where the food was late

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or the food was cold or something

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strange happened. So people exchange

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their experiences in that way. But all

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the time asking those particular

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questions about eating out. A lot of

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people like to cook. A lot of people are

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really good at preparing food

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particularly if they have the time and

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they like to cook food particularly when

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they have specific cultures from

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whichever country they happen to be

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from. So a lot of questions we can ask

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are related to cooking at home or

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cooking in the home. So simply are you a

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good cook or who cooks in your house

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your partner or you who does most of the

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cooking? Do you share the cooking?

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What's your favorite dish to prepare? Or

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what's your favorite dish that you like

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to prepare is another way to say it. And

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what's your cooking specialtity? What do

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you really like? What's your your key

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dish that you prepare that everybody

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talks about? Yeah. So, or what are you

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well known for? So lots of people have a

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particularly specialtity or it could be

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paella or it could be shepherd's pie in

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my case whatever it might be. So what

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are you known for? What is the dish that

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really sets you apart from other people?

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Okay. So it comes on to the section then

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speaking particularly about just the

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three basic core meals of the day.

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Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

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Do you usually skip breakfast or do you

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bring it with you and have it in the

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office? That's a very simple question. A

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lot of people grab a bite to eat on the

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way in on off the tube or the train,

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drop into the local cafe, get the the

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the coffee and the the breakfast bends

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to be or they have something already uh

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on their desk waiting for them when they

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get there. So, do you usually skip

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breakfast or do you have it before you

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leave home? What time do you get up at

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if you have to have your breakfast

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before you you leave home?

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What time do you usually have lunch?

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What time do you usually go for lunch?

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Where do you go for lunch around here?

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I'm sick of sandwiches. Can you do you

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have any really good suggestions as to

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work type lunches that you can prepare

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easily or bring in? What would what do

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you usually have? So all of those

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questions, small talk questions that

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will help you to fit into the

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conversation. And finally, what do you

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usually have for dinner or what time do

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you eat dinner? Do you prepare dinner

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the day before? Do you prepare dinner as

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we do enough for two days for example,

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if you don't want to cook every day? So

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general topics, conversational topics,

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questions that will be uh easy to ask

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hopefully for you and easy to answer.

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And then finally, as I mentioned before,

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if we all as we do like food and we eat

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a little bit too much of it,

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particularly at certain times of the

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year, then we might like to talk or we

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will talk about the diet. Yeah,

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different types of diets. So the

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questions you could ask relating to diet

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are what diet are you on? Or do you ever

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go on diets? Do you follow a special

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type of diet? Are there foods you

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definitely leave out or food you include

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to make sure it's a healthy diet that

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you have? Do you think diets are useful

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or not? Are they just fads? And a fad is

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something that's here today, gone

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tomorrow. Is anyone here on that raw

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food diet so you can talk about the

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latest gimmick of a diet which will be

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in all the magazines and the internet

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and all the superstars are talking about

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them. So people will try them and when

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they try them they share them with their

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colleagues and when they share them with

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their colleagues they exchange their

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information and their experiences good

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or bad. Okay. So lots of helpful and

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useful questions that you can ask around

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diet. Okay. So that's small talk and as

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I said small talk really really

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important part of the English language.

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It will help you to settle in to a new

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job. It will help you to make friends.

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It would break the ice when you're stuck

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in that elevator or before that business

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meeting when you're turning left or

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right to colleague and you you want to

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talk about something to avoid that

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unhealthy silence that is there and

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it'll make you fit into the organization

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and you won't feel such an outsider. So

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I hope you've enjoyed the experience of

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this particular lesson and you can join

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me again in the future and if you want

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to contact me well of course you can on

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www.englishles English lesson via

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Skype.com.