Building connection through conversation
Picture a fireplace roaring, the smell of baked goods in the kitchen, music in the background, a hot beverage, or a little cocktail–you can’t help feeling the warm fuzzies, can you? These are classic soul-lifting ingredients. Did you know that this is also the basic theme of the Winter Solstice…
Turn off the lights and get the flashlights out.–it’s time for some ghost stories! When I was a teenager, we used to break out the Ouija board and pretend that spirits were floating around us, trapped in a silent world desperate to make contact. The room would be hushed, someone…
The art of asking the perfect question is my own personal Mona Lisa. It is the element in my practice that I am always improving and perfecting. In fact, I even made a little video about some of the cognitive elements involved in questions. Let go of perfection Crafting a…
“A woman’s place is in the home” “Immigrants should go back to their country” “No doesn’t always mean no” Did I trigger you? Do you want to tell me? Well then my rage bait trap worked. Rage bait is internet slang for when someone says something (usually online) in hopes…
I recently read the book The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. In the book, the main character visits a library in a parallel dimension where each book represents one of her possible lives…should she have made different choices. The journey takes us into multiple different versions of this character, Nora…
Level: B2, C1 Language focus: modal auxiliaries, expressing opinions, questions Exercise: Discussion questions in the post Media: video As a parent, I find I am sometimes in a sad little loop of not feeling good enough, looking for parenting advice, then trying that advice and being exhausted by the amount…
Level: B2, C1 Activity: Agree/Disagree on TPT ($0.99) Language focus: justify/explain a point of view Media: video Why do we lie? Notice that I didn’t ask if is lying wrong, or whether you consider honesty important–because in both cases, I’m pretty sure you would agree that the answer is “yes,…
Level: B1, B2, C1 Discussion questions in the post Language focus: personal caracteristics, money, work tasks Media: video Life changes. And more specifically, it gets more expensive. Yet sometimes it can take time for your employer to catch up. So how can you tackle the prickly question of asking for…
Can my body language affect my mood? Your body language may not only affect how people perceive you, but it may also have an impact on your brain chemistry. Watch Amy Cuddy’s famous TED talk (I suggest you break it down into smaller parts and do short Tell Backs) to…
ESL and EFL discussion on what questions lead to great conversations.
