Introductions are something we do when we meet someone new, so they’re pretty common. The first day of English class is no different. That first day you want to know how to introduce yourself in class so that you can feel nice and comfortable doing it. When you have your introduction mastered, speaking English with somebody new will feel lovely.
My activity for you is to come up with a 30-second introductory elevator pitch. Normally an elevator pitch is where you are trying to convince somebody to buy something in a really concise way. Obviously, that’s not the intention when you’re introducing yourself the way I’m talking about but you can still focus on being concise and showing your awesomeness when you introduce yourself. By practicing it on your own, you’re going to go into new introductions feeling confident.
Remember that while you might not say the exact thing that you practiced, having this introductory elevator pitch already learned will help you so that you don’t give a nervous, rambly introduction that causes you to feel confused about what you want to say next. You’re going into your introduction prepared so nerves won’t be a problem for you. You’ll be ready!
Here are some tips for how to introduce yourself in class
Start with your name and then continue with basically whatever you want. It’s so easy!
Some things you might choose to continue with are your age and your marital status. These things are completely optional. I know some people don’t like to talk about them and other people do.
Keep in mind, even if you choose not to mention those things when you first meet somebody, it can still be fun to practice talking about your age and marital status so that you have that language learned. That way you will know how to say all of those things in case they came up in another conversation. For example, it might come up in a future conversation with a close friend.
You might also add where you’re from and where you live, especially if those are different places. In an English class, since you’re specifically talking to someone who wants to talk about other languages, you can let them know what languages you speak too. What else would you like to include in your short introduction?
The secret to turning your introduction into a conversation
Next, if there are different key things that you want people to know, add those things too. Maybe you have pets or a specific hobby or something special about you that you’d like to share. You could include that afterward and see if the other person has any similar interests.
Always make sure that you invite the other person to say something to turn this into a smooth conversation. You can simply say, “and tell me about yourself” and then listen carefully to what they say in their response. Use any information you have in common to keep the conversation going.
Time for you to practice your introduction
With that little bit of information, you probably have your 30-second introductory elevator pitch prepared and ready to go! Isn’t that great? It was so easy!
The last thing to pay attention to when you practice is not to rush it. Yes, it’s 30 seconds but you want to keep a normal steady pace with your pitch. Instead of practicing how you would introduce yourself in class, imagine you are talking to a friend. This will help you feel relaxed. It’s normal to feel nervous talking to someone new, but since you practiced your introduction previously you’ll feel more at ease sharing it with new people.
All of this information is included in the Friday Fluency video below.
