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Dear Colleagues,

It was a pleasure meeting many of you at the IALLT conference this summer.
At the conference it was requested that we periodically update the
ListServe on TalkAbroad's services.  The purpose of this email to give a
quick overview of TalkAbroad.

You can also visit our website: www.talkabroad.com

*What do we do?*

We are a tool created to impact oral proficiency levels of students by
increasing the amount of time spent speaking 1-on-1 with native speakers of
the target language.

Coordinating and supervising conversation practice for students is a
difficult task.  Particularly when 1) the class size is large or 2) native
speakers are not readily available. TalkAbroad is a tool that allows
instructors to coordinate and supervise regular conversation practice with
native speakers internationally.  We organize groups of native speakers who
are trained to speak with students.  We then coordinate the timing and
provide audio recordings of all conversations to both the student and the
instructor.

Using TalkAbroad an instructor can make an assignment to hundreds of
students with the assurance that all of them will be able to find and
schedule time with a safe, personable conversation partner internationally.
No extra work coordinating for the professor.

*Sample Integration in Curriculum*
*
*
TalkAbroad is meant to be integrated into the curriculum as a required
component of the course.  At the intermediate and advanced levels this is
extremely easy to do: "Assignment: Interview a native speaker on X topic and
bring notes to discuss in class."  We have also had success at the beginner
level with a more structure multi-part assignment that includes preparing
interview questions, interviewing the native speaker, and then using the
audio recording to review afterward and submit the interview responses to
the instructor.

*What Languages do we support?*

We currently have full programs available in Spanish and English.  We also
offer, with limited availability, French and Chinese.  There has been a high
demand for conversation partners in less commonly taught languages, and our
focus for the next 12 months is to expand into 8-10 different languages by
next Fall.

*What can you do?*
*
*

  1. If any instructors in your modern languages program would like a
  demonstration of the tool or to do a pilot run with a small group of
  students please contact me directly at [log in to unmask]
  2. We will be expanding to new languages based on interest from schools.
   Please let us know if there are particular languages where your school has
  a high level of interest in offering conversation practice.  We are putting
  together a waiting list for languages and will update interested schools as
  they become available.

We will update the LLTI list as we begin offering new languages, and as our
services change.  Feel free to email or visit our website for more
information: www.talkabroad.com

Many thanks,


-- 

Todd Nichols
CEO, TalkAbroad
261 Linfield Dr. Suite 1, Menlo Park, CA
o: 415-692-5311
c: 402-332-8684
e: [log in to unmask]
Schedule a meeting with me: http://tungle.me/toddnichols
- - - - - - -
"The TalkAbroad program is a great idea for all Spanish classes.  The
student we talked to was extremely down-to-earth and actually helped us
significantly with our Spanish...I was impressed with the organization of
the program as well as the maturity and helpfulness of the students.  I
would recommend it in the future to all your Spanish courses."

"She could tell that we weren't very quick or comprehensive speakers and she
was good about speaking slowly and repeating herself or translating if we
were having problems.  This exercise is definitely the best way to learn a
language....I would really like to do it again in the future."
  -  Student Testimonials

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