PIESL Conversational Partner Program
The Programs in Intensive English as a Second Language (PIESL) Conversational Partners Program’s main purpose is connecting international students with UNL community members including students/staff/faculty through authentic and friendly conversations and interactions. This cross-cultural partnership program provides international students with an intimate experience of American culture. In return, American volunteers learn about another country and culture and develop cross-cultural competencies. These interactions help foster a global community.
If you are interested, please complete the sign form available here. After the sign-up deadline, the PIESL Program will try to match each international student with a native speaker partner. This is a great opportunity for us to support our international students and enhance our diversity and inclusion efforts at UNL.
PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
• Foster positive intercultural relationships between new international students and NU community members.
• Help international students learn more about and adjust to American culture.
• Provide important social support for and extend hospitality to international students during their initial adjustments to life in America.
• Offer all students an opportunity to learn about new cultures and how to communicate in a diverse society.
• Encourage American students to gain cross-cultural understanding and global perspectives.
• Raise international awareness, promote international education and contribute to the university’s comprehensive internationalization efforts.
• Give student participants a place to fit in to the international community, as engagement in extracurricular activities increases student retention rates.
PARTICIPANTS
• The CONVERSATIONAL PARTNERS PROGRAM pairs each international student with an English native speaker volunteer.
• These volunteers include NU students, staff, faculty in the UNL community.
HOW IT WORKS
• Students and volunteers interested in the program apply online to participate in the CONVERSATION PARTNERS PROGRAM.
•The program coordinators match international students with volunteers based on the information prospective participants provide in their applications. Coordinators take level of study, hobbies and interests, and other preferences into consideration when matching pairs. We will try to create one-on-one match as much as possible but might need to form group of three or four depending on the number of volunteers. The coordinators will send an email to initiate contact for each pair/group of partners. Then, participants will be responsible for communicating about the details of their meetings for the rest of the semester.
• For this semester, all meetings should be conducted virtually. We encourage setting up frequent and regular meeting times depending on your availability. Meeting 2-4 times a month can be helpful to achieve the objectives of the program.
• The coordinators will send bi-weekly check-in email to all program participants to make sure that all participants continue to have a positive experience in the program.
QUESTIONS
Please contact Dr. Anh Le, PIESL International Student Success Navigator, at ale10@unl.edu or 402-472-1268.