Communication / social life
What I Learned from Talking to Strangers
Listen and choose what Nora learned from her experiment.
What did Nora learn from talking to strangers?
Communication / social life
What I Learned from Talking to Strangers
Type the missing exact words. Empty answers are ignored.
1. Nora thought talking to strangers was something ___ did naturally.
2. In public places, she preferred to look at her ___.
3. Nora decided to do a small ___.
4. At the time, she was ___.
5. Once a day, she would say something ___ to a stranger.
6. The first person she spoke to was an ___ in a park.
7. The man had visited the same bench for ___.
8. Nora mostly ___.
9. She spoke to a woman reading a ___.
10. A simple question can make an ordinary day feel ___.
Communication / social life
What I Learned from Talking to Strangers
Put the events in order from 1 to 10. Empty items are ignored.
At first, the experiment feels uncomfortable.
Nora explains that she usually avoided starting conversations with strangers.
Nora mostly listens, and the man thanks her for asking.
She becomes less afraid to speak when a natural chance appears.
She notices that working from home makes her days feel too silent.
The man tells Nora why he keeps visiting the same bench.
Nora realises that strangers carry stories, routines, worries, and memories.
Nora creates a rule to say something friendly to one stranger each day.
She becomes braver and talks to several other strangers.
She speaks to an older man in a park who is feeding birds.
Communication / social life
💬 What I Learned from Talking to Strangers
B1 Upper-intermediate • 1 speaker • Transcription
Hi, I’m Nora. I used to think that talking to strangers was something confident people did naturally. I was polite, of course, but I usually avoided starting conversations with people I did not know. On buses, in cafés, or while waiting in a queue, I preferred to look at my phone. It felt safer and easier. That changed during a month when I decided to do a small personal experiment. I was working from home at the time, and although I liked the quiet, I noticed that my days were becoming too silent. I could spend eight hours online, answer many messages, and still feel strangely disconnected from real people. So I made a simple rule: once a day, I would say something friendly to a stranger. It did not have to become a long conversation. It could be a comment about the weather, a question about a book, or a compliment about someone’s dog. The goal was not to impress anyone. The goal was only to practise being open. At first, it felt uncomfortable. The first person I spoke to was an older man sitting next to me in a park. I noticed he was feeding birds, so I asked if he came there often. He smiled and told me he had visited the same bench for ten years. His wife had loved that park, and after she died, he kept coming because it made him feel close to her. I did not know what to say, so I mostly listened. Before leaving, he thanked me for asking. That surprised me. I had not done anything special, but for him, the question had created a moment of connection. After that, I became braver. I spoke to a woman reading a travel guide, a barista who remembered people’s orders, and a student carrying a guitar. Not every conversation was deep. Some were only a few sentences. Some people answered quickly and went back to their day. That was fine too. What I learned was that strangers are not only background characters in our lives. Everyone is carrying stories, worries, routines, and memories. A small conversation does not solve loneliness, but it can remind us that the world is full of people, not just screens and schedules. Now I still enjoy quiet time, and I do not force conversations. But when there is a natural chance to speak, I am less afraid to take it. Sometimes a simple question can make an ordinary day feel more human.