New at Tandem Plus Spring 2011

The new semester brings new excitement to the Tandem Plus Program.
We are pleased to announce the formation of Guided Conversation groups for Spanish, ESL, and Japanese. These groups, which meet weekly for 1 hour, are led by students who are either native speakers or are fluent in the target language, and include 2-3 participants who would like to practice their second language skills. The Guided Conversation Groups are theme-oriented, which means participants talk about topics that the group leader provides. It is a little more organized than having a "free conversation," but participants can still meet over coffee and relax. These groups will be formed and start meeting in the next few weeks.

Brand-new this semester is "Virtual Face-to-Face" pairings, which join U of M participants with conversation partners in different countries. The participants will meet virtually via Skype (or a similar platform) to practice their second-language skills with students at universities in Russia, Germany, Mexico, Honduras, and more. This is a great option for people who would like a conversation partner but don't get paired with one via our Face-to-Face program. To sign up for Virtual Face-to-Face, students need to register online for a Face-to-Face exchange through the Language Center.

Finally, Tandem Plus will be presenting at the Quality Fair on February 3 from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Carlson School of Management. Stop by, say hello, and check out our poster presentation!