Blog 6 - Final Thoughts

If I was able to be a conversation circle leader next semester, there would definitely be some changes, especially regarding the overall organization of how the entire semester would go. In the beginning, it is extremely important to be much more structured with how the meetings will be run. I think this is dependent on many factors. First, before you can really begin having meaningful conversation, you need to have a strong base to grow from. Secondly, these students almost never know each other and are nervous and overwhelmed. They are depending on you to help them start conversation, to inform how the conversations will be running, and what they believe they will be taking away from it. This sounds kind of scary. However, I do believe that something I didn't quite understand in the beginning was how essential my leadership was in the first two or three meetings. It is also easier to structure the first few meetings as these meetings are probably when you can expect the highest amount of participation. It was difficult in later meetings to plan games or activities if only one person showed up.
I think another important thing would be to mix it up more. I tried to do something different every meeting and this way I could figure out what people enjoyed, what they didn't, what created conversation. A person may seem extremely shy, but once you start talking about something they may be interested in, you have a more vocal participant. So always mix it up and don't be afraid to take input from your conversation group. One of my participants went to the Kelsey Museum and didn't seem as enthused as the other members. However, in one of the exhibits, there was an explanation of the game mancala and he suddenly became interested in the activity. And the next week, I decided to teach mancala and other games I had often played during elementary school. And this went over well with the participants.
I've spent a lot of time with international students, though this was the first time I've ever had the experience of leading them. I've always been an equal, just another student. The experience of leading conversation circles made me much more aware of how the experiences of domestic students and international students are different, increasing my awareness of the everyday difficulties of the international student. For example, when discussing how different the USA and Korean education systems with one of my participants, I was able to more easily understand the underlying worries he felt as a student new to the University of Michigan. As a leader, participants often asked me about ways to get involved on campus, ways to talk to teachers about grades, ways to de-stress, ways to pass a difficult class. These sorts of issues were brought to me because I am a leader of this conversation circle, allowing me to comprehend, at least in part, the lives of international students on this campus. It was enlightening and I am glad that I have had the opportunity to become aware of these sorts of difficulties.