What To Do With Your New Study or Exchange Buddy

By Autumn

So you have decided to get a study/exchange buddy but you’re stuck at “hello” and “how are you”. What do you do then? Here are some things to fix and get over this phase!

Boundary Setting

The first thing you want to set with your new buddy is when you can be available, if you are comfortable with certain things, etc. Especially if you want to do calls or be active at a certain time together, it’s good to get to know each other's time zones and if you even want to do a call. Know that it’s okay if you're not ready for calls yet, there are many other ways to study together.

Get To Know Each Other

Now let’s learn about them a little more. What are your common interests? What can you talk more about together? Do you both like philosophy? Horror? Music? Time to share about those things! Therefore later on you can converse in your target language about them! If you don’t have much in common, no worries! You can take turns sharing what you like. Perhaps the learning of the language itself can bring you together!

Study Sessions And Activities

Let’s get to learning together! What are some types of activities you can do together that involve learning? If you want to do calls, you can practice different scenarios in your target language! For example, taking an order or directions to a hotel. It doesn't have to pertain to real life either, you can roleplay different fantasy scenarios to get used to the language! You may also do this in text too.

Another idea is to watch a movie/show or listen to music and share what you've learned together. You can also discuss the movie or song’s meaning and different things you liked or disliked about it. Similar to this, playing video games in your target language (especially ones that involve cooperation or a set of tasks) can be a fun time.

Study sessions with notes can also be used. This can be a voice call or a silent call. A silent call can simulate a library type setting without the worry of needing to talk on call! Especially in a silent call, notes can be written to each other whether that's shared plans or different things you've learned during that time.

You can actually do a lot of different studies like done for school as well, for example, practicing teaching each other new things you've learned for the day or quizzing each other. Online quizzes and flashcards exist to help you and they can definitely be a great way to study with your new buddy!

These are just a few different options but know there are many ways to study and work together!

In The End

If you can’t get along or it just isn’t working out, know it may take some time to find a good buddy for you. It is important that you can meet in the middle. Not only are you helping each other whether it be through correcting each other’s errors or sharing studies together, you’re getting to know another person and potentially their culture too. Remember this is a learning experience and it's okay if it doesn't work out for your first (or even second) buddy! Over time you get a better idea of what works best for you and others.

Thank you for reading and hopefully this can be helpful in your adventures with your study/exchange buddy!

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About Autumn

Autumn is an aspiring writer from the US who loves dabbling in languages. She is currently working on Italian and Korean more specifically as of recently. In her free time she loves to play video games, listen to music, and add to her neverending horror movie watchlist.