Conversation Club

What is Conversation Club?

Conversation Club is an 8-week program that runs every Fall and Spring semester designed to help our international and domestic students create community, make new friends, and connect in a non-academic setting. Other goals of the program include helping our English-as-a-Second-Language students improve their conversational English in a casual and friendly setting and develop soft skills to help them succeed beyond their time at the U of A.

Groups of 2-3 English speakers (coaches) and 4-6 non-native English speakers (conversationalists) meet once a week to chat, share experiences, and work through cultural challenges that students may be facing.

Why join Conversation Club?

Participation in Conversation Club is beneficial to domestic and international students alike, here are some reasons to join:

• Meet peers outside of your program/major
• Take a break from your studies
• Increase your cultural literacy and develop empathy for others
• Work on your confidence in small group settings
• Develop and improve your listening skills

Who can join Conversation Club?

Conversation Coaches

Anyone confident in in their conversational English skills is welcome to join Conversation Club as a coach, even if English is not your native language! Coaches are expected to facilitate a casual, welcoming, and safe environment to discuss cultural differences, language nuance, and provide insight into American culture.

Conversationalists

Anyone who is interested in improving their casual English skills is welcome to join as a conversationalist, you don’t have to be a student at the U of A to participate! Conversation Club is a great way to be more involved on campus and get to know your community better.

How do I join Conversation Club?

Applications

We do most of our recruiting in the first two weeks of the semester, with our kick-off held in the third week of the semester. If you are interested in participating, please contact rga@uark.edu for information about the application process. We would be happy to accept your application for the following semester if you miss the two week deadline.

Kick-Off & Schedule

Conversation Club Kick-Off is held during the third week of each semester and functions partly as a training/information session and partly to have groups meet each other, exchange contact information, and discuss group goals. Meeting times vary semester to semester depending on the availability of participants. Due to the nature of this, meeting times are not decided until the first week of a semester.