Tips/Suggestions

Tandem Learning Diary:
At the beginning of your tandem programme you will receive a Tandem Learning Diary from the Language Resource Center to help you organise your learning. It will be distributed during the Tandem Learning Evening. Please notice that attendance to the Tandem Learning is reserved to tandem pairs upon invitation. Those who cannot attend the "tandem evening" are invited to fix an appointment with Katia Carraro.

Certificate of participation:
At the end of the semester, turn your completed Tandem Learning Diary into the staff of the Language Resource Centre (Sprachlabor). After a couple of days you will be issued a Certificate of Participation in the Tandem Learning Project and will be returned your Tandem Learning Diary.

The first meeting:
You and your partner are free to arrange where, how, and how long you meet. However, especially at the beginning, it is wise to meet on "neutral ground" and avoid going to people's private places.
A good place to meet is the Language Resource Center (Selbstlernbereich) where you can make use of several language learning facilities. There you find a Tandem Learning Room, a quiet room that you can book for tandem learning activities. It is equipped with a large TV screen, a videorecorder, a DVD player and a cassette recorder.

Correcting mistakes:
At the start of your partnership you should discuss the problem of correction with your partner. This helps lay the basis for a good collaboration. Students applying for the tandem learning programme have different goals and also different personalities: some might not want to be corrected, some others are happy if their partner points out their mistakes. Both instances are acceptable, the important thing is that every partner makes clear when and how one wants to be corrected. This helps avoid hurt feelings or on the other hand giving the impression that one is not interested.

Here are some suggestions about when to intervene:

• - if you have not understood your partner
• - if you see that your partner is trying to find the right word
• - if mistakes frequently reoccur

There are several ways to correct mistakes:

• - you can repeat correctly what your partner used incorrectly without without stopping to point out the mistake
• - you can write down mistakes which are often repeated and talk about them at the end
• - you can decide to discuss a mistake in depth and thus interrupt the conversation. These are just suggestions. Basically any form of correction is fine as long as you and your partner agree on how to go about it.

Page maintained by: Katia Carraro
You can fix an appointment with the staff of the language resource centre for advice on what to do, materials to use, etc.