TalkAbroad is an online educational website where foreign language students can speak to natives of their target language. Every conversation that a student has with a conversation partner requires payment, and it is limited to 30 minutes. Professors or the students themselves, are encouraged to provide a written text of possible questions or topics to cover in the conversation. During that time, students will be able to see and hear their partner, and vice versa, through a webcam. After the conversation is over, the students will receive a copy of the audio recording of the conversation.
The objective of this assignment was to provide students with the opportunity to speak with a Japanese native by following a list of topics that could be talked about. Below are excerpts of my two conversations with partners Akihiro and Rie respectively.
In the first conversation, Akihiro lead the exchange. Even though I was not able to ask many questions throughout the conversation, I was able to reply and expand on my answers. On the other hand, I lead the second conversation with Rie. The students were to ask the partner questions and follow-up questions, and allow the partners to ask their own questions.