LRC Announces Conversation Hours Schedule

By ANANTHI JAYASUNDERA Sun Staff Writer

The Language Resource Center published its full schedule for their Conversation Hours initiative last week.

The initiative offers weekly conversation sessions in 28 different languages and provides a space for students to practice their language skills, including multiple levels for higher languages in higher demand —Spanish, Mandarin and French. Over 45 volunteer facilitators, including students, faculty, staff and members of the public, provide these services to the Cornell and greater Ithaca communities.

Wilson Kan ’26 discovered the opportunity to facilitate the Cantonese Conversation Hours when he met Emma Britton, coordinator of Language Learning Initiatives at Cornell Language Resource Center, at a freshman event during orientation week.

lary,” Moustafa said. “I try to get them to think about what they know and how they can use it in a sentence. I mostly just ask people very basic questions and have them think through how they would answer the question in their language.”

Attendees of Conversation Hours find the dialogues helpful, whether they are learners trying to improve their speaking skills or native or heritage speakers trying to practice their language.

“I like having group conversations in Spanish because it diversifies the conversation topics and allows me to learn from other students learning the language. I also try to ask the facilitator to correct me if I make errors, which helps me improve” said Lia Sokol ’23, a Spanish minor and a heritage Russian speaker. “In my Russian Conversation because of their views and practices.