Portugal
participants
This Language Café was organized with two main goals in mind: first, because it was set up at the beginning of the semester, it allowed International Students in Coimbra to get to know each other in an informal setting, where they could talk to each other freely and make friends. Secondly, it was set up as a speed-dating activity, where participants talked to one another about whatever they wanted, as the main goal was to help them learn a new language or practice a language they wanted to be fluent in.
This activity was set up as a speed-dating activity in one of ESN Coimbra's partners, O Reitor. It is a friendly bar/café where a lot of students enjoy grabbing a quick bite to eat or something refreshing to drink. ESN Coimbra also partnered with Speak Coimbra, an organization which allows people to have language classes in an informal, fun setting. International students arrived at the bar/café and were tagged with the languages they knew and/or wanted to learn. Each was then assigned to groups for about 10 minutes in total. After the alotted time, participants were paired with other people. Groups were free to talk about whatever they wanted, or they could ask for questions to help them break the ice. When the activity was over, most participants stayed in the bar/café having coffee or a drink with each other and with ESN Coimbra's members.
