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!