What is Teletandem?

As you can see in the picture, a Teletandem interaction brings students who are in different parts of the world via a computer-mediated interaction. It is a great opportunity to build a purposeful relation with a fellow student in another part of the world. Traditional Teletandem is a language exchange, but in this project both participants will be using English throughout the interaction.

Teletandem rests on two key principles: autonomy and reciprocity. Learners work together in partnership in order to achieve their learning goals. Learners are expected to take responsibility for deciding what they want to achieve together during their interaction. The interaction is online - using platforms such as Zoom, Skype and Facebook - but the connection between particpants is very real.

QMUL/UNESP's Teletandem collaboration is distinctive in that it focuses on English as a Lingua Franca in a university context. English is the main language used throughout the session and participants need to focus on developing both their linguistic understanding and their cultural understanding. It can be a very rich learning experience.

Teletandem 'helped me improve my skills'

The role of the teacher in Teletandem is to act very much as facilitator - to set up the interaction, to be there to provide support and suggestions and to keep the interaction on track. The teacher also plays a vital role in the orientation stage which takes place before each interaction and the mediation stage that takes place immediately after the interaction. The orientation stage establishes - through discussion - the general principles of Teletandem and the particular objectives for each session. The mediation stage provides an opportunity to reflect on the interaction and to ask the teacher questions both on points of language and culture.

'There is an atmosphere of camaraderie with the stranger that pleases me very much'

Interested in taking part? Contact Will Hutton in the Language Centre

w.e.hutton@qmul.ac.uk

Teletandem UNESP Project May/June 2017

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