How to get involved
You can take steps now to make a difference to the Friendship House MSU International Community:
Prayers: Include our ministry in your daily prayer life.
Share our Mission with Others:
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- With members of your faith community.
- With family, friends, co-workers — who knows whose spirit might be sparked for service?
Volunteer:
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- Teach a class.
- Become a Conversation Partner.
- Be a classroom host.
- Groups: Host a dinner or an event.
How to Become a Conversation Partner
What is a Conversation Partnership?
In addition to the typical schedule of group classes we offer each week at Friendship House MSU (e.g., English as a second language (ESL), Bible classes, etc.), we offer opportunities for students to meet one-on-one each week with American English speakers for individualized help. (Both teachers of scheduled classes and conversation partners are volunteers.)
How often do students and partners meet?
Typically, students and partners meet once a week for about 60 – 90 minutes, the same time length as our formal classes.
Where do students and partners meet?
We ask partners to start out meeting their students at Friendship House MSU (929 Sever Drive, East Lansing, Mich., 48823, on the west edge of the MSU campus). It is a safe and comfortable environment for the students. Once a rapport and mutual trust have been established, often the meetings shift to a coffeehouse, or over lunch, or at the American partner’s home or church. For safety’s sake, we ask the partners and students to let us know where and when they are meeting.
What do you need to know to be a conversation partner?
You already know it: English. You also need to have the motivation to want to help someone from another country who can feel homesick, isolated, and culturally shocked.
What is it that International students are looking for?
No matter what is discussed whether English is approached from a formal or informal teaching style, the Internationals are looking for friendship.
Conversation Partner Testimonials
Being a conversation partner is a great way to meet people from all over the world while helping them to feel more comfortable speaking English. Getting to know each other brings discovery of an amazing variety of traditions and customs, & oftentimes opportunity to share about the deeper things in life. I have found that people are people, no matter their homeland. We tend to laugh, and to tear up, at the same things. Created in His image! (Genesis 1:27)
I can understand English, but I still struggle to speak and explain things properly in English. Then I signed up to have a conversation partner who I met regularly via Zoom for flexibility. I enjoyed every session and was glad to know that the feeling is mutual. We talk, laugh, and tell stories about anything that comes to mind. Having a conversation partner is not only someone to help internationals improve their English speaking skills, but also a great friend to spend time with.
Friendship House has been a lifetime blessing to me, while I was completing my Hubert Humphrey Fellowship in Economic Development at Michigan State University in East Lansing. It helped me grow professionally, socially, and spiritually as I am currently working at the U.S. Embassy in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
Thanks to the warm atmosphere and classes at the Friendship House, I had a great and successful year in the fellowship program as I was able to improve my English language abilities. At the Friendship House, I made wonderful connections, with among others, Betsy, my Conversation Partner. Thanks to her, I got an internship, a compulsory component of my fellowship program. Three years after completion of the fellowship, I am still involved in a Global Conversation Partnership with Betsy and two other friends, Justine (in France) and Natalia (in Moldova) that I met at the Friendship House.
Spiritually, I grew by participating in the Lectio Divina sessions at University Lutheran Church with Pastors’ Gary and Haley Vay, and the other brothers and sisters at church.
Finally, when I was feeling homesick, the Friendship House was where I could find warm coffee and wonderful friends to talk or pray with.
I will always be grateful!
Marion and I have found our conversation partner time to be just plain fun as well as informative and personally enriching. We’ve gotten to know people we enjoy, building relationship with wonderful people, and along the way had plenty of laughs and shared joys. We’ve also learned more about other countries’ cultures from our partners and learned some wisdom from their perspectives on American culture. It’s been time well spent and we look forward to continuing to do this.
My name is Samiah Mjengwa, and I am from Tanzania, East Africa. Since I arrived here in East Lansing with my husband (who is a scholar at MSU) and our daughter, I have been joining English classes at the Friendship House. I also have an English-speaking conversation partner Sarah to practice my English with and to help me in building my confidence to speak and explain myself in English. I am more comfortable interacting with native English speakers while better understanding the American accent. This has made my life easier wherever I go, especially shopping, etc. I believe having a conversation partner when you learn a foreign language is very important as you will be able to get more time to practice the language outside of class.
Our experience in the United States was strongly influenced by the conversation partners serving the Friendship House Community. My wife and I decided to take advantage of every opportunity to improve our grammar skills by participating in as many classes as possible. Still, we had no idea how wonderful meeting Paul and Marion would be to learn about places, traditions, and daily life in America. We picked a different topic to discuss in our weekly sessions, from how the government works to cake recipes. Sometimes, each couple showed photographs of their last vacations and hometowns, driving us to share many trivia concerning memories and feelings from settings we had no familiarity with. Paul and Marion became special friends we miss a lot after returning home. They really gave us a taste of how community work makes America strong.
My name is Patricia and I am from Brazil. I came to the U.S in the beginning of 2022 and started attending classes online at the Friendship House. It was a great experience, where I felt comfortable to speak, learn, share information about different topics, and make new friends. After the first semester of classes, I wanted to improve my conversation skills even more and I was encouraged to sign up for the conversation partner program. I was introduced to Christina who is currently my conversation partner. Personally, it was an amazing opportunity to get to know this amazing person, and improve my conversation and listening skills with a native speaker. Beyond that, I could make a new friend, learn about other cultures, as well as try different cafeterias and restaurants in the East Lansing area, since we decided to meet every week in a different place to have new experiences. In the fall semester of 2022 I was accepted as a PhD student at MSU and I am very grateful for all I have learned with my conversation partner and teachers from the Friendship House! I am glad I had the opportunity to meet great people that helped me improve my English skills at the same time that make me feel comfortable and part of the community!
My name is Leandro and I have had a conversation partner since November of 2022 and during this time my English has improved a great deal. Whenever we meet, we have a good time together sharing experiences about the United States and my home country, Brazil. We meet at the Friendship house or other places in the Lansing area, like the museum and I am always learning new things. I am very grateful to be part of the Friendship house and to have Sue as my conversation partner because having a conversation partner is the best thing for me to help me improve my listening and English speaking skills.