A first conversation with a native speaker is scary not because of the words but because of the pauses. Here is a set of phrases that buy you time and make a dialogue sound natural even at A1.
To ask again
¿Puedes repetir, por favor? — Could you repeat that? ¿Más despacio, por favor? — Slower, please. ¿Qué significa…? — What does … mean? Native speakers happily repeat when they see you are trying.
To keep the conversation going
¡Qué interesante! — How interesting! ¿Y tú? — And you? Claro — Of course. Vale — Okay. These short words sound very Spanish and show you are following.
To buy time
Pues… — Well… A ver… — Let’s see… Es que… — The thing is… Spaniards do this too, so your pauses will sound natural. Try three phrases from this list today and half of the fear will be gone.