Guidelines for Conversation Partners

Dr. YuliaStakhnevich, Second Language Services Director

Ed. May 2013 Kate Camerlin

The purpose of the program is to develop conversation skills of BSU ESL students through interactions with native speaking peers and to assist BSU ESL students in adaptation to American culture and to college life through individual discussion sessions on issues of cross-cultural communication.

Guidelines:

1). Be patient: many students you will be working with are still in the process of learning English. They are also going through a lot of stress as they adjust to living far away from home in a different cultural milieu. Be empathetic.

2). Don’t be afraid to ask questions: some ESL students might be too shy to initiate a conversation on their own. The goal of this program is to increase their conversational fluency. Your role is that of a peer and a language/cultural consultant. It is absolutely okay to be the first to ask questions and/or start a conversation with a short story that might promote a response from the student. Use topics that are of interest both to you and to the students you are working with.Also, don’t hesitate to ask for help. This is a learning experience for you, too and you should always remember that there is a support system available.

4). Be sensitive to mistakes in English grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation: try to correct some mistakes, but don’t correct all of them. The purpose of this program is to increase their language fluency. Look for mistake patterns (e.g., missed articles, wrong tense usage, wrong word order, wrong word choice, etc.) and concentrate only on correcting one or two patterns.

5). Be persistent: if you don’t understand what the student is trying to say, don’t give up. Instead use one or several of the following techniques:

1. ask the student to paraphrase what was said before;

2. ask the student to use the dictionary;

3. ask the student to write down what was said before on a piece of paper in one or two sentences or, if necessary, in a paragraph or two;

4. model good English by giving your students several interpretations of what you think the student is trying to say and ask which one is closer to the original meaning.

6). Remember to be respectful and model good speaking practices in English. Swearing and off-color slang should not be part of your vocabulary during your sessions.