Greetings
Good morning/afternoon/evening.
How are you doing?
How’s everything going?
How have you been?
What have you been up to lately?
What’s new/cooking/grilling/going on?
Hi/Hey/What’s up!
Responses
I’m doing very well. Thank you. How about yourself?
Okay/Not bad/All right. How are you?
Great! Thanks. What about you?
Couldn’t be better! You?
Same ol’.
Awful. /Couldn’t be worse.
Jobs
What do you do?
I’m a teacher/lawyer/nurse.
I work in finance/waste management/show business.
I’m in marketing/human resource/executive administration.
I work for the ABC Corporation.
I work for myself at the moment.
I look after the children. /I’m a homemaker.
I’m between jobs right now.
How long have you been with them?
How do you like it ?
How’s business?
Family
Are you married?
What does your husband/wife do?
Do you have any kids?
How old are they?
Are they at school/at college/working?
Do they still live at home?
Spare time
What do you do in the evenings/on weekends?
Where do you spend your holidays?
What do you do in you spare time?
Do you like movies/gardening/sport/cooking?
Origins
Where do you come from?
Where did your family come from?
Where were you brought up?
How young were you when you moved to New York?
Which part of China were you born in?
Sample Dialogue
A: What do you do?
B: I’m self-employed.
A: That’s great! I always want to do that.
B: Well. It’s a very hard job too.