I'm Vanessa from Speak English With Vanessa. com.
00:00Let's talk about starting a conversation.
00:04Vanessa: To improve your speaking skills in English, you need to speak, right?
00:08Practice the skills that you want to improve.
00:16Well, maybe it's not that easy.
00:20Vanessa: What do I say next?
00:24Why isn't he talking more?
00:27Dan: Oh, no. I don't know what to say.
00:29Vanessa: You know what?
00:32This has probably happened to you in your native language, so it makes sense that in English, it can be tough to start a conversation, too.
00:33But, never fear, Vanessa's tips are here!
00:40Vanessa: In life, there are two kinds of people; people you know and people you don't know.
00:43We call those strangers.
00:48So, it makes sense to have two different types of conversation starters.
00:49Of course, there's some overlap, but it's helpful to separate them.
00:54Vanessa: Let's start with people you know.
00:57Imagine that you are in the grocery store, you're pushing your cart, looking for some spinach, and you see a co-worker, and you want to say, hi.
00:59Well, here are four great questions that you can ask in that situation, or that they might ask you, so you need to understand them and how to respond.
01:07Vanessa: The first two questions are about the past.
01:15Vanessa: How are you?
01:22Vanessa: What’ve (have) you been up to lately?
01:24Just went to see my family yesterday.
01:28Vanessa: How are you?
01:32Vanessa: What were you up to this weekend?
01:34