Join our Language Exchange
Language Exchange at Conexión Latina is a free, drop-in community gathering where neighbors build conversational language skills, share culture, and connect with one another through guided, bilingual 90-minute sessions.
What's a Language exchange?
The Language Exchange at Conexion Latina is a community space where we are coming together as neighbors and community members with a shared goal of learning language, culture, and building community. It is not a “class” lead by a “teacher” but an opportunity for community members to learn from each other, where all participants are the experts in their field. Our focus is conversational skills, not perfect grammar. We want to build vocabulary organically, get conversationally fluent incrementally, and make friends with our fellow neighbors as we go.
Timing
The program is meant to be casual, so it works on a drop-in basis and there is no need to sign up. This first session is a pilot and is currently unfunded. That being said, we do not want to create barriers to participation so there is no charge to join, but donations are encouraged at each session, and gratefully accepted so we can cover our costs.
Structure
The Language Exchange follows a consistent weekly structure. Weekly 90-minute sessions are orchestrated by various local, trained, bilingual facilitators.
Each session begins with an opening activity, such as introductions, a game, or an icebreaker. Participants are then paired or placed in small groups, ideally matched with someone who has a different primary language to encourage language sharing. Each pair spends 10-15 minutes conversing in one language before switching to the other language and rotating conversation partners. Facilitators give weekly prompts relevant to life in Newport and the participants’ interests. This cycle repeats as time allows.
The session concludes with a closing activity, which could be a game or a group shareout. During the final 5 minutes, facilitating organizations share upcoming events or opportunities. Feedback forms are made available at the end of each session.
We will ask participants for regular feedback so we can continually improve the program, and build it into what fits our communities needs and wants.
