Something that has routinely appeared on student feedback from students on the Activate courses is that they would like more native speaker interaction. Due to perceived cultural boundaries, shyness, or lack of confidence in spoken abilities, having meaningful interactions between native students and students at the English Language Centre (ELC) is often quite difficult. Therefore, in conjunction with the Social & Welfare team, we discussed the possibilities of creating a relationship with the School of English to promote cross-departmental co-operation to provide meaningful contexts within which native and ELC students are able to communicate.
The premise is to have a Homework Help Club, where ELC students can bring any classwork or homework that they are having difficulties with and come to talk together with some second or final year English undergraduate students, who may have an interest in exploring the possibilities of teaching ESL, or are just interested in SLA in general. Native students will have something further to add to their HEAR portfolios, while ELC students will have much needed interactive with native students of a similar age, with both gaining cross-cultural understanding.
This project is still in its infancy, but we hope that we can set up something that can be both meaningful and productive for both parties, as well as bringing the ELC closer to the wider university faculty.
Back to: Centre for Teaching Excellence in Language Learning
