SPE LANEX (Language Exchange) is a conversation partnership that matches one student from Universities where English is the official language with one student from Latin America.

Each student pair will meet at least once a week throughout a six-weeks period to discuss cultural differences between their countries of origin.

If you volunteer for the partnership, you will agree to:

Meet your partner at least once a week, at the time of your convenience, using any of the virtual meeting software available.

Sign a service-learning agreement committing to the partnership guidelines.

Notify your partner in advance if you need to cancel a partner meeting.

Fill out a follow-up survey every two weeks to confirm you are having a good experience and to share your progress.

Fill out an anonymous survey after the partnership.

English-speaker students do not need their partner’s language, but it could be a good opportunity to learn some common words with them, if interested.

Latin American students must have a good level of English, at least to be able to hold a conversation.

Many American students have never travelled to other countries and most of them speak only English. Consequently, it is very difficult for them to understand differences between their home countries and other countries.

By talking with someone from a different country, students will learn more about intercultural differences and will also practice communicating with foreign people.

As an international student, you may like to improve your written and spoken communication skills in English.

By talking with your partner and getting to know him/her over the weeks, you will enhance your understanding of the language and improve your conversational speaking skills.

You will also learn more about what the American undergraduate student lifestyle is like as well as other countries’ and foreign cities’ culture.

Any virtual platform is fine as long as it allows you to efficiently communicate to each other, either oral or written.

You and your partner will determine the time and place of your meeting. Once you get a partner assigned, you can contact each other to set up a time.

To make things simple, we recommend meeting each other at the same time and using the same platform every week.

A list of suggested topics and questions will be provided, but you are free to talk about any topic of mutual interest. Example topics include high school, sports, family, etc.

Topics are not mandatory, but we are expecting you to be able to answer a short quiz about the basic information of your partner at the end of the program.

Feel free to adjust the format of your meetings at your convenience, remember that the main goals are to practice communications skills, get to know more about foreign cultures… and to have fun!

If your partner ever wants you to do or talk about something that makes you uncomfortable, you should kindly let your partner know. Respect is a must in this program.

If your partner ever says or does something that makes you uncomfortable, you should let us know immediately.