At TANDEM Madrid we have been organizing language exchanges for years. They’re one of our hallmarks and something that differentiates us from other language schools. We have always held student meetings in the classrooms, in our beautiful “patio”, in the bar, walking around Madrid Rio…
We have also had the opportunity to meet people from many different places, always sharing something in common: the desire to learn another language and be able to communicate, the willingness to spend time with people who come and go, who travel, who stay, who teach us so much about their language and their way of understanding the world. Without a doubt, it is a very enriching and gratifying experience for those of us who participate and make it possible for this to happen. And so, I feel lucky to be responsible for the exchange program at TANDEM because of how much it brings me professionally but also personally.
Online language exchanges
For about a month now, we have all been experiencing exceptional and difficult times in our work and personal lives, due to the health pandemic caused by COVID-19. We are confined at home with fears and uncertainty, trying to adapt as well as we can to the new circumstances. In March we had to cancel our monthly meeting on the last Thursday of the month at the Lola 09 bar and we thought that the exchange program would remain in hibernation until we returned to normal… But no.
Thanks to new technologies we are discovering that we can now be closer than ever before and that our exchanges can continue perfectly from our living rooms. They are now online language exchanges.
We have already had four occasions to check with Carthage University in the USA. Our English students have had the opportunity to participate in a meeting with Spanish students from this university. Some from Madrid, others from Chicago, all united by language. Our next exchanges will also be in German and possibly other languages. So we are very happy to say that OUR EXCHANGES REMAIN AS USUAL. We encourage you to participate and enjoy this experience.
Susana Molina is the head of the Exchange Department at TANDEM Madrid, a task that she combines with the head of the Spanish Department.
“Do you want to participate in our online language exchanges?”
This article is also available in Spanish
