Kate is a student at the University of Dundee who
wants to go on an exchange in Germany next year for
a semester. She likes German culture and wants to
experience what it’s like to live in Berlin for a year. Her
exchange course will be taught exclusively in German.
She studies German as part of her degree, however she
doesn’t feel confident enough in her speaking skills.
Moreover, she needs to get high grades in order to
participate in the exchange. Kate knows that practice
makes perfect, but she feels overwhelmed and has a
lot on her plate. She practices German for two hours
a week as part of her course. She tries to attend the
local language exchange group to practice speaking
German, but other priorities usually take over.
She has an advisor that helps coordinate the exchange
with the German university. They have regular
meetings and he makes sure that Kate is up to date on
all the paperwork and gives her advice about how to
make the most of her time in Germany. He tells Kate
about Babileo, a social network that helps exchange
students practice and learn the language of their host
country before their arrival.
The university offers the service for free and
she can already log in using her regular log in
details. Upon log in, Kate is presented with a list
of students from the University of Berlin who
want to come to Dundee on exchange.
Kate chooses Hans who wants to practice his
English by speaking to a native speaker. Babileo
works the same way as the language exchange
groups do, only it doesn’t require the users to
leave their home and they can work around
their schedules. Their language exchange is
done through audio or video chat. A timer at
the bottom of the screen informs them how
long they have until they need to change the
language they are talking in. They are given a list
of relevant topics to discuss to break the ice, but
they can also choose to have a free conversation.
Babileo also helps Kate monitor her progress
since she started using the product. Babileo puts
an emphasis on practice, not perfectionism.
It allows Kate to set a target practicing time
per week and encourages her to meet it.
Besides Hans, she has three more conversation
partners. All of her conversation partners
give her feedback about the chat and offer her
suggestions on how she may improve.
A year has passed and both Kate and Hans
arrived in their host countries. They both have
a great grasp on the language. Because of this,
then now have an easier time making friends
with local students and they have adapted well
to their cities.
