INTRODUCTION

HOW TO START A CONVERSATION IN

ENGLISH

A GUIDE TO SMALL TALK

Gree2ngs
Formal ways to greet someone include:
• Hello
• It’s a pleasure to meet you
• Good morning/a6ernoon/evening

Some informal gree6ngs:

• Hi
• Hello
• Hey
• Yo!
• What’s up? – this is an informal way to say: how are you?
Why do we ask ques=ons?
Ques2ons
Ques%ons are an important part of conversa%onal English. It’s polite to ask about another
person, to find out more about them, and to get to know them.
Generally when people start a conversa%on in English with someone they know it’s polite to
enquire about how the other person is.
How’s it going?
Hi, how are you?
How’s your day going?
Having a busy day?
How’s life?
How’s everything?
And there are some basic ques%ons that you can ask anyone, anywhere.
What’s your name?
Where do you live?
Where are you from?
What do you do?
Formal or Informal?
 How well you know the person
• You would speak more formally to someone you’ve never met, to a work
colleague, or to someone older than you. You would speak more casually
to a good friend, and to people in your own age group.

• It’s a good idea to wait until someone speaks casually with you before
you speak casually with them. You may find that people will begin to use
casual greetings with you over time, as you get to know each other
better.
Someone you’ve just been introduced to:

Nice to meet you!

Pleased to meet you!

How do you two know each other?

So, what do you do for a living? – this means what do you do for a job?

How long have you been doing that?

Someone you haven’t seen for a while:

How are you keeping?

What have you been doing lately?

How’s your family?

Long <me no see!

Where you are
If you meet in the workplace, you may want to talk more formally. If you meet
in a more casual environment, like at a party, in a bar, at a concert, or at the theatre
you can talk more casually too.
Wherever you meet, you can talk about something you have in common. For
example, if you’ve met at a party you could ask:
Answer!
Answers
It’s polite to ask a person ques1ons about themselves when
you meet them, but it’s also important to respond to ques1ons
they’ve asked you. This helps to keep the conversa1on flowing.
You can combine your answers with follow-up ques1ons based
on informa1on the other person is giving you. For example, if
someone men1ons they used to live in Bangkok you could say:
Oh, you lived in Bangkok? How long did you live there?
I’ve never been to Bangkok; did you enjoy living there?
I loved visi1ng New York. Are there things you miss about living
there?
Answers
Mirroring, or repea<ng some of the things the other person
has said to you or asked you is a polite and easy way to respond
too. For example:

Hi, I’m Su Su. It’s nice to meet you

Hi, I’m Min Min. It’s nice to meet you too

Hi, I’m Tun Tun. Are you enjoying the class?

Hi, I’m Ko Ko. Yeah, it’s been great! Are you enjoying it too?
Asking personal informa=on
 Su Su.

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Yangon.

What’s = What is
235 = two thirty-five
741-8906 = seven four one – eight nine “oh” six
 I’m a junior engineer.
a sub assistant engineer.
an assistant engineer.
What’s your position? an executive engineer.
a lower/upper divisional clerk.

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a deputy staff officer/staff officer.
an assistant director.
Prac=se with your partner
 Your
Su Su.
Mg Mg.

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 Improve your life
Improve your country
Summary
• Grammar
am – (I am) I am from ------.
is – (What is) What’s your name?
My name is Su Su.
are – Where are you from?
• Key Vocabulary
name greeting words
position saying good bye
address
numbers
What is an engineer?
v Without engineers science is just a philosophy.
v As the leader in human advancement, we are exploring the unknowning like
heros.
v We are dreaming more than others think is pracEcal.
v We are improving things that others think is perfect.
v We are limited but we are pushing the borders of limitaEon backwards while
pushing huminity forward.
v We are unlocking the door to a sustainable future.
v We are voyaging beyond our home.
v We are making a difference in the life of others.
v Giving hope, restoring faith, igniEng souls, warming hearts
v While others were saying among themselves it could never be done, we have
already done it.
v We are the engineers to change the future.
v ENGINEERS CAN CHANGE THE WORLD!
 What is an Engineer?
• An engineer is a problem solver.
• Engineers use math and science to build things—from the <niest
par<cles to the tallest buildings.
• They invent new technologies, and make exis<ng technologies even
beNer.
Glossary

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come up with – (စိတက
် း& စသည်)
ရသည်
invention - တီထင
ွ မ
် 0
existing - တည်1ိ32 ပီးသားြဖစ်ေသာ
cure - က9သသည်
spacecraft - အာကာသယာ<
solution - အေြဖ12ာြခင်း
life à lives
earthquake-proof -
ငလျင်ဒဏ်ကာကွယေ
် သာ
 Improve your country
Improve your life
Glossary

exciLng - စိတလ ် ပ 0 ်1ာ2 းစရာေကာင်းေသာ sort - အမျိBးမျိBး

adventure - စွနစ ် ့ ားမ0 giant - အလွနE် ကီးမားေသာ
creat - ဖန်တးီ သည် space - အာကာသ
Glossary

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creaLvity - ဖန်တးီ Fိင
9 စ
် မ
ွ ်း
problem-solving method-
ြပဿနာ အခက်အခဲ
ေြဖ12ငး် ြခင်း နည်းလမ်း
 Pronuncia=on (Linked sounds)
• “I’m an engineer.”

• “She’s an engineer.”

• “He’s an engineer.”

• Engineers come up with ideas for new invenBons.

• Being an engineer means coming up with soluBons to difficult problems.

• Engineering is an exciBng job.

 Grammar

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 Grammar

Yangon.

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Nay Pyi Taw.
Singapore.
an engineer.

same department.
colleagues.

Mya Mya. Myanmar.

Mandalay. Tun Tun.
Tun Tun. Kalaw.
Yangon right now.
Mya Hnin, Hnin.

Pyin Oo Lwin.
Tell your friend about yourself.
 Grammar

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Min Min.

Soe Soe. Nay Pyi Taw.

Mg Mg. Bago.
Tun2 and Aung2.
Ko Ko.
Tell us about your friend.
History of Myanmar Architecture
(1) Pyu (2) Bagan (3) Konbaung

(4) Colonial
(5) Modern
 History of Myanmar Architecture
• Pyu Period
§Early Pyu Period (2nd century B.C. to A.D. 1050)
Architecture
§Tharay-Khit-taya: Later Pyu Period (2nd century B.C. to A.D.
1050) Architecture
• Bagan Architecture (A.D. 1044 to 1287)
• Konbaung Dynasty (1752-1885 CE)
• Colonial Period (1824-1948)
• Modern Period (1948-present)
 Listening

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 Grammar

Tun Tun from Yangon?

your class in the morning?

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Ko Ko

Mr. Min from Myanmar? Mya Mya from Shan State.

Pyay. Taunggyi.
Mr. and Mrs. Moe Singaporian?
10:00. Thai.
Write five questions about your
classmate…