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Language Café: practising languages during Happy Hour

Gepubliceerd: 5 December 2016 • Leestijd: 1 minuten en 28 seconden • English Dit artikel is meer dan een jaar oud.

On Wednesday afternoon, between 16.00 and 18.00, Café Bras at the RU site Kralingse Zoom is taken over by a group of international students. Here they practise languages with a glass of beer or wine in hand. Because they would like to learn a new language, or practise one they do not speak very often.

At 15:45, lecturer Carole Westerkamp is already busy getting the space organised. Every table gets a national flag so that it is clear at a glance which language is spoken there. An Italian student, who has come from Heijplaat, walks in: she would like to practice her English and Dutch.

Polyglot

The student is brought to the English table, where she can join others listening to the founding story of the Language Café. Carole teaches English and business communication, and speaks ten languages (including Italian, Indonesian and Greek). She is a member of the polyglot community, a group of people that speak many languages, and each year she travels to attend a conference where she meets with like-minded people. There, she is not even very special with her ten languages.

The Language Café was not Carole’s own idea, as it already existed in various places around the world, but it was she who brought it to RU: ‘I thought it was a pity that RU did not have a Language Café yet, since we have so many lecturers and students with different backgrounds. They can all help each other during the café sessions. One time you teach someone something, the next time, you learn something”.

White wine

Two of Carole’s colleagues (one from Great Britain, one from Lithuania) come in carrying drinks. They sit down together and talk. Next, a French lecturer joins a table of French-speaking students, and a handful of Spanish students enter. The room is soon filled with international babbling.

The first Language Café was organised on 14 October, and since then more visitors have been coming every week. It is difficult to bring a large group together, as the gatherings are not electives, and many students and lecturers normally have lectures on Wednesday afternoons. A few weeks ago, Carole won a language prize from the Nuffic, which included a cash prize. This was put into the production of a promotion film and flyers to promote the café.

More activities

In the future, Carole hopes to expand the café’s activities with lunch speakers and a language quiz.

More information about the Language Café can be found on its Facebook page.

Tosca Sel

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