Conversation Partner for International Students
Volunteer as a Conversation Partner
We begin by expressing our gratitude to the faculty of the Emeritus College, who have already served as mentors in the Conversation Pairs program. All the students you have been mentoring have performed well on the Verification of English Skills Test (VEST) and have become eligible for a teaching assistantship (TA). The students also appreciate your work.
This year we again call your attention to the opportunity to participate as a conversation partner in the Conversation Pairs program. A flyer is available to advertise the program. We are entering our second year of the Conversation Pairs program offered to our International Students as part of the Clemson University International Student Teaching Assistant (ITA) program. Conversation Pairs is provided both as a standalone program or as part of a course entitled "Advancing English for Teaching" offered by Jennifer Brondell in the Office of Global Engagement's English Language Programs. Students are recommended or required to participate in the Conversation Pairs Program for at least one semester, given their score on the VEST test. Since mentoring in the Conversation Pairs program fulfills some students' academic requirements, the faculty mentoring service is reported in the Emeritus College Annual Report to the University. Finally, Emeritus faculty have the talent and experience to mentor international graduate students effectively.
While the number varies each year, currently, 18 students need to enroll in the Conversation Pairs program based on their VEST test scores. The conversation partner's goal is to help students overcome their shortcomings in their English communication. This program will vary from year to year and student to student. But this year, the preliminary work for the conversation partners will be to help the students improve their pronunciation so that their speech is easier to understand. Some students will also need to improve their fluency.
We hope you will consider volunteering as a conversational partner of an international student and look forward to hearing from you. If you would like to volunteer, just e-mail Adolph Beyerlein, Chair of the Emeritus College Language Skills Committee, at albrl@g.clemson.edu or Jennifer Brondell at jbronde@clemson.edu.
