Congratulations! You have a TandemPlus partner now!
Next steps for meeting with your partner
Step 1: Contact your partner by email
Look at your online profiles and personal schedules and suggest a day and time for your first meeting. Together, discuss the following:
- how often you want to meet to practice
- whether you will always meet at the same time and place or will the schedule vary
- which social media or online tools will you use to communicate; provide a means of contact
- whether your conversations are required for a language class
Step 2: Set your own goals
Think about why this particular language is important to you. Is it the language itself? Culture? Job opportunities? Focus on vocabulary and communicative functions appropriate to your proficiency level. For example:
- Beginner-level learners can:
- Meet with a native speaker and practice pronunciation and learn new vocabulary
- Learn about culture and appropriate ways of behaving in different situations
- Intermediate-level learners can:
- Extend and build vocabulary, especially for familiar or frequently-used topics or items
- Learn about the diversity of cultures in the country/countries that speak the target language
- Perfect use of simple verb tenses, and work on becoming more comfortable using complex tenses (present perfect, past perfect, conditional, subjunctive) or cases
- Improve ability to talk about a topic for several sentences (1 paragraph)
- Advanced-level learners can:
- Learn idiomatic expressions
- Learn about dialectical differences that exist within the language
- Perfect grammar, including complex verb tenses and less-commonly-used cases
- Become comfortable expressing hypothetical situations
- Improve ability to converse about a topic at length (over the course of several paragraphs)
- Develop your ability to speak and write in different registers, i.e., formally or informally, and to people of different social status
Step 3: Prepare for your conversation
- Choose a few topics you want to discuss. Write down several examples of what you can tell your partner about that topic, based on your own experience. What questions could you ask your partner?
- Review vocabulary for the topic and write down some key phrases. For example, if you are going to a museum, you may want to review the vocabulary for the arts and know words like canvas, paint, photography, and sculpture. You may also want to review adjectives in the target language so you can more appropriately discuss the work rather than just saying everything “is beautiful.”
- Review and write down a few phrases to help keep the conversation flowing. Help your partner by asking follow-up questions.
General Advice
- Preparation is the key to success. Even ten minutes of preparation can greatly benefit and enhance your exchange.
- Take charge of your own learning. Ask for explanations when something is not clear - it's your responsibility to do so.
- Make an effort to speak out, even if you're shy.
- If someone says a word that you don't understand (because of poor pronunciation, for example), just ask them to write it in the text box, then say it for them. Pronunciation is important!
- Ask your partners to repeat, explain or translate when you don't understand something. Don’t say you understand if you don’t!
- Ask your partners to slow down if they speak too fast.
- Explain, repeat, write down or translate when necessary, and slow down if your partners ask you to.
- Encourage those who are too shy to speak.
- Don't correct grammar all the time, do not interrupt someone in the middle of a sentence to correct him or her - too much correction interferes with the conversation and can frustrate and block speakers. Do however clear up errors that interfere with understanding.
- If someone insists on being corrected, ask him or her what he or she wants you to focus on: verbs, prepositions, pronunciation, gender, etc.
- The best way to correct is to just repeat the word or phrase the way you would say it.
- Speak loudly and clearly.
- Give everyone a chance to speak - don't monopolize the conversation.
- Be sensitive to your partner’s needs.
- When speaking in your own language, keep in mind that you're doing this so your partners can practice - encourage them to participate, and make sure they can follow the conversation.
- Develop a listening attitude.
- Allow others their point of view - you can comment, but don't judge.
What if my partner...
My partner asks me questions that make me uncomfortable.
All cultures have topics which are difficult to discuss, or which are taboo within that culture. Some Americans, for example, might be uncomfortable talking about religion or sexuality. People from other cultures may be uncomfortable with other topics. Please be sensitive to issues your partner is uncomfortable with or does not want to discuss. If you are the one who is being made uncomfortable, make sure you explain to your partner that you would rather not discuss the topic.
My partner keeps canceling our meetings.
Sometimes problems come up and people need to cancel meetings. In Minnesota, for example, bad weather can prevent people from traveling. However, such cancellations should be rare. If you have to cancel, please be respectful and give your partner as much advance notice as possible.
My partner takes all of our meeting time for his/her language practice.
My partner takes all of our meeting time for his/her language practice and I don't get a chance to practice my language. Tandem language learning is intended to benefit both partners. Some people are shy, and some cultures do not value the "aggressiveness" that Americans seem to value. It is your responsibility to be sure that you are not dominating your meeting time, just as it is your responsibility to speak up if your partner is dominating. You can say something like, "You're doing well with your language. Can we focus on my language for a while?" Your partner might not realize that he/she is dominating.
My partner seems to want more than friendship.
TandemPlus is a conversation exchange program, not a dating service. You and your partner will decide how your relationship develops, but no one has any obligation to his or her partner beyond meeting to exchange language/culture practices. If this becomes an issue, contact TandemPlus Staff at [email protected].