Megan Brimmer never knew what Children’s Day was in Japan. The premise was completely foreign to her until she met her conversation partner from Japan, who taught her about this holiday celebrating the happiness of children.

More than 30 international teaching assistants take part in a program, Conversation Partners, designed to help TAs improve their fluency in the English language. The TAs who take part in this program are placed to teach in Syracuse University courses. The program’s goal is to improve their language skills so that they will be good enough to successfully teach at the university and improve over time.

Undergraduate students like Brimmer, a senior international relations major, meets with the international TAs once a week to discuss whatever comes to mind. The point is simply to improve the TAs’ conversational English in a relaxed environment.

Glen Wright, assistant director for graduate school programs and language proficiency services coordinator for the Conversation Partners program, said he thinks international graduate student TAs bring a different perspective into the classroom than that of TAs from the U.S.

Wright’s job is to make sure a TA’s conversational English won’t be a hindrance to their performance in the classroom.

‘The idea for Conversation Partners is (international TAs) essentially converse for an hour once a week and practice specific English skills,’ Wright said. ‘There are TAs from all departments across campus in the program. A number of them are from engineering, physics, math and economics, but they can be from anywhere.’

Michelle Gallo, a senior history and political science major, said she has experienced at least one class in her time at SU that had an international TA. Currently, she is in a class with a TA from China. Understanding her TA, she said, is just a matter of getting used to the TAs’ English.

‘It’s hard to understand them sometimes when they get really into something,’ Gallo said. ‘I’ve found that the first couple of weeks it’s difficult, but when you get into it, it’s not that bad. Right now, it’s better to have my TA’s perspective as opposed to an American perspective on what we’re learning.’

Wright said the reason the Conversation Partner program needs to exist is because of the possibility of a language barrier between TAs and students in the classroom.

Brimmer said she and her TAs have discussed their family history, vacations and other things you would discuss with a friend. After a while, Brimmer said, she forms friendships with the TAs she is assigned to. She currently meets with three international graduate students a week.

‘We discuss everything and anything,’ Brimmer said. ‘It’s a lot of basic ‘getting to know each other’ questions — ‘What would you do with $1 million?’ sort of thing, hypothetical questions.’

Brimmer said the program provides her with the opportunity to learn about new things, such as Children’s Day. ‘It was incredible for me to learn firsthand about something so basic in their culture,’ she said.

Brimmer said she learns things from her conversation partners — things she had never studied in the classroom — that have really sparked her interest.

One of the issues that the program hopes to address, Wright said, is hearing from students who complain to the department that they can’t fully understand their international TAs. Because of this, Chancellor Nancy Cantor mandated the program, Wright said.

Wright said the Conversation Partner program is the most well-received initiative for international TAs. He said the TAs have expressed a liking and appreciation for the chance to communicate with undergraduates in a relaxed and informal setting.

‘There’s no threat of evaluation or homework attached to it,’ he said. ‘It’s a chance to practice their English for the purpose to facilitate their learning and address their own particular issues. They have a lot of questions about things that work differently here, and Conversation Partners is good for their language and general culture content.’

Tiffany Ferris, a freshman elementary education major, has experienced a math class with a TA from Kenya who had a thick accent, she said. She said she has not had to interact with the TA very much and hasn’t had any issues with his speech since she rarely has to communicate with him. Ferris’ roommate had a different experience with an international TA. She cannot understand the TA, yet this TA is the only source to go to for help in a class, Ferris said.

‘She comes back to the room and says she has a rough time understanding her TA,’ Ferris said. ‘She doesn’t feel comfortable asking for help because she doesn’t understand her accent. Sometimes it’s just difficult to understand different accents, but she said it is affecting her grade.’

Conversation Partners hopes to address issues like the one Ferris’ roommate is currently experiencing and solve them as much as possible.

‘I think it’s really great for the TAs who might not have a lot of contact with native English speakers,’ Brimmer said. ‘If they have questions or want to go to Starbucks and aren’t entirely sure what to say, it makes it a lot easier, and I think it helps them improve their English skills tremendously.’

rltoback@syr.edu

Published on March 29, 2010 at 12:00 pm