Last semester, several people from the University Scholars Program and Facilities Operations decided to start a project that would help bridge the gap between N.C. State’s foreign staff and students, according to University Scholars Program faculty member Bengt Carlson.
The Language Exchange is a project between University Scholars who are learning another language and Housekeeping and Facilities staffs whose primary languages are not English, according to Carlson. The students and staff members meet eight times for 30-to-45-minute sessions held around different parts of campus.
The Language Exchange has grown to 70 members, half of which are staff and half are students, in just one semester. But Carlson stressed that it is only a project and not a program.
“It is a project because it is new,” Carlson said. “It isn’t completely established.”
Because the project is only one semester old, last semester was “kind of a free-for-all,” according to Carlson, but this semester will have more structure. Carlson said this semester the participants will alternate from English to the employee’s native language each time they meet.
Spanish is the most popular language in the project, but it also features French, Mandarin Chinese, Swahili and several African dialects.
“[The Language Exchange] is a simple idea,” Carlson said. “We have a large number of students who have an interest in learning about other languages and cultures.”
Ryan Nilsen, a senior in mathematics, said he has been participating in the Language Exchange since it began last semester.
“[The Language Exchange] has helped my understanding of Spanish pretty hugely,” Nilsen said. “There’s a big difference between going into class with 20 or 30 other students and one native Spanish speaking professor and meeting two to three times a week with a native speaker.”
Carlson feels the program has helped the participating staff members feel more welcome and at home and that it is also beneficial and interesting to the students involved.
“The staff members are generally pretty experienced and often highly educated people and often know three to four languages and also have amazing stories about life.”
Nilsen said he sees the program unite State’s staff and students, and he is looking forward to participating in it next year.
“There’s one thing that I want to emphasize and that is the unique way in which the program is helping bridge the community… and help develop language skills,” Nilsen said. “I find that to be really profound.”
Carlson has enjoyed seeing “how many students are interested in speaking another language,” and how the face-to-face interaction has affected both staff and students.
“It’s been fun [watching the project grow] because [the interaction] happens right here,” Carlson said.
“Just outside of your door cleaning the hallways or on the grounds around campus,” Carlson said “There’s a whole world of experience that we could know about if we just took the time to talk to them.”
