Language Partners

Post to the Language Partners: discussion board on facebook to find a native speaker of Arabic!

Your partner will want to practice their English. You can make a schedule together for when you will speak in Arabic and when you will speak in English. See the FAQ & Guidelines at the bottom of this page for more information and ideas about Language Partners.

Download a half-sheet flyer about Arabic language partners!

Mandarin Chinese-specific Language Partner board coming soon! Check the Discussion Boards on the LCLC facebook page to see if anyone's waiting to meet!

Post to the Language Partners: ITALIANO discussion board on facebook to find a native speaker of Italian!

Your partner will want to practice their English. You can make a schedule together for when you will speak in Italian and when you will speak in English. See the FAQ & Guidelines at the bottom of this page for more information and ideas about Language Partners.

Download a half-sheet flyer about Italian language partners!

Post to the Language Partners: POLSKI discussion board on facebook to find a native speaker of Polish!

Your partner will want to practice their English. You can make a schedule together for when you will speak in Polish and when you will speak in English. See the FAQ & Guidelines at the bottom of this page for more information and ideas about Language Partners.

Download a half-sheet flyer about Polish language partners!

Post to the Language Partners: ESPAÑOL discussion board on facebook to find a native speaker of Spanish!

Your partner will want to practice their English. You can make a schedule together for when you will speak in Spanish and when you will speak in English. See the FAQ & Guidelines at the bottom of this page for more information and ideas about Language Partners.

Download a half-sheet flyer about Spanish language partners!

Language partners (wikipedia) agree to meet and converse in a particular language. It is usually an exchange where people meet and speak in one language, for instance Spanish, and then meet another time and speak in another language, for instance English. It is a free way to improve your speaking and listening ability, and perhaps even make friends!

Download a flyer about language partners at UIC (PDF).

To use the facebook discussion boards, you must first:

• Join facebook.
• 
• Become a fan of LCLC.
• 

Then you can post on the discussion board for your language to start meeting a language partner! See What should I write on the board to meet a partner? for more information.

Do not put your personal contact information on the discussion boards. See below for more information.

The discussion boards on facebook are sort of like sign-up sheets. If you'd like to meet a language partner:

• Post to the language's discussion board and mention some basic information:
• General availability
• Any specifics about what sort of language you'd like to learn, particular countries you'd like to find a language partner from, etc.
• I am a beginning French speaker and I would like to meet someone from a Francophone country in Africa. I am available on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons and evenings.
• Do not put your personal contact information on the discussion boards. See below for more information.
• After you put something on the discussion board, look for a partner amongst the existing posts.
• Use the "Send a message" link underneath your potential language partner's profile picture to contact them.
• 
• Arrange to meet the first few times in a very public location, at a time when other people will be present. Daytime is best.

The Tutorium in Intensive English on UIC's South Campus is inviting their English-learners to sign up on these discussion boards as well. LCLC cannot guarantee who may access the LCLC facebook page, so we encourage you to meet your language partner in a familiar public location when other people are present. Do not put your personal contact information on the discussion boards. See below for more information.

Find a partner and arrange to meet on your own schedule, wherever you wish. UIC students can use the Language Oasis for their meetings, but check the Oasis calendar to be sure the room is available. The LCLC facebook page is publicly viewable, so we encourage you to meet your language partner in a familiar public location when other people are present, and let your friends know when and where you are going. Do not put your personal contact information on the discussion boards. See below for more information.

For starters, your language partner will want to practice their English. They will probably be excited to be talking with someone who lives in the US full-time, and may drive the English conversation with their own questions. If your partner is shy, you can ask them about where they are from or volunteer information about yourself, your experiences at UIC, and so on. As you get to know each other, you can talk about your various interests, movies, TV, etc.

If you are meeting in the Language Oasis, you can request to watch target-language content from a streaming site. You can also bring in a movie and watch it together on a TV or with a laptop checked out from the computer lab in Room 306. There are many possibilities!

No. This language partnership is for improving your listening and speaking, perhaps learning some idiomatic language and helping your partner with casual English phrases. Your language partner, despite being a native speaker, is not a substitute for what is taught in your language classes and vice versa.

First, consider possible cultural differences in comunication. The idea behind Language Partners is for you to practice your foreign language, and for your language partner to practice English. Learning about similarities and differences between cultures and between individual communication styles is another interesting and valuable opportunity. You can accomplish these goals even if you do not share common interests.

However, you are under no obligation at any time. Neither you nor your language partner should pressure the other for any reason: not to continue to meet, not to do each others' homework, and certainly not for personal contact information or romantic intentions. Always be aware of how comfortable you feel. If something makes you uncomfortable, end the meeting. Walk away. You do not have to continue to meet with anyone at any time. And you can always choose a new partner from the Language Partners board.

LCLC does not in any way vet or certify the native speakers or the language learners who may participate on the facebook discussion pages linked above. While only specific groups are invited to participate, namely language-learners in UIC basic language courses and English language learners in the TIE, facebook is a public interface. These discussion boards are viewable even by people who do not have facebook accounts, and anyone in the world with a facebook account can become a fan of LCLC and write on the discussion boards. For these reasons, we make some recommendations as to how to communicate with your language partner, especially before that initial meeting:

• Do not put your personal contact information on the LCLC discussion boards:
• no telephone numbers
• no home or school addresses
• no main personal email
• Instead, post a general greeting as described above under "What should I write on the board to meet a language partner?". You can use facebook to arrange a time and location for meeting without ever giving out your phone number.
• Arrange to meet the first few times in a very public location, at a time when other people will be present. Daytime is best. You may wish to bring a friend with to sit nearby.

An array of websites work to connect language partners globally. Some of these websites even help professers in the United States connect with professors internationally to setup a cultural exchange between their two classrooms for the purposes of aiding the students in gaining speaking and listening practice as well as reading and writing practice through proofreading each other's papers or communicating with partners via email or chat.
Mixxer Language Exchange Community: Language Online through Dickinson College in Carlisle Pennsylvania
My Language Exchange
Shared Talk
Conversation Exchange