Converse With Native Speakers Without Leaving Campus

A recent article in Education Week confirms what language instructors already know: that social engagement and live interactions with multiple native speakers are crucial to language learning success. Now instructors at the U of M can provide their students with exactly this kind of second-language practice, without leaving the U of M, via class-to-class exchanges.

In class-to-class exchanges, your students will meet virtually through computer technology with partners who are fluent in the target language and are learning English -- for instance, students in a French class at the U of M will meet with students in an English class in France. Students take turns conversing in both their own and their second languages. Classes can do synchronous (real-time) or asynchronous (recorded) video exchanges. Send a message to the Tandem Plus program at tandem@umn.edu and let us know if you're interested in establishing this exciting partnership for your Spring classes.