Partners in Conversation: Online Language Conversation Exchange

Partners in Conversation is a new website that pairs students together in video or text chats to practice speaking foreign languages with each other. Here is a message from the site’s creators:

“Conversation practice is a vital aspect of learning a foreign language. However, it’s often difficult to find suitable conversation partners. The solution: Partners in Conversation, a free website that pairs language students together for video or text chatting in real-time.

“Students are automatically matched with conversation partners, who can either be students from around the world or selected from within defined groups, like a single classroom. Alternatively, students can keep a “buddy list” of favorite conversation partners for scheduled chats. Partners in Conversation requires no special software; everything takes place through the integrated website.

“Partners in Conversation allows instructors to move conversation practice out of the classroom, saving valuable class time. Private grouping allows for conversation practice among classmates in a teacher-controlled environment. More possibilities exist, such as a virtual meet ‘n greet between two classes, which might be across the hall — or around the world from one another.

“We’re looking for language learning professionals who are interested in trying out Partners in Conversation with their students. If you’d like to talk more about Partners in Conversation, please get in touch by emailing us at info at partnersinconversation dot com. We’re Brett Markowitz and Mark Neuburger, two 2010 Cornell University graduates who work on cool stuff that we'd like to use ourselves.”

Horn, E. FW: Partners in Conversation. CALICO-L listserv (CALICO-L@LISTSERV.CALICO.ORG, 4 Jan 2012).

You can also visit the Partners in Conversation website at http://www.partnersinconversation.com