Written by Lauren Bucher
“Fee-fi-fo-fum …Goodness gracious me! It’s my old man,” said the ogre’s wife. “What on earth shall I do? Come along quick and jump in here.” Xiaowen Xu , nicknamed Bella, read to the class.
Discussing the subtleties of voice inflection during “Fee-fi-fo-fum” and the difference between “really! really? and really.” are just part of another day for the international students in the English as a Second Language (ESL) introductory class.
During the reading, Yujun Li, nicknamed Arthrun, the class wordsmith, told the class the meaning of the phrase “paltry beans” by looking it up on his handheld electronic translator.
“Funny looking beans means something totally different than funny-looking beans,” Professor Steve Shaner explained to the class, who speak English as a second language.
In the speech class, international students learn about public speaking in English.Among other activities, they practice voice inflection and punctuation pauses by reading short stories in class out-loud. Through these activities, they learn about American culture and people.
“For me, teaching the students English is a ministry,” Shaner said. “They really don’t know people here and they have a lot of questions about the culture. They need to make friends with American students outside of classes, which is where the conversation partners program comes in.”
Pairing an American student up with an international student to be conversation partners is a tool to get international students plugged into the HU community and involved in student life.
By becoming friends with Americans, International students get to participate in American culture themselves, instead of being firsthand observers.
“I would love to get to know American students better,” Ngan, a business major from Vietnam, said. “I do not know about activities and games that happen on campus. I spend most of my time studying.”
Conversation partners must be willing to meet once a week. They help the students meet other English speakers and participate in campus activities. Ideally, American students invite their partners to concerts, club sports or to eat in the cafeteria together.
“I think it’s a great opportunity to learn about other people at Harding and expand our world-view,” said American student Calea Bakke.
To sign up to be a conversation partner contact Lauren Boone atlboone@harding.eduor Steve Shaner atsshaner@harding.edu.
