Four afternoons per week, on the third floor of a corridor between Baldy Hall and O'Brien Hall, the sounds of cultural diversity can be heard through a mixture of laughter, casual conversation and intellectual discourse.
Now into its second year, the English Language Institute's "chat room" sessions provide native English speakers the opportunity to converse with students who need to practice the language and for "international students to meet domestic students and vice-versa," according to Kathy Curtis, associate director of ELI.
Curtis said the conversations in the chat rooms can be about anything and everything.
"It is a place to talk about the world situation, war, impending war. ... It's interesting to see the international students' view on what the U.S. is doing or the North Korea situation," said Curtis.
Devin Palmesano, a junior linguistics major, worked as a chat room tutor this semester.
"Every chat room session turns out to be unique," Palmesano said. "Sometimes, we just end up chatting about our day or our plans for the weekend. It's all about mood and the chemistry you have with whom you are speaking."
"The tutors are very friendly and nice," said Koji Ichige, an ELI student from Japan. "I have learned a lot of English from the tutors and maybe more than from class."
"The chat rooms taught me a lot about American culture, and I am glad to share my Indian traditions with them," said Samir Patel, an electrical engineering graduate student from India.
The ELI recruits native speakers of English as chat room tutors. Curtis said the tutors receive two credits for the ESL 320 course and work 30 hours per semester with two international students per chat room.
"I was able to have a window into the lives of people in countries I will never be able to visit," Palmesano said. "I was always asking students about their lives back home, and they were excited to share it with me, so I got many intricate details. I feel very lucky to have met such a diverse group of people."
Nathan Reynolds, a senior cultural anthropology major and Spanish minor who is a chat room tutor, said he "learned a lot about different cultures through this program and have made a lot of friends along the way."
"I've had some of the most interesting conversations on religion, spirituality, language, customs and literature that I've ever had," Reynolds said. "It was a great learning experience for me - an experience that has become a very significant part of my college education."
According to Reynolds, many of the international students who attend the chat-room sessions "rarely find opportunities to have conversations with native speakers."
"By attending these sessions, they become more familiar with American slang terms and expressions, and begin to feel more comfortable using what they learn to express themselves," he said.
Palmesano said the most important thing chat room participants gain from attending the sessions is confidence.
"Many of the students are very familiar with the English language," Palmesano said. "They can read and write it very well. But fear holds them back from speaking it. Many of them feel self-conscious about their accent or choosing the wrong word."
"I am shy in speaking English," said Lee Jin, a freshman business major from Korea. "After going to chat rooms, I feel more confident to speak English."
The chat room will be offered for foreign students again next semester. For potential tutors, orientation starts on Sept. 3 and the sessions begin Sept. 15.
"It is a good program for people looking to study abroad, to teach or chose communication as a career," Curtis said. "One's conversation skills will improve as they become aware of how others speak and how they communicate."
Photo: Breadchastick / Wikimedia Commons
