Campus Conversation Partners

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Campus Conversation Partners

• Creating a CCP program at a large university

Niki Eustice Sue Almén-Whittaker The University
of Iowa
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Student Needs

• Native Speaker exposure
• Not brave enough
• Not improving in English
• Feedback
• An American friend
• Learn more about American culture

3
Faculty/Staff Needs

• Exposure to other cultures
• Building understanding
• Helping others feel welcome to campus and town

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Stages of Development

• 2001 TESOL
• Proposal written
• 2002
• Explored Costs
• Advertising
• Explored funding
• NAFSA
• On campus
• Private corps.
• 2003-2006
• Shelved for other projects
• Late 2006
• Applied for EOD Grant

• Feb., 2007
• Won EOD Grant
• March-April, 07
• Gather video stills
• Work with IT people on video editing
• May-August, 07
• Finalizing brochure video
• September, 07
• Mass e-mail sent
• October, 07
• First match-ups made

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Start-up Maintenance

• Advertising
• Brochures
• Fliers
• Campus wide email
• Commercial
• Volunteers (students F/S)
• Voice over student voices
• Intended audience/venue

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Video
A copy of our video can be found at
www.uiowa.edu/iiepesl/ccp/ccpvideo.html
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Start-up (cont.)

• Program website and email
• University address for program correspondence
• Website with relevant info from brochure

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Website
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Start-up (cont.)

• Application questions
• Electronic submission

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Start-up (cont.)

• Data collection and organization
• Excel spreadsheets
• One for F/S, one for students
• Items to include (screen shot)
• Color coding
• Long-term storage

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Database Example
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Maintenance

• The Matching process
• Matching partners
• Review responses from app, prioritize gender
  requests
• Consider applicants not within parameters
• Meetings (20 minutes)
• Set up meeting times via email
• Reserve a room
• Contracts (public places, once a week)
• Make name cards (optional)
• Power point presentation for orientation (opt.)
• Plan first meeting

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Maintenance (cont.)
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Maintenance (cont.)

• Personnel requirements
• Data collection and organization
• Correspondence questions, cancellations, meeting
  set-up
• Duties appropriate for administration vs. for
  ESL/International professionals
• Meeting attendance

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Our Experience

• Mass e-mail to F/S
• Within 30 minutes 25 applications
• Within 4 hours 55 applications
• Next day announced in ESL classes
• Response slower, but later outpaced F/S
  applicants
• Began matching based on who applied first

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Our Experience (cont.)

• Reserved mtg. room
• Sent e-mails to 30 F/S to see if available to
  attend evening mtg.
• Then recruited NNSs
• Matched based on gender preference, hobbies,
  self-description

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Our Experience (cont.)

• Day of meeting
• Table Tents
• PowerPoint Tips for Success
• Business Cards
• Agreement
• List of attendees
• Table arrangements

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Our Experience (cont.)

• Maintenance
• Check CCP e-mail everyday
• Field phone calls
• Updating database

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Orientation Meeting PowerPoint

• What we show at our F/S NNS meetings

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Tips for Having a Successful Partnership

• Campus Conversation Partners

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What if I cant pronounce my partners name?

• At todays meeting, teach your partner how to say
  your name and/or a trick to help them remember
  its pronunciation.
• For example Sue sounds like shoe but with s
  instead of sh. Or, it also sounds like suit
  without the t.
• If you prefer to be called by a nickname, let
  your partner know that too.

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What if I cant understand my partner?

• Faculty Staff
• Be patient and persistent to figure out what your
  partner wants to say.
• Use clarification strategies
• Say in a different way
• Give an example
• Draw a picture
• Write it down

• ESL Students
• Dont be afraid to ask for more information about
  a topic you are not familiar with.
• Ask your partner to
• Say it in a different way
• Give an example
• Draw a picture
• Write it down

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What can I do to make it easier for my partner to
understand?

• Faculty Staff
• Be aware of the expressions you use
• Slang, phrasal verbs (like count on and get
  around to it) are often difficult. Your partner
  may have learned tolerate but not put up
  with.
• Ask your partner if they know the expressions you
  are using and write them down if needed.

• ESL Students
• Pay attention to your pronunciation and grammar.
  
• If your partner seems confused, ask them which
  word or phrase is confusing them.
• Dont be afraid to ask your partner for help
  pronouncing a word or using a more natural
  expression in English.

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Tips for Both Partners 1

• Speak clearly and at a moderate pace
• Ask your partner if you are speaking too fast.
  If your partners (polite) answer is, a little.
  It means you should probably slow down a lot.
• If you are a mumbler (unclear speaker) make an
  effort to enunciate slowly and clearly.

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Tips for Both Partners 2

• Participate equally and share the time.
• Some people are more talkative than others.
• If you like to talk, make sure you invite your
  partner to give their own ideas too. Use
  questions like, What do you think? How about
  you? What about in your country?
• Others are more shy and quiet. If that is you,
  push yourself to speak.
• For ESL students, dont worry about making
  mistakes, just try! Your partner will help you!
  Thats why they signed up for this program. They
  want to learn more about you and your country!

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Tips for Both Partners 3

• Make sure that the knowledge of the topics are
  shared
• Some topics you will talk about require cultural
  background that your partner may not have
  sports, TV shows, relationships between family
  and friends, religious practices, holidays, etc.
• Ask your partner, Have you heard about this?
  Do you know about this?
• If you dont know about something your partner is
  talking about, ask them to explain in more detail
  (or with pictures).

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Being Culturally Sensitive

• Movies, music, and mass media play a huge role in
  teaching us about other cultures. Unfortunately,
  they often dont give us an accurate picture of
  each others lives.
• Dont be afraid to ask questions about each
  others cultures.
• If you are not sure if a question is culturally
  appropriate, begin by saying, I hope it is ok if
  I ask you A sincere desire to know is usually
  appreciated, regardless of the topic.
• Also, if your partner has a preconception about
  your culture that you think is incorrect, talk to
  your partner about it. Use yourself and your
  experiences as examples.

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The Most Important Tip for Success

• Relax, learn, and enjoy!

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Difficulties Encountered

• Data collection/organization
• Time consuming after submissions placed in
  appropriate excel files
• Support staff needed
• Meeting no-shows
• Average of 1-2 per meeting / 7
• Approaching the unmatched
• Contacting the no-show
• 2 no-shows and youre out
• Diplomatically dealing with second no-show
• Rematching the unmatched
• Dealing with no-show (situational)

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Difficulties (cont.)

• Disillusioned Partners
• Expectations of NNS and F/S
• Reality of the situation
• NNS F/S with long history in U.S. rejected by NNS
  student
• Cultural Differences
• Political/religious/gender issues
• Age differences
• Handling partner complaints
• Screening challenges

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Benefits for Students

• American norms, values, habits
• Vocabulary
• Listening
• Friend
• Comfortable in other situations
• Comfortable at UI
• More about city

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Benefits for Faculty/Staff

• Another country
• Life of international students/staff on campus
• Friend
• Tolerance

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ESL Program Benefits

• Awareness of our program
• Better feelings from students and faculty/staff

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Other Issues

• Safety
• Non-public meetings (e.g. Thanksgiving)
• Cultural
• Saying no
• Personal
• Want to change requirements

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The Future

• Bulleted e-mail
• Mid-session follow-up
• End of session follow-up

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Any Questions?

• Our contact info
• www.uiowa.edu/iiepesl/IIEP/learnteacher.html
• nicole-eustice_at_uiowa.edu
• sue-almen-whittaker_at_uiowa.edu