乐播传媒

2nd Place Winner

Post 1:

I had my first lesson with my partner Laxmi yesterday. She is from Nepal and speaks Nepali. We had difficulty communicating at first but we have made a commitment to improve her English this semester. We decided to start off with basic alphabet and vocabulary practice to build that strong foundation and then we will move onto sentence structure and grammar. She moved to America 8 years ago in hopes for more opportunities. Laxmi wants to improve her English to be able to converse better with everybody and hopefully more opportunities. Her sister also works at the C4C and she is a little bit more skilled in English so she helped translate when we were scheduling our time. I look forward to learning more about her and having very productive lessons throughout this semester!

Post 2:

My partner and I have really gotten to know each other over this past month. She was very shy and introverted at first but she has gotten more comfortable with me after a few lessons. She is a very sweet lady and brings me a cup of coffee every time we meet up for lessons. It was hard to have a consistent schedule in the beginning because of how busy the C4C gets at times but we eventually figured it out. Now we meet Monday and Wednesday at 11AM in the Colorado room. We make the lessons fun instead of just the traditional question and answer method. She asks many questions and diligently takes notes as well.聽

She really struggled when we first met but we learned the alphabet and we are also getting into grammar and sentence structure to finally glue everything together. We sometimes have trouble communicating but we practiced using short and simple words/phrases that get the point across. She works with her sister at the C4C and they are both from Nepal. They came to America in hopes of finding better opportunities and her goal is to improve her English so she can communicate better with everybody more efficiently. I can really tell that she puts in the effort/time and wants to build a strong foundation for her English which motivates me to be an even better partner for her. Her supervisor, Pat, has also been a very big help in scheduling and understanding conflicts in our schedule.聽聽聽

This is now my third semester volunteering with SWAP and it gets better every time. SWAP is not all about teaching your partner English. It's about making a friend and learning to enjoy helping each other out. I don't really look at our time as lessons, I look at it as a time to take a break from classes and enjoy helping each other out in our already very stressful lives. She has helped me see a new perspective on the world and her culture back home. She is very hardworking and deserves everything that she has gotten for herself. I can't wait to further progress in her studies and our relationship going forward! I thank everybody at LING 1900, especially Logan and Chu for being very diligent with communication when we had a few issues. I also thank the course for giving me an opportunity to be a part of something amazing.

Post 3:

This is now my third semester volunteering with SWAP and I look forward to a few more. Time flew by in the blink of an eye! The experience and relationships I have built with all my partners are something money can't buy. SWAP has definitely been one my more defining memories as my time comes to an end here at the 乐播传媒 Boulder soon. I want to thank Chu, Logan, and everyone at SWAP for the support through a few rough patches but it ultimately worked out!聽

My partner Laxmi has become a very good friend to me as she often checks up on me and always brings me fruit to eat in between classes. We struggled in the beginning to communicate but we have a good little system going with a printout of an alphabet and google translate sometimes. She is often hard on herself sometimes but a little encouragement always helps! I can understand where she is coming from as I have tried to learn another language which has proven to be a near impossible task. The thing that I admire about Laxmi is that she is very hardworking despite some unfortunate circumstances working against her. She always tries her best at everything and all with a smile on her face.聽

I am thankful that I came across this program and often wonder why its not a bigger program/course here on this campus. It has a great purpose and there is no losing! Everybody wins in this situation and get something you wouldn't be able to experience anywhere else.