The speaking component of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) may be the longest 11 to 14 minutes of your life!

It is broken up into three parts with the first part being a general discussion with the examiner that will probably be very close to a real-life situation. That is where the art of small talk comes in!

Small talk is an expression that means light and informal chitchat that covers a whole range of topics and nothing really specific. In a real life situation it is usually used to cover silence between people who may or may not know each other.

If you can master small talk then you are on your way to doing well in part one of your speaking component.

The best way to do this is to practise as much as you can. The good part is that in most English-speaking countries, small talk is considered normal, so you can chat away to the supermarket cashier, the woman at the bus stop, the waiter in the café and everyone will think you are just a very friendly person!