Blog Post 6

With the blog posting coming to a close and the final Chat Café session drawing closer I believe it’s time for some well-deserved reflection.  Reading through my first blog post I remember the nervous state I was in at the time. Looking back its almost comical to think I was that nervous for something that ended up being so natural. I still remember drafting that first email, constantly deleting and retyping words to find the perfect sentence and make a memorable first impression (or at least not mess it up). The first meeting with my group was good but I could tell everyone was nervous and reserved. The most notable member of the group at the time was a named Alila. She was by far the most reserved participant. She was very soft-spoken and barley made eye contact when she talked to the other members. One of the major successes of Chat Café, at least for me, was to watch her develop. Each meeting she would talk more and more and become generally more confident with her conversation skills. I was astounded when she came into a meeting and began talking right away with everybody and lead the conversation. To watch her, as well as the other members, develop their conversational skills over one semester was truly a gratifying moment.

If I could go back in time and give myself one piece of advice I would tell myself calm down and do less preparation for each meeting. I feel as though the weeks where I did the most preparation where the weeks that felt the most unnatural. The whole point of Chat Café was to help international students prepare for natural conversation. You can’t plan natural.

Chat Café has allowed me to expand a wide myriad of my facilitation and conversation skills. This summer I will be working with a Canadian International School in India and I plan to apply my experiences from Chat Café to working with international middle schoolers in India. One of the most helpful skills I honed will doing Chat Café was how to direct a conversation so everyone participates equally. While interviewing with the Canadian International School they told me one of my responsibilities would be to ensure that all students are involved equally in the various activities of the school. I plan to use my skill of conversation directing to help shy students break out of their shell in India.

With my final blog post I would like to thank Scott for being such a helpful resource during this process. I would also like to thank all my classmates for being so open during our discussion sessions to help create a dynamic and memorable dialogue. Thank You!

Blog Post 6 - Reflections

I sincerely cannot believe that next week is the last time I'm meeting with these amazing groups of people. I've had so much fun doing this and it was pretty unforgettable. Looking back, I honestly feel quite accomplished over the bonds that have grown out of these conversations and the real intercultural exchange that has grown out of the topics we've covered.

Some of my favorite moments from this semester largely come from the conversations that I never would have predicted having with others. Like the time my participants debated the merits and downsides of ethnic enclaves, or the time someone taught me all about the Korean film industry, or when the whole group banded together to explain to me how driving permits and license plates work in large cities in Eastern Asia; sometimes, I felt like the one who benefited the most from all of this was me based on how much interesting stories and information I got out of it.

That said, if I could go back and do it over, there are certainly things that I would change. There are some small logistical things that I would change, such as emphasizing how important it is to show up and be engaged, and also putting more focus on the conversation being more self-directed; I never really felt like I accomplished the right balance of me speaking or explaining or posing questions as compared to everyone else doing these things. 

Moving forward though, there are so many useful skills that can be drawn from this experience. For me specifically, I am considering a career in journalism more seriously than ever and asking pointed, open-ended, engaging questions that lead to thought provoking answers is a huge skill to have in interviews. This entire experience definitely helped me develop that ability as I pushed my participants to keep talking, tell me more, and look at things from different angles. 

In the end, I'm just so, so glad I did this!! That's the real takeaway here. 

Blog Post #6: The end of chat cafe :(

Chat cafe has been a wonderful experience for me, and I am very glad to have been a part of it. I met some wonderful people, had very nice conversations, and learned a lot about what life can be like for international students at UMich. I would definitely do it again, mostly because I have learned from my past experiences and from fellow facilitators about what not and what to do. 

One of my favorite chat cafe sessions was when only one of my participants came. At first, I was bummed that so many of my participants couldn't make it. But, our conversation ended up being wonderful. We talked all about our families, our history with relationships, what are plans for our future are, and more. I felt honored that my participant was willing to share personal details with me and that she could trust me. It felt like we were friends instead of facilitator and participant. Another session I really enjoyed was when I prompted my group with questions about themselves. I remember a lot of us interpreted the question in different ways, which made our responses very unique and also hilarious at times. It seemed like everyone was comfortable and it was one of the times where we were sad that our hour had passed so quickly. 

I learned something from each and every one of my sessions, which I really value. I am always someone who is very inquisitive and tries to be open minded, and I think chat cafe has helped me expand on those qualities. I learned about how to hold a conversation with a stranger who may not be fluent in English. I learned that there are a variety of struggles that international students go through. I learned that there are so many things that international students do not know about UMich or even American culture, which can make things hard for adjustment. 

If I were to do this again, I would plan more. I always thought about how I would love to do more activities, or go to more places, but I truly never got the time. I also felt that since my sessions were on Thursday evenings, it made it hard to have an outing. I think I would have benefitted from a little more structure, although it is definitely not a necessity. I also would have tried to change up the scene more or maybe invited more students to join throughout the semester, as my group was never larger than 4 people. But, all of these things are simply suggestions. I loved my experience and I wouldn't change it!

From here, I hope to definitely be a facilitator again if I get the chance. I love being an ally to our international friends and I absolutely love meeting them and hearing their stories. I hope to use this experience as a personal learning experience, as I feel that I have grown and really pushed myself somewhat out of my comfort zone. I also hope to reach out to international students in my classes and maybe help spread the word of chat cafe or simply be a friend to them. I have learned that I am able to carry on a conversation, gauge what the group needs, and be committed to a group of students that I care about. I hope to get an experience like this again :)

Blog Post #6

This is it. The end of our first (and for some, our only) semester as Chat Cafe facilitators for Sweetland. We all knew that this day would come, we just did not expect it to arrive so soon. It's somewhat bittersweet. On one hand, this signifies the end of our groups, the collection of people that we as facilitators have come to had meaningful and interesting conversations with. Ranging from food to art to customs to politics, each one of these sessions have undoubtedly resulted in both the facilitator and participants learning and growing from the dialogue provided: and now such groups will dissipate alongside the semester. Yet, we should not be sad over such things occurring, it was only natural that this would happen. Rather, we as facilitators should relish in the fact that we have learned from these sessions as much as the participants have. We learned a lot about interacting with individuals who have english as a secondary language, how to strike a conversation with them, and how silence can sometimes lead to the most fruitful dialogues. All of these lessons will be invaluable to us as we carry on with our lives, and will undoubtedly be of use in the future of this ever connecting world.

In terms of the highlights, I would say that the best moment was when natural dialogue started to occur. When I got the participants to effectively communicate with each other while saying very little, I knew that I have succeeded in my role as a facilitator. Rather than trying to instigate a conversation, it occurred quite spontaneously without any guidance from me. From then on, for the rest of the session, I let them take the reigns while offering my opinions here and there when asked. I would say that this moment was undoubtedly the most successful one that has occurred throughout the entirety of the semester.

With regards to improvements, I would say trying to organize more events next time would be far more beneficial for promoting dialogue. Most of the time, we were situated around a table talking about random things for an hour; ergo, it would sometimes become difficult to nurture natural conversation. If I could change one thing about my chat cafe sessions overall, I would try to promote more trips throughout the campus; not only would the participants benefit from seeing much more of the university they go to, but it would also lead to more interesting topics of conversation.

Finally, in terms of lessons that could be garnered from this experience as a whole, there are so many little aspects that will undoubtedly help me in future endeavors. The finite details in conversation that many may overlook when speaking are of paramount importance when it comes to chat cafe sessions, and being able to recognize the importance of these will serve as crucial information when it comes to interacting with other people internationally. I plan to use such information in order to help non-native english speakers improve their speaking and writing, in order to allow for more effective forms of communication. As a peer writing consultant, these lessons will certainly help me in further consultations, as I will be able to better help the writer express their concerns and points of view, subsequently allowing me to better address such problems in their pieces. While this specific application may only be applicable to me, I know that there are many more avenues with which such information will aid all of us in our future.

Blog Post #6

The end is imminent, and as trite as it may sound, I really am surprised by how quickly this semester and my time as a Chat Cafe facilitator have gone by.  During my last session, as I reminded my group that we wouldn't meet this week due to Thanksgiving, I realized that we only have two sessions left.  Two!  How did time slip by so quickly?

I'm a regrets kind of person--I have them about almost everything, and think a lot in terms of "what ifs" and "what could have beens."  Upon reflecting on my time as a facilitator, however, I've found that I have no major regrets from the experience.  No, things often didn't go perfectly--some sessions were awkward, many of my strategies and attempts to break the ice between group members futile--but I realize that the goal of Chat Cafe was never really to have consistently perfect meetings.  The program is based in and relies on people, which makes it inherently subject to the quirks and roadblocks of person-to-person interaction.  Sometimes there's silence.  Sometimes there's confusion. Sometimes there's awkwardness.  Communication is not always ideal, but therein lies the opportunity for students to become more comfortable with how to navigate conversations in effective ways, especially in a second language.  

As our weekly sessions went on, I found that my group members seemed to become more and more confident and comfortable in their English communication.  They dwelled less on their mistakes and seemed to take increasing pride in their successes, which made them more open to engaging with one another frankly.  This in turn led to better conversations and more authentic bonds (and maybe even friendships?  Some of my group members exchanged numbers and added one another on Facebook!) between members.

Our most recent session, in particular, seemed to serve as a culmination of all the progress we've made as a group during the semester--the group split into two pairs, which I floated between.  Each pair was united in conversation about something both members found interesting--Hohyun and Qianli discussed basketball, while Camille and Tim tried to determine whether Universal Studios or Disneyworld was Orlando's best amusement park (I was more heavily involved in the latter conversation, because of my love for Harry Potter World).  Then the group rejoined in a larger discussion about multilingualism and the difference between Chinese dialects, and then halted conversation for a couple minutes to together watch a squirrel jump from tree to tree.  Then, organically and without my prompting, the group split into pairs again, once more talking about things they had learned over the semester their conversation partner would find interesting.

It's meetings like these that make the stagnant sessions of the beginning of the semester seem to have been worth it.  I feel that we needed those first few weeks to adjust and grow comfortable with one another--only after kicking some of our anxieties were we able to engage in real conversation that felt natural and was (hopefully) helpful.  One of the most valuable lessons I'll take from Chat Cafe is to allow things time to grow and develop naturally.  I've long been the kind of person that feels antsy when things don't go right immediately--it's normally been hard for me to have faith that things will work themselves out and get where they need to go.  Chat Cafe has proven to me, however, that waiting can be rewarded, especially in situations that can't be forced (as in those involving large groups of strangers).

To future Chat Cafe facilitators, I would advise this: be patient, and allow your group to develop at its own pace.  Yes, it would be great if we could overcome the tension and nervousness inherent to a group like this at out first session (I'm working on that for my capstone project!), but don't bank on that being the case.  It's okay--and, honestly, probably a good thing--for things to be a bit slow at first.  That's how both friendships and communication develop.  In time, your group will become more loquacious, and your students will hopefully become increasingly confident in their English speaking.  That, at least, has been my experience.  I'm immensely glad to have joined Chat Cafe this semester, both because I hope I helped my group members become more comfortable with their English and with life in Ann Arbor, and because it helped me become a better and more sympathetic conversationalist and person.

Blog Post #6

I would like to use this final post to reflect on my experience and my participants' experiences throughout the semester. Even though the semester flew by, a lot happened.

For our first meeting, I was much more nervous than I was prepared to admit. The same tension could be felt amongst the participants. This was to be expected as no one in the group knew one another. Regardless of this, my group was quick to start chatting. I thought that our semester was off to a wonderful start. However, sometime between the 1st and 2nd meeting, my participants hit a conversational roadblock, the origins of which were unbeknownst to me.

It's easy, as a point-person of any group, to become flustered when things don't go as planned. I will admit that I felt stranded during those meetings which were not as lively as the first. But, I will share this piece of advice: failed attempts at conversation should not be taken as a failure or a disconnect. Rather, failed attempts give you, as a conversational leader, a better idea of the preferences of your group, and moreover, a better opportunity to allow your participants to incite conversations of their own.

One of the most successful strategies I implemented during the semester was allowing my participants to begin the conversation themselves. By taking a few moments of silence at the beginning of each meeting my participants eventually realized that the conversation would begin only when they took the initiative. Not only did this lessen their nerves about communicating in English, but it also allowed us to avoid stagnant conversation.

As the weeks passed, so did the occurrence of silences, long pauses, and crickets. Now, headed into our last week, I am happy to say that not only have these participants gained a tighter grasp of the English language and conversational skills, but have also grown closer as members of the international community. Although it is my ultimate goal to is to catalyze friendship between domestic and international students, this is a pretty good start.

Blog Post #5: International Students at UMich

My group has addressed cultural frustrations, especially since I have asked about them many times. I came into chat cafe wanting to be able to ease those frustrations and be a guide for international students who may need a space to vent or ask questions. Common frustrations include: understanding what the professor is saying/what exam questions are asking, knowing common lingo or knowing about annual events at the university, and being able to make friends with non-international students. 

1) Breaking barriers between students: I think that international students should be able to have special office hours or meeting times with professors so that they can get one-on-one time with them. Exams written in simpler English or access to a dictionary/ more time during an exam could help students understand what the questions are asking. Students could also be buddied up with another student or have a special study group for international students through the SLC/ other tutoring orgs so that they don't feel pressured and unable to ask questions. 

2) Knowing about campus events/ locations: I've noticed that many of my participants are not aware of things such as 'tailgating', cider mills, the arb, thanksgiving, etc. I think chat cafe is a great way for students to learn about these terms/things to do. The university could have a calendar or some kind of infographic for each month to explain what kinds of activities occur on campus at that time. Students would know what events they have access to and would be able to participate and learn. 

3)Being able to make friends with non-international students: Professors should make an effort to pair international students with native students so that they can learn from one another in group projects/study sessions, etc. Chat cafe is also a great way for this to happen.

Overall, I think the university needs to recognize that more resources or better accessibility to existing resources needs to be implemented. Chat cafe is one of the best ways to do this. Professors and other university institutions will need to be involved to make UMich more welcoming to international students. 

A Trumped up Conversation

My group has yet to have an exposé about the daily struggles of an international student. However, that being said there have been a few glancing comments that suggest some difficulties they face as a foreign student. For example, one struggle that is ubiquitous among all my group members is their struggle to understand jokes by professors. To help the members in my group I set aside 5 minutes at the end of every chat session fro them to ask any question they want. usually the question pertains to jokes they heard on campus or random groups they see in campus.

Asides from the suggested prompt for this blog post I'd like to talk about the progress of my group! Each week seems to be getting more and more fluid. Last week went very smoothly and felt like an actual conversation and not just forced. This weeks meeting was also a a very interesting and productive meeting. For the first time only two members showed up to my facilitation. However, this did not negatively affect the group, in fact, this meeting had one of the most fluid conversations of the semester! Usually our group meetings start off with a round of roses and thorns, but today I forgot to even initiate roses and thorns because our conversations as the two members showed up just flowed so naturally.

 Another amazing aspect of today's meeting was that we had a very engaging conversation about the election results. The two members that showed up for the meeting are usually the least talkative of the group, but today they opened up a lot. I was amazed when one of the students started to defend Trump (she wasn't pro trump, but she voiced an opinion that is different than the popular discourse on this campus) on. I wasn't expecting that member to say anything controversial. I think it is a great step in the group that member felt comfortable enough bring forth such a controversial view point. Overall the whole conversation was very fluid and very civilized with a diverse viewpoint and I look forward to have more meetings like this past one!

Blog Post #5

My group has not necessarily experienced cultural frustrations here in the United States; rather, it would be more applicable to label it as cultural confusion. The biggest source of confusion that resonated within the cafes I host is the notion of political correctness. For instance, one of the members in my chat cafe was very confused about why it would be bad to dress up as an Indian or Hispanic for Halloween. To him, he saw the act as paying homage to such cultures, that one would go through such time and effort to replicate and mimic the demeanor and appearances of other cultures. He almost saw it as a form of reverence, if not respect, towards said cultures, and did not understand how one could take such actions as being insulting in nature. To this, I explained to him how it may be considered offensive, playing off of stereotypes and arguably degrading the culture of whomever one is dressing as. He responded by saying he could simply retaliate by doing the same thing.

I feel as though this is one of the greater challenges that international students face here: determining the extent to which one should be politically correct, if at all. That is not to say that international students are disrespectful of other people and their respective cultures. Rather, it means that they are unsure as to how others will perceive their actions, even if they believe that such acts are harmless in nature. They seem to not take great offense towards others making ethnic and racial claims about their own culture, something that is strikingly different in this country. After all, there is no direct physical harm being done. If they are offended, then they feel like they can simply return the favor by performing the same action: an eye for an eye, so to speak.

In turn, it has been difficult for me to try and provide an explanation that is fair to both sides of the argument. On one hand, I could most certainly stress the importance of being politically correct in the United States, about how it would greatly offend others if one attempts to mimic their culture. However, this could be seen as being contradicted by television programs like South Park and Family Guy that regularly display somewhat offensive material. In addition, this is not necessarily representative of the country as a whole: there are many individuals who do not adopt the politically correct culture, and actively opposing it. Yet, I do not want to propagate the notion that this is deemed as acceptable within the United States. There are equally as many people who would respond negatively to acts of cultural imitation, and could lead to severe consequences. The best I could do was explain how others could react to such actions, and how it could subsequently impact them down the road. However, I feel like my solution is not necessarily the best one, and that Sweetland and/or the University as a whole could offer a method to explain this phenomenon to international students in a far more nuanced and pronounced manner.

Blog Post 5 - Slang and Culture

Yesterday at my conversation circle, one girl brought up a linguistic feature of English that I thought was a great example of the difficulty in bridging culture and language; the word in question was, "literally."

The girl said that she heard people using it all the time and, while she technically understood what it meant, she had no idea how to use it like a native English speaker. During the discussion, I came to realize that if I weren't a native English speaker myself, I would have had no idea how to use it either. Not only is the word defined in two different, polar meanings, but Americans use it in such specific instances of hyperbole that it's extremely challenging impossible to definitively outline rules for its usage; it can't always just be freely switched out for "very" or "really" or other intensifiers like I was originally thinking when trying to explain its more common or recent usage. 

I think being surrounded by people in their early twenties who are more likely to be using challenging slang like this and using langauge that is only more recently entering popular usage is a very particular obstacle that international students face when it comes to language barriers. I try to be very candid when speaking with my conversation circle, using the same slang and references that I might with my friends so that I can better find openings to pick out things that might need cultural translation. That seems to have worked pretty well, but I feel sometimes that I'm relying too heavily on the others to stop me when I've said or referred to something that they don't understand; it's often hard to recognize things that are normal to me that might be foreign to others.

That said, I definitely think that Sweetland and chat cafe is such a great opportunity for casual conversation and meta-discussion about the way English conversation plays out. I always leave my circles hoping that something we've talked about helps them understand this language and this culture better.

Blog Post #5

Throughout my Chat Cafe sessions this semester, a recurring topic of discussion among my group members are the logistics and minutiae of life in America.  How to acquire a driver's license, how to go about proving residency, and where to find the best insurance rates for international students are all topics of conversation that have been raised more than once in our weekly sessions.

I take a back seat during these discussions, but not because I don't think they're worthwhile.  On the contrary, I think it's great that group members are using one another as a resource, learning the best ways to navigate America from other international students who have been in similar situations previously.  Engaging with others hopefully not only gives them advice to help deal with their immediate challenges, but also makes them feel as though they have a network they can turn to when they come across similar problems again in the future.

The reason I don't contribute much to these conversations, though, is because I don't really have anything helpful to say.  Sure, I know how I got my driver's license, but I don't know whether or not a license is transferrable from China to here.  I've always listed my residency as the house my family lives in, which fortunately is in the United States, so doing that has never been a concern of mine.  I'm lucky enough to be on my parents' insurance, so I'm not much help in traversing those waters either.

What I mean to say by all of this is that I, and I suspect many students at UM, have little understanding of what it's like to work out the everyday details of living in a foreign country. As a campus, I feel we're vaguely aware of the issues facing international students--we understand (if not totally embrace) that language and cultural barriers exist, and that it's probably hard for students to be away from home and family for so long.  What we don't think about, however, are the small details of life that we take for granted.

By pointing this out, I don't aim to suggest that we have to understand all of these details as they apply to international students.  It's difficult enough for most people to keep up with the finer points of their own lives.  What I do feel, however, is that our community should be more aware of the fact that these problems do exist for international students (and for other residents and workers who come from abroad), and we should be sensitive to how these challenges affect their everyday lives.  An American student or professor doesn't have to learn how exactly international insurance rates work to be accommodating to and patient with people whose circumstances differ from ours.

I have no idea whether or not UM provides international students with guidance about how to deal with everyday things like insurance and driving in America--further proof of my lack of understanding of the circumstances of international students.   My group members have never mentioned being offered guidance through this at orientation or elsewhere.  Though that doesn't necessarily mean those things don't exist, that it has never come up in conversation between students in my group means resources like this aren't well-known or useful enough to be discussed between people looking for help.

It would be worthwhile, then, for UM to improve its efforts to help international students with the everyday details of their lives, so their focus here can be on their studies and activities. When members of my Chat Cafe group are unable to make it to sessions, it is invariably for one of two reasons: either they have an exam, or they have to go to the bank or the social security administration or somewhere else to sort out the issues I've mentioned above.  It seems that the need to pay attention to these issues for international students far surpasses the need to do so for American students, and therefore takes away from international students' experiences and opportunities at UM.  As a community, our campus should become more aware of and accommodating to the challenges that face our international peers, and as an institution, UM should better prepare students so these challenges don't detract from their experience at the university.  

Blog Post #5

• As I've mentioned in class, my participants have drawn attention to their inability to understand their professors. They've said that even though they speak English, the speed and complexity of many professors' speech makes it impossible to understand. Because of this they feel that they are left behind in lecture and section. They do not have an understanding of the material equivalent to that of native English-speaking students. When I asked if any of them have shared their concerns with a professor, no one said he/she had. 

A problem like does not have an obvious solution. The professors cannot necessarily adjust the speed of their lectures because there is a certain amount of material they must cover over the course of the semester. However, there are a few things that may help. 

1. Sweetland could increase the breadth of their outreach for the Chat Cafe program. Giving these students the opportunity to improve their English, both speaking and listening, would help improve their understanding in class. 

2. Professors could be encouraged to use lecture slides to accompany their speech. These slides should be required to be posted to Canvas following lecture. This way students can review the material covered in class on their own, at their own speeds. 

3. As facilitators, we can help our participants build their confidence, encouraging them to approach their professors in order to devise a suitable solution. These confrontational scenarios are difficult, especially when there is a language barrier of any level. If we could offer them an opportunity to script how they would approach their professors, perhaps the anxiety associated with these confrontations could be lessened. 

Cross Cultural Conversations

Firstly I want to apologize for the tardiness of my blog post, last week was of one of those "hold on to your hat" type weeks and I totally forgot about writing my blog post! That being said my lack of posting is not representative for a lack of developments in my group, in fact its quite the opposite. Last week was really eyeopening having Anna come and co-facilitate my meeting. I learned a lot by watching her interact with my group.

For some reason I feel like I'm slipping backwards with my group meetings. I believe I have lost sight of what has been important... conversation! the week before Anna sat in my group was extremely productive. We had a great conversation about the rise of the emoji language.  The next week I thought it would be exciting to talk about Halloween. My group did was relatively unresponsive for the first half of the meeting I kept asking questions about Halloween and silence would then consume the room.  It wasn't until we started talking about scary movies and roller coasters till the group became more lively. however the question the incited the most responses was Anna's simple question, "how do your keyboards work?"

One of the reasons I believe my conversations have been sliding backwards is because i'm only creating a one sided conversation. How can these students have a conversation about Halloween if they don't have knowledge about Halloween! The engaging factor of Anna's question has to do with the fact that it engages a topic they already have prior knowledge of! it sounds so simple but its something I have been neglecting during these meetings. This brings me to the topic for this blog post: cultural differences. In the past whenever we have discussed cultural differences we end up having a meaningful and productive conversation. I believe the reason for this is because these students have extensive knowledge of their own culture therefore can speak confidently about it. in the future I plan to have more cross cultural conversations to create an environment with in the group where each member can contribute and feel confident.

Blog Post 4 - Linguistics + Culture

In last week's group, we were talking for a bit about American food and fudge was mentioned, which not everyone had tried before. This led to an issue for me: I had no idea how to describe fudge to someone who had never tried it. While I floundered with the idea of it usually being kind of like a soft, chocolate brick, one of the others in the group offered to explain it to one of the others-- in Chinese. It was actually very funny so I let him go ahead and give it a try before asking him how he might translate it to English, which he and the other Chinese speaking group members worked together to do.

It was a really interesting instance where rather specified knowledge hit a variety of linguistic roadblocks. I couldn't express the idea in English, the group member could do it in Chinese, but not all of us present could speak Chinese. Ultimately putting the American object in Chinese and then bringing it back to English helped get the idea across (it was compared to a rich chocolate mochi type concoction) which I felt was a really nice example of how important and useful having multiple linguistic and cultural backgrounds at play was for expressing the concept. They did what I couldn't do alone by bringing in a mediating language and comparing it to something that I wouldn't have made a connection to.

That was the first time anything but English had been brought in verbally, which is still how I'm planning on keeping things since the group's main point is to practice English, but I'm feeling even more open to letting the group draw from other language and cultural concepts to help them express themselves in English-- it's all related and I'm learning a lot from what they bring up. I'm doing my best to be culturally sensitive and to stay educated, but I'm sometimes learning more from them than what I can teach myself.

Blog Post #4

I wanted to start off by talking about my chat cafe this week. This week's chat cafe was fun and seemed to be entertaining for everyone. My group now consists of 3-4 regular attendees and we now meet at Espresso Royale almost every week, just for ease of finding the location. We actually ended up making things more personal in that we talked less about formal topics and more about what was going on in our lives. We also talked about what we did over fall break and how midterms went. I decided to have a list of questions prepared for the cafe which actually ended up making our conversation seem much more lighthearted. For example I asked things like: what is the craziest thing you've ever done?, where do you see yourself in 5 years? if you could change anything about yourself what would it be?. Although these questions may seem as though they were like interview questions or maybe too personal, it really broke the ice with our group and allowed us all to become closer. We all shared our aspirations, previous experiences, and noticed that each of us interpreted the questions differently. 

In terms of cultural and linguistic differences, we actually ended up discussing this both at the end of my last chat cafe and also at early on in the first few meetings. We talked about how everyone perceives Americans and what is different about the way they are treated by strangers here vs. at home. I said to them that they should feel free to express anything that they may perceive, even if it may seem harsh or stereotypical. One participant mentioned that it is often that American students will be friendly and want to get to know the international student, but that there is no friendship beyond that. For example, in the beginning of the term people will show you around, ask you about where you are from, etc, but eventually people seem self absorbed and do not seem to care much about being friendly. Many participants resonated with this sentiment. I would actually like to discuss cultural differences in a more structured manner with my group but mostly this topic ends up showing up organically in any conversation that we have. 

I think we could definitely touch more on linguistic differences and also similarities. It would be interesting to hear what participants have to say about them. I feel comfortable talking about cultural and linguistic differences because I think we can all learn how we perceive and think about things in such different ways. It would be fun to have an activity where we talked about different mannerisms and how they are different in each country or place that we are all from. One thing that was really helpful in structuring this discussion for me was the infographic article by Liu. I ended up showing these graphics to my group and we discussed only a few of them but it really sparked conversation about whether the participants resonated with these stereotypes or not. We only had time to talk about some of them but they were all very interested to talk more about them, especially because we have a mixture of both Germans and Chinese students in our cafe. 

Next week we are planning to have a small potluck and I would like to structure our conversation around cultural and linguistic differences and similarities as much as I can!

Blog Post #4

With regards to cultural and linguistic differences in my chat cafe sessions, I actually make them a focal point for much of our conversations. For many of the participants in the Chat Cafe, the customs and societal aspects within the United States greatly differ than that of their home country. They want to know about all the strange things we do here and better understand our culture in contrast to theirs. I address said differences by talking about a specific topic (whether it be art, sports, food, or anything else), and asking them how it is in their home country, having them share this knowledge with the rest of the group. In turn, I tell them about what I believe to be standard customs and traditions within the United States that pertain to the topic on hand. Instead of having me continue on about such topics, however, I make sure to relate it back to said customs of their home country, so they can elaborate on the topic further and have other participants ask them questions.

I chose to address them this way because this is part of the reason why they joined the Chat Cafe; to not only improve their conversational English, but to also better understand the American lifestyle. They are living in a land that appears to be incredibly strange and exotic to them, much like it was for the characters in The Arrival (necessary shoutout is necessary). Ergo, I am more than comfortable to help distinguish between linguistic and cultural differences. I experienced a similar position not that long ago in England, yet I had the benefit of the language being of a similar tongue. Honestly, I cannot think of much else I would like to know about that is a burning desire of mine; I'm content with just letting the conversation flow naturally, letting my participants share their cultures with each other, just as I will impart a better understanding of the American culture onto them.

Blog Post #4

One particularly touchy subject that continues to arise in my conversation group is the idea of the perception of students' choices by their parents. Allow me to elaborate. 

During one meeting I was facilitating a midterm-themed conversation. We were discussing sources of stress in college, midterm study tactics, and overall academic rigor at the school. The conversation quickly segued into a Q&A session equal to one you would have with an academic advisor. Students would ask questions about making post-graduate decisions, like you would expect, but would follow-up with comments on how their own parents would perceive their decisions. Namely, if their parents would disapprove and, to be quite blunt, shun them. In my mind this is one of the most distinct cultural differences between American families and Asian families. There is a great emphasis on academic performance, but also an emphasis on making no decisions out of turn. Each choice seems to be pre-selected for many students. My participants highlighted the stress that this causes them. 

I made an effort to tell them that, in America, it is very common to consider, first, how your decisions will affect you before you consider how they will affect your family. This isn't done to be hurtful or inconsiderate, but I believe that American culture places a strong emphasis on personal growth which, of course, starts with you. I offered this notion to them as food for thought. Perhaps a decision made in their best interest could also please their parents, especially if there could be a conversation leading to an understanding of how this decision could be feasible and beneficial. I always try my hardest, even in everyday life, to be conscious of how my words will affect others. However, I used this opportunity to exercise honesty hoping that our connection as young students could encourage explore other viewpoints without assigning "right" or "wrong" to either situation. 

Blog Post #4

I know this post is coming early, but I'm too excited about how my Chat Cafe session went today to stop myself from raving about it right now.

For the first time, my group had a session that felt like a real conversation.  I don't mean to discount the things that have happened in the past few weeks--those were also great, in their own ways, and were crucial to helping group members become more acquainted with one another.  Today was different though; for the first time, topics of discussion were arising freely without my prompting.  Side conversations between people were forming organically and taking place at the same time as the larger discussion.  At last, the group felt completely comfortable--people asked personal questions to one another, solicited advice from each other, and, when we wrapped up the session, continued talking to one another on the way out of the Union.

On top of all that (or more likely because of all that) I spoke very little today.  Part of the reason for this was because I wasn't familiar with some of the topics of discussion (such as how to obtain a visa to travel to Canada while living in the US as a Chinese citizen), but also because the necessity of having a group facilitator seems to be fading.  Today I saw myself as an equal member, rather than a leader, of the group for the first time, which was refreshing--it gave me the opportunity to listen and learn more about other people's opinions and ideas, and it made my own contributions more thoughtful and worthwhile.

Still, I remained aware of my role as facilitator and did my best to guide the conversation in the occasional moments when necessary.  For example, one group member, Qianli, asked me a question about what exactly constitutes camping gear to Americans; my answer wasn't great, seeing as I've never been camping, but it still gave me the opportunity to act as a sort of ambassador of American norms to my group.  At other times, I managed to redirect questions directed towards me to the group at large; when Camille asked me what scuba diving was, I asked if anyone else in the group could explain it (shout out to Sarah for setting a great example of this when I sat in on her session this Wednesday--she was doing this left and right, giving her group members a chance to interact and practice their speaking).

On the whole, this was a session I would say was almost perfect.  I know that's a bold declaration, but it's one that I feel is true.  When leaving my session today, I thought: "Wow, I hope every meeting is like that from here on."  They probably won't be--fewer people might come, or people might be more tired than they were today, or the conversation simply won't flow as freely--but I think that, in general, sessions have been getting better and better.  Now that we're about halfway through the semester, it seems that group members have become familiar and comfortable enough with one another to talk as friends, rather than randomly assigned peers.  Today, the relationships we've been building really seemed to be fully on display, and I feel fortunate to be part of such a friendly and talkative group.

The Best Laid Plans

This weeks suggested topic hits close to home with my group. Over the past weeks I have been trying to figure out the right balance between planning and facilitating a conversation. I usually prefer to facilitate an improvised conversation with minimal planning. however, in the last 2 weeks I have found that my lack of planning leads to a tinge of awkwardness in the conversation and a lot of silence.

This week I did zero planning for my facilitation. Our group had decided to hold this weeks meeting at the Arb and I thought I could just create conversation around the nature of the Arb. We talked about the Arb for about 10 minutes then the conversation spiraled into silence. I then suggested that we walk from the top of the Arb down to the river and back up. On the walk the group naturally broke up into small groups which was great, however, the problem was when we reached the river in the arb and everyone stopped the conversations stopped. I tried to start the conversations up by asking questions but the conversations kept dying out. I felt the need to kickstart the conversations with a funny story related to the topic, but then I just find myself talking more than everyone else which should not be happening. I believe that in order for me to talk less I need to create a more organized conversation session by planning out questions and activities ahead of time.

Blog Post #3: Updates and Planning

What I've learned from planning our conversations ahead of time is that it doesn't really work! So far it has been really easy for all of us to keep the conversation going and talk about all sorts of things. Having questions planned ahead of time helps me stay on track when the conversation dies down, but for the most part we don't really use them. 

When I first started Chat Cafe, I thought that I would end up making all kinds of plans, games, and other ideas before each meeting. But as it turns out, none of those things are actually necessary. Since most of us are ending our weeks by Thursday evening, we end up talking about what happened the whole week: both in our lives and also current events in the news and around the world. I think we could benefit from some structure and that I may need to do a little more planning so that we have more topics to bounce off of. 

I proposed watching videos and most of them agreed that short videos would be a great idea. I'm planning to find music videos or little clips from movies that we can talk about. At this point, I have 4 regular attendees which is actually really great! I think we make a good group and that they all seem to like to learn from one another. I mentioned that we could all go to a cider mill over the weekend and they all seemed very enthusiastic about it. I think its awesome that we are all becoming friends and things are becoming less formal. 

I am looking forward to future meetings and hopefully putting some more structure/adventure into them. Some ideas for the future include: watching videos, having a potluck, going to the cider mill, going to new places around AA (possibly for dinner) and others!

Blog Post 3 - Planning vs. Facilitating

My two groups continue to be exceedingly different, and I have more seriously started planning for them differently. For instance, my Tuesday group is very easy to converse with and we always have interesting talks no matter what I come prepared to talk about. However, attendance is a massive issue and sometimes it's just one on one, so the task of preparing anything past potential topics becomes next to impossible. For my Wednesday group though, I can always count on almost everyone to show up, but conversation is still stiff and often falls into a pattern of looking to me as if I'm in a professor position rather than just someone who is part of the conversation, helping to keep it moving. Starting this week, I'm trying something new to get them talking to each other with small games like two truths and a lie-- I hope that will help them to get talking with each other more!

Knowing these massive differences between the groups, the issues of planning vs. facilitating are really different between Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesdays, my facilitating is often unneccessary, but my planning instead might need to go into picking attendance back up now (I'm emailing some of my no shows currently and I'm working on an email to survey them on potential field trips we can do-- maybe this planning will lead to them getting back involved). On Wednesdays however, my facilitating is often more necessary. Whatever I end up planning is easy enough for them to work with, but the flow of the conversation is always a toss up. I'm still trying to figure out what topics and tactics are most effective in getting the group going. 

I'm extremely determined to make the rest of October and November beyond successful with group bonding and conversation flow though. I have new plans in place with games, giving my groups a chance to write some before speaking outloud, and getting out and about so that my groups have extra reasons to attend and so that we can talk about what we're doing rather than just their experiences and stories (which are good, too, but I'm not sure it's enough for my Wednesday crew). 

Wish me luck!

Blog Post #3

I would say that the biggest difference in planning a conversation rather than facilitating one is the consequential notion of a teacher-student dynamic being built. By planning a conversation, you are essentially dictating the direction of the conversation, pre-determining what will be talked about just as a teacher would. Naturally, you would want to avoid this dynamic in a chat cafe session; it somewhat defeats the purpose of promoting the practice of conversational English. However, this can prove to be somewhat difficult to avoid, as the organic conversations that happen may run dry in material. If this happens frequently enough, it will certainly be an endeavor to promote conversation when certain topics have already been covered. It eventually limits the amount of natural dialogue; while it may be plentiful in the beginning, it can become barren after multiple short talks about a multitude of things.

Now that I have gotten to know my participants better, I now know whom I should try to encourage to speak more frequently. This has somewhat changed my approach to facilitating chat cafe sessions; if I feel like someone should speak more, I ask them to elaborate on a point he or she has made. Conversely, if someone speaks in a more frequent matter than the other participants have, I don't ask them to elaborate on their position/answer; more often than not, they have already done that, thus making the chance at speaking equal for everyone. Overall, getting to know my participants better has allowed me to adapt my approach to facilitating, where I promote a speaking environment filled with equal amounts of talking time for everyone.

Chat Cafe Update

At the beginning of the semester, I was a little perplexed about the fate of my Chat Cafe group; the first meeting day, only two people came, and on the second, only one. Last week, however, 4 out of my 5 members showed up, and the person who didn't come emailed me in advance. The five of us walked from North Quad to Panera and had a wonderful conversation about where we're all from and the similarities/differences between our countries and cultures. This year's circle is a bit more diverse compared to my two groups from last year--we've got three people from China, one from Singapore, and one from Iran--and I'm so excited to learn from each other and exchange ideas/information about our respective identities and backgrounds! Overall, everything is going great with me and my group and I couldn't be happier with my conversation circle this year.

Blog Post #3

I've chosen to address the prompt: What are the different challenges between planning a conversation in advance and facilitating the conversation in real-time?

I find that planning a conversation is a lot simpler than facilitating one. When planning, you often take the success of your questions as a given. I assume that, if I ask a question general enough, that I will be able to garner responses from each of my participants. However, in reality, there are some days when some participants just don't feel like talking - no matter what. So then a question is responded to by maybe one or two people and then silence ensues.

Until recently I had been assuming that my group would continue their record of heavy participation in conversation. Recent weeks have proven otherwise. Occurrences like the aforementioned are becoming more common. Because of this, I have realized that to be a successful facilitator often requires over-planning. You can never be sure how prepared your group will be to engage in conversation on a particular day, so, regardless of a group's propensity to participate, as a facilitator, you must be incite conversation as often as necessary. This requires more topics and more questions - more preparedness. 

This is all a learning experience. I only hope that I can grow to become a better facilitator in order to make this a more rewarding experience for all of my participants. 

Blog Post #3

I'm a planner, and I've always been one.  You've never met a toddler who more effectively laid out his toys and organized in advance how he would play with them than I did.  When I learned to write, I became freakishly devoted to keeping to-do lists.  The night before the ACT, I sharpened a twelve-pack of Ticonderoga pencils, just in case I happened to go through eleven of them during the test.  Even writing this blog post is part of a larger schedule that I've planned out for the coming week.

What I mean to say by all of this is that winging it has never really been my thing.  When I read the comments of previous Chat Cafe facilitators, though, a seemingly constant refrain was "Don't plan too much--be flexible."  What perplexing advice, I thought.  But I figured they knew how this all worked better than I did, so I took what they said to heart.  That isn't to say that I was going to do nothing in preparation for my sessions--I don't think this is what previous facilitators meant in the first place, plus 21 year old habits die hard--but I decided I would go in willing to shift plans and adjust my expectations as necessary.

After three weeks, I think I've started to see the real benefits to doing this.  As members of my group have become more familiar with one another, it's become easier and easier to let conversation run its natural course--to let topics of discussion come from them, rather than me, and to begin talking about things deeper than where people are from and what they like to do in their free time.  Going to the Natural History Museum this past week seemed to be particularly helpful in breaking down the stiffness that has hung over our earlier sessions.  Walking around the museum allowed smaller groups to form naturally, as people with similar interests flocked to the same exhibits, and looking at all of the artifacts gave us constant inspirations for discussion.  The museum also gave people a chance to be goofier than they might be in a conversation circle; for example, every member of the group became immensely fascinated by a piece of fossilized poop, which we then talked about for ten minutes.  That was not going to happen anywhere else.

What this last session has made me realize, I think, is that my job as facilitator is not to determine the conversations that we have, but rather to put us in a position that will allow for good conversation.  Sometimes, this might involve field trips, like going to a museum; other times, it might require me to ask group members to come prepared with a question they have about UM or American life.  The great thing about this is that I do still get to plan to some extent, only it's about our venues and our icebreakers, rather than our conversations.  This way, I think I can ensure that members of my group form connections and are practicing their speaking skills while still allowing them to determine what they discuss and get from our sessions.  In any case, this is what I hope; I'm banking on being able to use my planning skills for something.

Chat Cafe Update

Now on my third round of chat cafe I feel confident in saying no group is the same and therefore there is no formula for the perfect group. My group is smaller again, like it was the first round and conversation flows somewhere in between my first talkative group and my last more reserved group. This is the first time I've had a midday group where members are coming from and going to classes on either end. It somewhat limits the activities I'd done in the past with groups, such as getting dinner. With only an hour its difficult to decide to go meet at a restaurant.
I do have some other things that I think will be able to fit within the time more nicely including visiting the Kelsey Museum and taking a trip to the Wellness Zone in the union.
Also doing a "game day" was fun last semester, where we played word games like Never Have I Ever and Two Truths and  Lie.
One girl seemed particularly interested in talking about American culture, but she wasn't at the meeting last week. I hope we can hit on some topics to spend whole meetings talking about, so we can get really in depth in a topic, I feel like those meetings are really valuable.
My hopes for the semester beside, so far it's going well and I'm excited for the semester!

Blog Post #2 Stop Signs and Football

Wow, I couldn’t be happier with my group. So far we have met twice and both meeting have been productive. To kind of get a juxtaposition I planned heavily for the first meeting in terms of ice breakers and questions, while for the second meeting I planned a lot less. Both meetings went well, however, surprisingly, I found myself talking more during the second meeting.

            I went into the first meeting with a hard set agenda types of conversation activities.  The first activity was an icebreaker in which each member picked three items off their person and then use those items to introduce themselves. Once the activity was completed (about 30 minutes in) I broke the group of 6 into 3 groups of 2. The groups talked for 10 minutes about their varying experiences on campus. Afterwards we came together as a group and had everyone discuss there similarities and differences that they have experienced in the united states. Strikingly one of the things that stood out was the united states use stop signs. Overall the meeting was productive and every member got a chance to practice their conversational skills. The second meeting, however, felt more pushed and prodded.

            At the end of the first meeting my group agreed to focus on the rules and culture of football for meeting #2. Unlike last time I did very little preparation for this meeting. I spent approximately 20 minutes formulating a crude slide show to help guide my thoughts as we discussed football.  After we I went through the slide show I asked the group if they had any questions then to avoid a back and forth between me and the question asker I would ask the question back to the group. After about three questions I could feel the conversation kind of dying so I kept adding to the questions with my own personal experiences to widen the conversation to their experiences. This experience adding polarized the conversation and made it more of a discussion about the differences in culture. As much as that is a fun conversation to continue I feel as though I don’t want to turn this into a culture lesson group. I don’t want this to be a “here’s how it is in America” group. Although the conversations felt natural, I feel like it moves me into a teacher role.

            I thoroughly enjoyed both discussions so far and I’m looking forward to the weeks to come. My only complaint is that the group doesn’t want to move locations from week to week, but it seems the group is getting closer. Hopefully we can take field trips in the future!

Post #2

As of late, the chat cafe sessions with my groups have gone quite well! While the initial meetings for both groups were a little less than ideal, I attribute that to my lack of preparation. Nevertheless, the first session did involve breaking down some barriers, such as the seemingly invisible yet ever present facilitator-facilitatee dynamic as well as the awkward introductions. Ergo, I decided to further break down these barriers in the second week by playing some games as a group. These games led to interesting conversations, laughter, some banter, and overall merriment, which was far more than what I anticipated would arise from the games. It was a successful experiment, and is something I will attempt to implement in the future.

With regards to the class session we had with Carson from ELI, the most important thing I learned is to let time fix these problems of initial strain. Prior to actually hosting my first session, I had a somewhat idealistic vision for the sessions, where everyone was willing to talk to each other and not turn to me for guidance. However, to expect this from the first session is a bit too much. Not only will I attempt to cultivate such a vision later on in the year, but I will also not hold my members to such a standard. After all, each and every member of my groups (me included) are new to this experience.

Finally, with regards to the notion of a genuine conversation, I feel like that is one where people respond of their own accord in response to another. They don't feel obligated or required to say it, yet do so out of their own interest. To foster such conversations, I attempt to publicly note and respond to something that was said in the hopes that people will respond.

Blog Post

I was very excited to start chat cafe again! Both of my groups are really awesome. My first group only has 4 people because two people dropped before the first meeting. I find that I always have one or two people that message me saying they accidentally signed up for a group that is the same time as their class. This happened in both my groups.
Anyways, everyone in my first group is very shy so I'm hoping to do more activities to get them to open up. They seem to like writing down their ideas more but I hope to scaffold them out of that because it seems a little too formal. My second group is more outgoing. On the first day, one person was told me that my group was full but he really wanted to join because his friend was in my group, and since he came, I told him that he could join anyways. I liked having a bigger group of 8 because I felt like there was more to talk about. However, sadly he found out that he has another weekly meeting at the same time so he had to drop. There are two girls in my second group that joined together and they do not seem to be comfortable talking to anyone except each other, so I hope to reach out to them individually and have them contribute more to the safe space our chat cafe could become.
Next week I hope to do some minute to win it games that require a more intense set up. Originally, I was going to have them all come to my apartment but then I changed my mind because there are a lot of people and they may not feel comfortable going to a random person's apartment, so I reserved a room in East Hall. I am nervous about being able to find it because East Hall is so big and the room numbers do not go in order. However, I think it will be better than meeting in the Math atrium because I personally would also feel uncomfortable playing those games in public.
I am very surprised but both of my groups this semester has also been very good about sending in absences. Even though half of my second group was absent in the second meeting, they all sent me an email or text at least 24 hours ahead of time and that made me really happy. I hope they will keep this up so I know who is coming to my group each time.

Blog Post #2--The First Meeting

Phew--I made it.  Well, I made it through one session, at least.  And while I don't want to celebrate prematurely, I'm extremely pleased with how things went last Friday and feel excited, rather than anxious, about the rest of the semester.

This isn't to say that the session went absolutely perfectly--for one, I was very aware of sounding like a moderator, rather than simply a member of the group, throughout it.  When the conversation would lull, I would insert myself into the silence, rather than let others come up with a new topic organically.  "So," I said, after a pause in a discussion about American insurance rates, "What's everyone's favorite restaurant in town?"  It wasn't great.  My hope, however, is that in time, my facilitation will become more refined and less clunky.  For one, I think I'll simply get better at sitting through silence.  I also think these moments (ones of genuine silence, rather than just momentary pauses) will become less common as members of the group get to know one another better.  Familiarity breeds conversation, so I think each session will be more comfortable and talkative than the last.

On the whole, though, I'm happy with how things turned out at the session.  Even the more stiff, formal parts of a first meeting--like having everyone introduce themselves, their hometown, and their major--were helpful.  Two students, Qianli and Camille, found out that they were from the same province of China, and talked for a bit about their concerns about making it through a Michigan winter.  Three students were computer science majors or minors, and they talked about the requirements for the program and the difficulty of different classes.  I wonder, in part, if an icebreaker might be a good way to start the next few sessions as well.  Even though icebreakers feel a little unnatural and tedious, I think they really can give group members a chance to find out things they have in common.  I like to think that from something forced will emerge a natural, free-flowing conversation--a bit delusional, maybe, but for now I'm going to test it out and see how it works.

Looking forward, I'm excited to see how the group continues to develop and how members become more acquainted with each other and with UM.  I do worry a bit about losing some members down the line--already, only 5 of 7 group members came to the first session--but I'm hopeful that people will find value and fun in the time we spend together.