Blog Post 2

Right off the bat, I just wanted to voice my excitement over how well the chat café went!  Not only was my group really engaged and talkative, all the individuals sounded genuinely excited to be there.  The hour passed by easily, and the conversation flowed smoothly over a variety of topics ranging from our hometown food, to classes, to student life and hobbies.  To me, this appeared the epitome of a genuine conversation.  If I had to qualify a conversation as being genuine, I would say there are a couple of key factors.  Firstly, the conversation should touch on topics that are deeper than small talk questions, as asking questions about ones age, hometown, etc.  I felt that my group really reached that point when we started discussing some of our favorite movies, without any conscious transition into the topic.  The ability to have an organic flow of conversation without one specific facilitator is another important part of a genuine conversation.  Here, I felt that all the individuals in the group participated equally and with enthusiasm.  We were so engrossed in our topic, we didn’t even realize the hour was up!

            After our discussion with Brenda and Carson (which occurred after my chat café) I felt fortunate because I realized that the genuine conversation that my group had held was the exception, rather than the norm in these facilitated conversations.  My group members all spoke great English, so some of the participation and speaking games that were recommended in the ELI handout may not be as applicable here.  However, Brenda gave me some great advice on how to incorporate structure into our chat café.  I had mentioned to her that my group had voiced an interest in American film, so she suggested focusing our conversations on movies that we would watch outside of the café, then meet up and discuss them.  That way, we could work in some references to American culture and pop references.  I have already assigned my group their first movie to watch for our Wednesday meeting, and am excited to see what they have to say.