Katie- CP 1

This week at the Conversation Partner meet-up hour before class, neither of my language partners were present, so I sat with a small group of students whose partners also hadn't shown up yet. It was a pretty well mixed group of Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, Puerto Rican, and Saudi Arabian students. I was pleasantly surprised to have sat with a group of seemingly rather high level students. It was very easy to chat with them, and they appeared to have a good grasp of the English language. While the East Asian students seemed to gravitate more towards each other, there was still quite a bit of communication and cultural exchange all around the table. They all seemed comfortable speaking English to each other and there was a very friendly atmosphere.

Having such a culturally diverse group of ESL students is really encouraging to keep everyone using English. Whenever the two Chinese students said anything to the other in Chinese, another student would tell them to, “Speak English! Speak English!” Towards the end, though, they began asking and teaching each other how to say phrases in their first language and other languages that they knew. Being second language learners living in a foreign country, it seems the students are more curious and open about other cultures, especially those of their classmates. It was very refreshing to witness and an overall pleasant experience.