After almost 10 years, a unique type of partnership continues to impact University students.

The Cross Cultural Conversation Connection (CCCC), coordinated by the English as a Second Language Program (ESL), matches an American student with an international student to exchange culture and improve communication skills.

“Especially for the non-native speakers it gives them an opportunity to interact with a native speaker on a one-on-one basis,” Julie George, assistant coordinator of the ESL program and CCCC advisor, said. “Sometimes they come here and they’ve never had that opportunity. So it really is an opportunity for them to improve their language and conversation skills.”

According to students, the program is accomplishing this goal.

“I have learned a lot from the CCCC program,” Andrey Moiseev, graduate student from Russia and program participant, said. “I have started to speak better and have learned a lot of new things about American culture.”

However, learning experiences don’t limit themselves to international students.

“We have no idea how sheltered and pampered we are until we try to experience life through someone else’s eyes,” Tiffany Rogers, sophomore and participant in the program last semester, said. “By getting to know about and care about another individual, their concerns and those of their fellow country mates become important to us, too.”

This new perspective is something that program coordinators are watching students grasp, as they too are learning.

“Once I matched an American graduate student with a Korean woman who is married,” Meng Nan, ESL graduate assistant and CCCC coordinator, said. “In Korea you can’t match a married woman with a guy, so she couldn’t talk to him.”

Just thinking of such cultural differences can make students anxious about beginning the program.

“I think sometimes they [students] think that it’s going to be hard to find a common ground,” Abby Dawes, graduate assistant in the University Honors Program and CCCC contact, said. “It becomes a lot easier than they think, but in the beginning there is that apprehension. But once they start talking, I don’t think they have any problems.”

Though a large portion of the American participants are Honors students, the program is open to everyone, including faculty and staff.

“It’s usually a lot of people who have already been abroad or are studying a foreign language,” Dawes said. “Some of the Honors students think they have to talk about politics or something. That’s absolutely not the case.”

What the pairs do talk about shouldn’t be surprising.

“My partner was a female graduate student from Moscow and we talked about our friends, homes, schools and interests,” Rogers said. “We both liked sports, shopping and normal college student things.”

Due to the fact that the majority of non-native speakers in the program are graduate students, there are often not enough American graduate students to go around.

“We typically don’t have very many American graduate students,” George said. “It depends on the pair of course as to how well they get along, but I think the gut reaction is that international graduate students would prefer an American graduate student as their partner.”

Though coordinators have seen a few cases where differences in undergraduate and graduate interests have gotten in the way, most problems arise when one partner neglects their commitment.

“I talked to some of my [international] students last week about this program and a lot of them, although they’d like to participate in it, felt like their partners didn’t follow-up with them or want to meet with them,” George said. “So although they were interested, they felt like after last semester, they didn’t want to participate again.”

According to George, American participants aren’t the only ones to blame.

“I would say that it also works the other way,” she said. “I think both parties need to understand that it’s a commitment that you’re making for a semester.”

Despite these concerns, with over 140 participants last semester, up from 78 last spring, the program ensures its survival.

“There are not that many differences between graduate students and undergraduates,” Rogers said. “We’re still all just kids looking for fun and enjoying the college experience.”

(Editor’s Note: For more information about CCCC or to sign up to be a partner for this semester contact Meng Nan, program coordinator, in the ESL office at 372-8133 or e-mail: [email protected].)