Yanning Zhang started studying English in the fourth grade in her school in China, so she wasn\u2019t at a loss for words when she came to the United States in 2018 to pursue a doctoral degree in economics at NC State. But there were still challenges, primarily from local colloquialisms or generational slang that didn\u2019t match the proper English she had learned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She struggled, for example, when people discussed unfamiliar events like the Super Bowl. Or even with a simple word like \u201cchill,\u201d which to Zhang meant the temperature was cold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI learned that it also means to relax,\u201d she says. \u201cOr \u2018That person is very chill, they are very relaxed.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I learned that it also means to relax. Or “That person is very chill, they are very relaxed.\u201d
\u2014<\/strong> Yanning Zhang<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nSo Zhang was thankful to learn of a university effort that paired international students like herself with older volunteers\u2009\u2014\u2009many of whom took classes as part of NC State\u2019s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI)\u2009\u2014\u2009to meet over coffee or tea and have conversations in English. Since October, Zhang has met about once a month over tea with a Raleigh retiree to discuss shared interests such as protecting the environment. \u201cI have learned many words from her,\u201d Zhang says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s the sort of synergy that Robin Kube, a senior lecturer who is the ESL program coordinator at NC State, hoped for when she approached administrators at OLLI last fall about connecting international students with older volunteers in the area. Kube says international students told her that their American counterparts on campus often seemed too busy to sit for an extended conversation. \u201cThey\u2019ve memorized grammar,\u201d Kube says of the international students, \u201cbut they\u2019ve never had a conversation in English with an American.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kube says the effort was an instant hit, and there are now 26 pairs who meet regularly to have conversations in English. \u201cI was blown away,\u201d she says. \u201cThese are two groups that love meeting together.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"\n\n\n\n\n
Yanning Zhang started studying English in the fourth grade in her school in China, so she wasn\u2019t at a loss for words when she came to the United States in 2018 to pursue a doctoral degree in economics at NC State. But there were still challenges, primarily from local colloquialisms or generational slang that didn\u2019t match the proper English she had learned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She struggled, for example, when people discussed unfamiliar events like the Super Bowl. Or even with a simple word like \u201cchill,\u201d which to Zhang meant the temperature was cold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI learned that it also means to relax,\u201d she says. \u201cOr \u2018That person is very chill, they are very relaxed.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I learned that it also means to relax. Or \"That person is very chill, they are very relaxed.\u201d
\u2014<\/strong> Yanning Zhang<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nSo Zhang was thankful to learn of a university effort that paired international students like herself with older volunteers\u2009\u2014\u2009many of whom took classes as part of NC State\u2019s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI)\u2009\u2014\u2009to meet over coffee or tea and have conversations in English. Since October, Zhang has met about once a month over tea with a Raleigh retiree to discuss shared interests such as protecting the environment. \u201cI have learned many words from her,\u201d Zhang says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s the sort of synergy that Robin Kube, a senior lecturer who is the ESL program coordinator at NC State, hoped for when she approached administrators at OLLI last fall about connecting international students with older volunteers in the area. Kube says international students told her that their American counterparts on campus often seemed too busy to sit for an extended conversation. \u201cThey\u2019ve memorized grammar,\u201d Kube says of the international students, \u201cbut they\u2019ve never had a conversation in English with an American.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kube says the effort was an instant hit, and there are now 26 pairs who meet regularly to have conversations in English. \u201cI was blown away,\u201d she says. \u201cThese are two groups that love meeting together.\u201d <\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
International students and local retirees get together to practice English \u2014 and make friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":2010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"subtitle\":\"International students and local retirees get together to practice English \u2014 and make friends.\",\"displayCategoryID\":5,\"caption\":\"\"}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[547,912,1004,1290],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[],"class_list":["post-2007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-international-students","tag-osher-lifelong-learning-institute","tag-robin-kube","tag-yanning-zhang"],"displayCategory":{"term_id":5,"name":"Best Bets","slug":"best-bets","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":52,"filter":"raw"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2007"},{"taxonomy":"_ncst_magazine_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_ncst_magazine_issue?post=2007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}