OPIE helps form bonds between international and American OU students
It can be difficult for anyone to make new friends in college.
But for many international students, the trouble does not just lie in finding friends with similar interests. Often, there’s also a language barrier getting in the way.
That’s why the Ohio Program of Intensive English (OPIE) has its Conversation Partners program, which gives international and domestic students a chance to talk and form relationships.
The program hosts a Conversation Hour, a weekly gathering at the bottom of Baker University Center in the Bobcat Student Lounge, usually on Wednesdays, which provides an opportunity for American students and international students to meet.
With more than a dozen countries participating — some common ones are Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, as well as various Asian countries like China, Japan and Korea — the lounge becomes the visual embodiment of collective culture at OU.
“It’s a language exchange,” said Kamola Azimova, co-coordinator of Conversation Partners. “American students don’t really get a chance to extensively talk with international students, so this is a good way to talk about current events, what’s happening in each other’s countries and give each other insight on being at Ohio University.”
Conversation Partners, is meant to benefit students in the Intensive English Program as well as English-speaking students who are currently studying a foreign language, said Andrea Johannes, co-coordinator of the program.
“An American student studying Arabic will request to be partnered with an OPIE student from an Arabic speaking country,” Johannes said of this symbiotic relationship.
Although useful for foreign language majors, this project is not exclusive. Any student may sign up online and be “matched” with an international student, who they then meet once a week.
Right now, there are 76 international students signed up waiting to be paired with an American student and a little under half of them have been matched, Azimova said.
The program is crucial for OPIE students, Johannes said, because it exposes them to a more conversational style of the English language that is more commonly used, but is not always taught in formal academic English courses.
Sara Larissa de Melo Araújo, a second-year OU student studying nursing, and Kayla Kilbarger, a senior studying early childhood education, were matched as Conversation Partners last academic year. Araujo is an international student from Brazil who was interested in enhancing her English language skills and learning more about American culture.
The two students met once a week for about an hour, during which they would discuss Brazilian culture, American culture, similar interests and religion. Sometimes, Killbarger said, they would go to dinner together after their meetings and hang out as friends.
“I really made a great relationship with my partner,” Larissa de Melo Araújo said. “(She) always invited me to go to church, Baker Center to talk about my week or some events on campus.”
For strong dedication to the program, students can aspire to be awarded the International Cultural Understanding Certificate (ICUC), which a student receives upon extensive involvement in these two programs. This certificate is not offered at any other college and can be a great asset to a resume, Johannes said.
“Many employers like to see your ability to interact with different-minded individuals and this is one of the ways you can show them,” Johannes said. “The world seems to be getting smaller, and our capacity to understand and open up our point of view has been in demand to become larger.”
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