Prepare short stories, jokes, news

Conversation is like tossing the balls around between two partners. However, for newbies in speaking English, it's difficult to reply spontaneously. Most of the time, newbies either paused or murmured at their turns to toss back the ball. Once the ball was held by one side, the conversation stopped right there.

To avoid such situations, I equipped myself with several stories, jokes and news and employed them into my conversation whenever possible. The presence of these stories can stimulate the conversation and help you toss the ball back naturally. Several examples I frequently used are:

Movies:

Avatar:

Did you go watch Avatar yet? No? You should definitely watch this one. It's the best movies I ever watched since the past five years and probably will be the best movie in the next five years. You should try either Imax or 3D theater to experience the awesome special effects in this movie. What make Avatar different than all the other sci-fi movies like Transformer or 2012 is the screenplay behind the and ideas the director want to convey. You might only remember Megan Fox after watching Transformer but you will be in deep muse after watching Avatar. What is that? You have to see to believe it. I don't want to ruin your experience of watching Avatar.

Comments:

How interesting/attractive your story is depends on your audience rather than on you. A hilarious joke might work on certain people but not all the people. However, several rule of thumb are commonly perceived as interesting:

1. Informative:

Try 3D/Imax instead of regular movie.

2. Considerate:

You have to see to believe it. I don't want to ruin your experience of watching Avatar.

3. A bit exaggerated:

It's the best movies I ever watched since the past five years and probably will be the best movie in the next five years

4. Easy to understand:

Don't try to say anything rocket science or abstruse in your conversation. Nobody is interesting in your research results except for your advisor. (Most of the time, they don't neither)

Last, to increase your odds of turning on the conversation, I would suggest you to modify and enhance your stories each time you apply it and keep increasing the number of available stories: Avatar might be hot right now, but probably not hot enough after two years or so.