Small Talk ESL Activities, Role-Plays, Games and Worksheets

ESL Small Talk Activity - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Communicative Practice In this insightful small talk speaking activity, students find out what they have in common with their classmates by asking and answering common small talk questions. First, students write the names of all the students in the class on their worksheet. Students then go around the class asking one another small talk questions to find out one thing they have in common with each student. When two students discover something that they have in common with each other, they write it down next to their name, e.g. 'We both like eating pizza.' Students then move on to speak to someone else. Finally, students share what they have in common with one another with the class. show less

ESL Small Talk Activity - Writing and Speaking: Writing, Asking and Answering Questions, Communicative Practice - Pair Work In this free small talk speaking activity, students practice writing, asking and answering questions on common small talk topics. Students begin by reading through information on small talk and looking at examples of small talk topics and questions. Students then write small talk questions for ten topics using useful question prompts or their own ideas. Next, in pairs, students practice making small talk using topic cards and the questions they wrote as a guide. Students take turns picking up a card and asking a small talk question based on the topic to their partner, who responds and then asks a question of their own. The aim is to keep the conversation going for one minute. After one minute, the other student picks up a card, and so on, until all the cards have been used. Finally, students give feedback on which small talk topics were the easiest and hardest to talk about. show less

ESL Small Talk Game - Speaking: Forming Responses from Prompts, Communicative Practice - Group Work In this fun small talk game, students practice replying to small talk statements and questions with commonly used responses. In groups, students take turns picking up a card and reading the small talk statement or question in bold to the group, e.g. 'Nice weather today, isn't it?' The other students then each give a response, e.g. 'Yeah, it's lovely.' For each appropriate response, students score a point. If a student gives the same response shown on the card, they score two points. The student with the most points at the end of the game is the winner. show less

ESL Conversation Starters Activity - Speaking: Gap-fill, Role-Play, Asking and Responding to Questions and Statements, Communicative Practice - Pair Work In this communicative small talk activity, students complete small talk questions and statements to start a conversation and then use them to practice making small talk. First, students complete three conversation starters for each small talk topic by writing their own ideas in the gaps, e.g. 'Lovely day, isn't it?' Next, students stand up and find a partner. Students then use the conversation starters from the first topic to role-play making small talk with their partner for two minutes. After two minutes, students find a new partner and make small talk again using the conversation starters from the second topic, and so on. This continues until all the small talk topics have been discussed. Afterwards, students give feedback to the class on which topics were the easiest to talk about and share any interesting information they discovered about their classmates. show less

ESL Ending a Conversation and Saying Goodbye Activity - Speaking: Ordering, Role-Play, Identifying, Controlled Practice - Pair Work In this productive saying goodbye activity, students practice phrases for ending a small talk conversation and saying goodbye between casual acquaintances or people who just met. First, in pairs, students put five small talk conversation endings in the correct order by reading the sentences to their partner and numbering them. Student A starts by looking at their sentences and reading the most suitable one to end the small talk conversation, putting number 1 next to the sentence. Student B listens, looks for a suitable reply and reads it to their partner, writing number 2 next to the sentence. This process continues until the conversation has been put in order from 1 to 8. Students then move on to the second conversation, and so on. When the students have finished, they role-play the five conversation endings with their partner. Finally, students go through the conversations and identify the phrases for ending a small talk conversation and saying goodbye. show less

ESL Small Talk Role-Play - Speaking Activity: Communicative Practice - Group Work In this engaging small talk role-play, students take on the role of people meeting for the first time at a networking event and practice making small talk by introducing themselves and steering the conversation toward a particular topic. First, students prepare a character for the role-play by completing personal information on a profile card. Students then read a corresponding small talk card, which contains a secret topic they want to talk about, a reason they want to talk about it and a question they must answer by the end of the role-play. Students then take on the role of the person on their two cards and go around making small talk with the other people in their group. Each time they meet someone new, they introduce themselves and make small talk, steering the conversation toward their assigned small talk topic and trying to discover information based on the question on their card. Afterwards, students guess each other's small talk topics and reasons for bringing them up. Students then reveal their roles and small talk goals and give feedback about the questions on their small talk cards. show less

ESL Small Talk Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Categorising, Writing Questions, Identifying - Speaking Activity: Role-Play, Communicative Practice - Pair Work In this free small talk worksheet, students learn four techniques to make small talk and keep a conversation going. First, students read about using echo questions to encourage someone to speak and show interest in what they are saying. Students then reply to statements using echo questions. Next, students learn about echo words and how they can help direct a conversation. Students then reply to statements with echo words and a comment or question. After that, students read words and phrases to show attention and agreement and write other words and phrases they know in boxes. Students then move on to practice asking Wh follow-up questions to help keep a conversation going by writing five Wh follow-up questions for a statement. Next, in pairs, students read mini-dialogues and categorise the phrases to make small talk according to the techniques. Following that, students read a small talk conversation with their partner and identify the techniques for making small talk. Finally, students take turns asking a question to their partner and keeping the conversation going for two minutes using the four small talk techniques. show less

ESL Small Talk Game and Role-Play - Writing and Speaking: Responding, Writing a Dialogue, Role-Play, Communicative Practice - Pair and Group Work In this useful small talk game and role-play, students practice using common conversational phrases that show interest in what someone is saying. The activity helps learners respond naturally and appropriately during informal conversations. First, in groups, students review the phrases on the cards by responding to example statements and discussing the meaning of each response. Students then take turns picking up a card and making a statement that elicits the phrase on the card. The first student to correctly respond with the target phrase wins the card. The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins. Following that, in pairs, students take ten cards each and use the phrases to write a short small talk dialogue. Finally, pairs practice their dialogues and then role-play their conversations in front of the class. show less

ESL Small Talk Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Gap-fill, Matching, Writing Responses - Speaking Activities: Guided Discussion, Role-Play, Freer Practice - Pair Work This comprehensive small talk worksheet helps students develop an understanding of small talk, identify suitable small talk topics, learn about conversation starters, and practice keeping a conversation going. Students start by reading a text about small talk and completing sentences using words and phrases from the text. Next, students choose which topics they think are suitable for small talk and then compare their choices with a partner. In pairs, students then choose two topics for small talk with strangers, acquaintances, and colleagues. Working alone, students then match sentence halves together to make small talk conversation starters. After that, students choose a suitable response to each conversation starter. Students then move on to write what they would say in reply to each response to keep the conversation going. Lastly, in pairs, students practice making small talk using the conversation starters, beginning a new conversation every few minutes until all the starters have been used. show less

ESL Small Talk Role-Plays - Speaking Activity: Communicative Practice - Pair Work In these communicative small talk role-plays, students use conversation starters to make small talk in two authentic situations. In the first role-play, one student uses the conversation starters to find a small talk topic their partner is interested in talking about. When the role-play has been completed, students give feedback on the topic they thought their partner wanted to discuss. Pairs then move on to the second role-play in which one student steers the conversation away from a certain small talk topic. Afterwards, students tell the class how successful they were in doing that. show less