Week 1: Gracious Speaking

SPEAKING EXERCISES

 

Keep a language diary with headings such as:  

• People I thanked today/people I should have thanked  

• Occasions I expressed anger/occasions I should have expressed outrage but kept quiet  

• Times I asked a good question/times I failed to ask the right question  

 

In the diary, keep a list of the main topics of conversation that day apart from work topics, giving lengths of time if possible. At the end of the week, discover what you spent most time speaking about.  

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Ask somebody you trust to have a conversation about how you come across to other people in the way you speak. You may have to press them to say more than ‘You sound fine.’