News and Events
What is TandemPlus?
The TandemPlus program organizes opportunities for language students to practice and improve their abilities in the foreign language they are studying. To meet the needs of as many students as possible, we make these practice opportunities available in a variety of formats.
FACE-TO-FACE EXCHANGES
The TandemPlus program matches native speakers of two different languages, students of each other's language who learn from each other and help one another to learn. Typically, the partners meet for about two hours every week. Priority is given to language students currently enrolled in a class at the University of Minnesota, but registration is open to all.
Are you trying to register for a TandemPlus Face-to-Face exchange?
Visit the Getting Started menu link for more information, and click on "My Account" to access the TandemPlus Matching Software.
VIRTUAL FACE-TO-FACE EXCHANGES
The TandemPlus program pairs language learners online through Virtual Face-to-Face exchanges, which join U of M participants with conversation partners in different countries. In this program, participants meet on-line via Skype or a similar platform to practice their second-language skills with students at universities in countries such as Mexico, Honduras, Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Russia, Germany, France, and Israel.
This is a great option for students of languages for which there are few native speakers on campus, or who might otherwise have a difficult time being paired with a local conversation partner.
CLASS-TO-CLASS EXCHANGES
Instructors can include their entire class in an electronic class-to-class language exchange. In these exchanges, students at the University of Minnesota are paired with one or two students in an overseas class, and correspond throughout the course of an entire semester. TandemPlus can help the instructors in a variety of ways, from finding a counterpart class to suggesting how the exchange might be incorporated into a language curriculum.