Blog Post #1

In preparing for my first conversation session, I'm excited to get to learn more about different types of people and their perceptions of the United States and American culture. Of course, while I hope that I am able to teach my group members a lot about language and culture, I know that I will also be learning a lot, and I'm really looking forward to increasing my own cultural awareness by getting to meet some of the diverse students here at the university.

I am also nervous about a few aspects of leading a conversation circle. I am worried that the group will run out of interesting things to talk about, or that participants will feel too shy or uncomfortable in participating. I hope to create a safe and open space for conversation, but I worry that some students will still feel reluctant to contribute. I also worry that the students will look to me as their teacher, as opposed to a friend who is trying to learn along with them. I wouldn't want to seem like an authority figure among these students who are my peers. Lastly, I worry that there will be some cultural clashes in our conversation, especially if we have a more diverse group. Of course, while debate and discussing differences can be very valuable, I hope that it doesn't create tension between different members.

Many factors have motivated me to become a Chat Cafe facilitator. First of all, being exposed to different languages and cultures when I was growing up has given me an increased sense of multicultural respect and appreciation. I'm also very interested in the language-learning process, and hope to teach English abroad after I graduate. Lastly, I'm also motivated to learn about different perspectives of students on this campus. It's sometimes hard to meet international students in my classes or extracurricular activities, and I think this would be a great way to expose myself to people of different backgrounds.