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Unite! Online Language Café

Unite!’s multilingual and multicultural environment provides an excellent setting for informal language learning which, based on language learning theories, can occur unconsciously and incidentally outside the classroom setting through interaction with native speakers or exposure to authentic language. The Unite! Online Language Café (UOLC) is designed to do just that - easily accessible and voluntary. It fosters informal interactions to promote and encourage students to use and learn all Unite! languages. A virtual space, where meetings are planned, the UOLC will be run by students for students starting on 15 th January 2025. Detailed information and access will be given on the Metacampus space.

The UOLC is an extracurricular peer-to-peer activity to use, practice and deepen language knowledge in a safe environment. Students from diverse academic backgrounds gather and decide in which language(s) they want to communicate and exchange ideas and intercultural experiences. The room will be regularly open for two hours every second Wednesday 16:30-18:30 CET.

In the UOLC as proposed here, students meet on a platform for an authentic intercultural communication which is facilitated by student tutors. The trained student tutors’ role will be to explain the idea of the Language Café, introduce topics, encourage communication and clear misunderstandings. To reach the objectives the UOLC will create a model, the didactic concepts, training material for student tutors (speaking all nine local Unite! languages Catalan, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish, Spanish and additionally English), an evaluation process and select an appropriate platform. Once finalized, the virtual UOLC will be a sustainable project which raises awareness of linguistic diversity and encourages autonomous learning. The model will easily be adapted to other contexts and target groups.