Blog #2

I really appreciated the handouts from ELI, especially the one with all of the feedback from past participants and facilitators. It was good to get so much perspective and so many new ideas, while also learning some key what-not-to-dos. I got an idea for my most recent Chat Café from it: writing questions on cards, putting them in the center of the circle, and, going around the table, drawing a card to read and answer. This led to some very interesting responses, as well as discussion around the table after the initial person had given their response. We discussed everything from food (everyone wants to try cuisine from other cultures!) to study habits. The cards created structure and kept it moving, but there was still natural discussion around the table. Picking the card felt more like a game than a forced conversation, especially since we had written them ourselves! This actually surprised me a little, and made me think about "genuine" conversation in a new way. I think that genuine conversation can be had in infinitely many ways, but it is characterized by being enjoyable to all the participants. I think that to foster such conversation in my groups, it's important for me to have a plan and backups to the plan to make sure the conversation never stops. However, I should never stop natural discussion that is flowing away from the original plan because this is how real conversation works. I will direct the conversation back to the original plan if the conversation slows or stops. 

ELI visit

I learned so much from the ELI visit to our class. I was given very helpful feedback on what I can do to improve and what things I should recommend to the students. For example, I didn't realize that TV shows are not a good way to get better at learning a language by ear. However, there are YouTube videos, clubs, and other things that can make a student feel more comfortable with their linguistic abilities.

The other strategy that was touched on in class was the question rebound: when someone asks a question, ask another person to respond to that question. This way, more people are getting involved in the group and speaking up. This fosters an inclusive atmosphere of camaraderie. I hope that this will encourage shier people to engage in the group and be more vocal.

It's also important to consider the entire group's needs. For instance, if one person wants to do presentation-type chats, that might not be representative of what everyone wants. It's so crucial to pay attention to group dynamics and put effort into making sure everyone is satisfied and content.

First Blog Post

I'm so excited to start working as a Chat Cafe leader! I also work at Sweetland as a peer writing consultant, and in the past I worked for the Science Learning Center as a study group facilitator; both experiences have helped prepare me, at least to some degree, for this next challenge. Whereas as a peer writing consultant, I help students with their written language, now I will be helping students with their verbal language skills. I think it will be very informative to compare and contrast the two positions and get a more multi-faceted view on language.

I'm a bit anxious about having silences in the conversation and navigating that occurrence. I feel like I'll be responsible to keep the conversation going when it lags or to revive it if it dies. I suppose I will have to drink a lot of coffee beforehand to ensure that I will be very chatty. It's helpful to understand that silence can be a natural and normal part of conversation, though. Not every second needs to be filled with chatter. Plus, silences give us an opportunity to really stretch our minds for something to say.

The reason I chose to be a Chat Cafe facilitator involves the desire to form connections with people I may never have gotten to know otherwise. It's always healthy to hear about perspectives and beliefs that differ vastly from your own; I think that's how we learn and get better, or at least learn to understand others. I also thought it would be interesting to explore the opposite of what I do at Sweetland Center for Writing which is instead of helping with written word, helping with orally expressed language.

All in all, I'm very excited to begin meeting new people and just having good conversation with them!

Blog #1

I am very excited to meet new people through the Chat Cafe, as well as share and discuss different cultures. After studying abroad in France this summer, and living and taking classes in a foreign language, I feel that I have an interesting perspective going into this. I'm excited to share cool things about Ann Arbor with my groups, such as restaurants and the Arb, as well as to learn about cultural differences between their home countries and the United States. I always found discussions like this my host family in France very interesting, and there's always so much to learn from other people! Of course, that is not all that I am excited to talk about. It will also be fun to talk about things like books, TV, food, and classes. All of these things, particularly the opportunity to meet new people and share new and exciting ideas, are what motivate me to be a Chat Cafe leader. I love to meet new people and learn from them, so Chat Cafe seems like an awesome opportunity to do that, all while helping to create a safe space for international students to practice their English.

On the other hand, I am nervous about having a very shy group, or having one person who really dominates the conversation. I really want everyone to be comfortable, both with me and with the other members of the group. Having a very shy group would be difficult because it would be very important for me to keep the conversation going and ask a lot of questions; however, I am confident that they would eventually warm up. Having one person always dominating the conversation would be a different challenge, but I think that my first approach to remedying that would be to ask direct questions to other members of the group who weren't talking as much. Despite these concerns, I am overwhelmingly excited to meet my groups and get started!