As I've been working with language partners, sometimes the conversations get repetitive or redundant. You can only talk about what you did today for so long before you realize you do the same things quite a bit. This can limit your excitement about conversing if you aren't sure where to go.
When I first started chatting, it helped to have an outline because it allowed you a certain vocabulary to stay within when trying to have a conversation. It helps to make you more comfortable when you only have to talk about one topic to help prepare. These topics can be useful as they are pretty general that you can do a few times without repeating:
- Weather
- Hobbies
- Food
- Introduce a family member/friend
While this helps at the beginning, later on it isn't as necessary. Your vocabulary can expand so that you can talk about more daily routines without much difficulty, but what about when you want to do more? How can you encourage yourself to continue to grow and have unique conversations. This is my next goal of expanding conversations beyond just formalities about the week. Here are some easy conversation topics that are still easy to discuss but can help generate a more interesting conversation than just "What did you do today?"
- Tell a story from when you were younger
- Give a synopsis of your favorite movie
- If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
- What is your biggest pet peeve?
These are a little more advanced than just, "Today, it was raining," but help to create a more meaningful conversation. Next week, I plan to tell my friend, Jing, about how I was my high school mascot for three years. I'm guessing that it will create A LOT of questions and a conversation we haven't really had.
This week I prepare for a chat talking about the weather in Arabic. We will see how this goes!
Until next time.