Chat Cafe 2.0, Take One

I guess you could say I’ve been putting off this post for a week or two, since I really didn’t feel like I had a good feel for my new group yet. But the truth is, I still don’t - so here goes... I’ve had four chat cafes so far - three at Sweeting on South U and one at Tropical Smoothie Cafe on Liberty, as per one group member’s suggestion. 

To start, my circle has been less consistent as well as consistently smaller than last semester. On average I have had 2-3 people there each time, and only one is *always* present. That said, she is very quiet, and I find that I am having trouble coming up with topics of conversation that include her, especially since the others who have shown up are much more talkative, and moreover like talking about topics in which she is not very interested (read: sports). That said, I am trying to convince myself that her perfect attendance is at least a small amount of evidence that she doesn’t find our discussions to be a complete waste of time. 

In the meantime, I am thinking I might have to reevaluate my go-with-the-flow/no extra planning strategy from last semester; maybe the case this time around is that it just won’t work with my new chat cafe, and that’s going to have to be okay. 

Great chemistry

I could not be happier with the dynamic that has been created in my chat cafe group this semester. I have one familiar face in my group from last semester, but the rest are all new friends to be made. I am excited about the regional diversity that each student brings to the group and and thrilled about how enthusiastic everyone seems to be. I was surprised that even though I did not overly stress the importance of attendance, everyone seems very eager to attend every meeting. Most stated they were looking to make friends and practice spoken English. One of my students is only here for a semester, and is looking to enjoy every bit of Ann Arbor that she can during her time here. I am determined to make this chat cafe group a source of knowledge for everyone involved. Not only do I hope to impart knowledge onto my fellow members about things I am passionate about, but I also want to engage in their interests. Our plan for our next meeting, in addition to discussing current events in the news, is to visit either Friend's Karaoke or go to the Jolly Pumpkin to experience what a local brewery is all about. I am looking forward to an awesome semester, enriching for me and my fellow group members.

Winter 16 Blog Post 1

 My first two cafe chat groups have been going pretty smoothly. Originally, when people signed up for my group, there was one guy who was not Asian. Out of the 6 ELI/Chat Cafe groups I have facilitated, I have only had one guy who was not Asian, so I was a little nervous but also excited about the challenge. However, the guy dropped my group before the first session. In our first session, I had them fill out an “All about Me Robot,” share with their partner, and then share as a group. Then, I taught them a hand game and we played Never Have I Ever. Surprisingly, someone in my group has already played Never Have I Ever, and they did not have a lot of trouble saying “Never Have I Ever.”

In our second chat cafe, I started the rose/thorn tradition I do in every group. Then, I bought a pack of cards for us to play with. I taught them how to play the game of spoons, and they seemed to enjoy it. I realized that this group goes through and gets bored of activities very fast, and they began to look tired so I tried to energize them by making them get up and play human knot. When I played this game with my friends back home, it took a lot of time a team work and was very challenging. However, every time I played it with a chat cafe, we have solved it really fast. I thought they were getting bored with me, but at the end, none of them wanted to leave even after I thought I made clear that wishes was the closing activity.

All in all, I think I have a really great group. I’m excited to get to know them better as the semester goes on and the weather gets warmer.

1st meeting of second semester

I write this as I sit waiting for my second meeting of the semester! It was so nice to be back and to meet a new group of students last week. It is definitely a different dynamic than my group last semester, but everyone seems really nice and excited to be there. I am thinking though that I might need to do more planning with this group. I was very apparent right off the bat last time that everyone really got along and liked a lot of the same things and so I never felt the need to plan anything, even to start off. However this time even though everyone is nice and eager to participate I foresee needing more structure than last time. I think it is something I'm just going to have to be flexible with. I could also see just maybe needing structure at first and as the meetings progress needing less and less. Either way planning more structure into my meetings appears to be something I'll be working on this semester.