Make a Script
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Ready to Make a Script?
What do I mean by a Script?
A bland or boring thing you need to memorize and say the same way each time? NOPE!
What a script really does is anticipates what the conversation will be about.
The anticipation will help you control the conversation to help you calm those conversation nerves (what you read about in section 1).
For example:
When meeting someone for the first time, the conversation could go:
Person 1: Hi, what is your name?
Person 2: My name is ________.
P 1: Nice to meet you, _______. My name is ________.
P 2: It’s nice to meet you, too! What do you like to do?
P 1: I like to ________, _____, and _____. How about you?
P 2: I like to ________, _____, and _____.
If you have a script that you can practice over and over, by yourself or with others, it is easier to feel more comfortable talking.
You are not going to get thrown off the conversation when someone changes the format. You have practiced so much that you feel confident that even if the order changes slightly, you can still flow through the conversation.
For example, when I studied abroad in Spain, some days I would feel home sick so I went into a pizza shop and ordered a pizza. The first order was the hardest, but then I stuck to basically the same “script” every time, and I was able to order the pizza.
What is the hardest part about having a conversation?
In my opinion, the hardest part is answering questions. You can’t really anticipate what the other person is going to ask. Or can you?
Let’s say you are person 2 in the conversation above and answered that you like swimming. If you always answer that you like swimming, you could think of the possible questions the other person will ask you about swimming.
For example:
Why do you like swimming? How long have you been swimming for? What is your favorite stroke? Do you prefer swimming in a pool or in a natural body of water, like a lake?
You have just controlled the conversation slightly by saying you like swimming. Therefore, you know what to anticipate.
Even if person one didn’t ask you about swimming, since you like swimming, it is still good vocabulary to know (more in the next section) in the language you are learning because you enjoy that topic.
Practice: Think of one thing you like to do and think of possible questions that someone could ask you. You could do this in English and then translate them into Spanish (or you could start in Spanish).
A bland or boring thing you need to memorize and say the same way each time? NOPE!
What a script really does is anticipates what the conversation will be about.
The anticipation will help you control the conversation to help you calm those conversation nerves (what you read about in section 1).
For example:
When meeting someone for the first time, the conversation could go:
Person 1: Hi, what is your name?
Person 2: My name is ________.
P 1: Nice to meet you, _______. My name is ________.
P 2: It’s nice to meet you, too! What do you like to do?
P 1: I like to ________, _____, and _____. How about you?
P 2: I like to ________, _____, and _____.
If you have a script that you can practice over and over, by yourself or with others, it is easier to feel more comfortable talking.
You are not going to get thrown off the conversation when someone changes the format. You have practiced so much that you feel confident that even if the order changes slightly, you can still flow through the conversation.
For example, when I studied abroad in Spain, some days I would feel home sick so I went into a pizza shop and ordered a pizza. The first order was the hardest, but then I stuck to basically the same “script” every time, and I was able to order the pizza.
What is the hardest part about having a conversation?
In my opinion, the hardest part is answering questions. You can’t really anticipate what the other person is going to ask. Or can you?
Let’s say you are person 2 in the conversation above and answered that you like swimming. If you always answer that you like swimming, you could think of the possible questions the other person will ask you about swimming.
For example:
Why do you like swimming? How long have you been swimming for? What is your favorite stroke? Do you prefer swimming in a pool or in a natural body of water, like a lake?
You have just controlled the conversation slightly by saying you like swimming. Therefore, you know what to anticipate.
Even if person one didn’t ask you about swimming, since you like swimming, it is still good vocabulary to know (more in the next section) in the language you are learning because you enjoy that topic.
Practice: Think of one thing you like to do and think of possible questions that someone could ask you. You could do this in English and then translate them into Spanish (or you could start in Spanish).
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