PVCC offers an English Conversation Circle
If you are a student at PVCC whose first language was not English, you can join other classmates at the English Conversation Circle, which is now offered online due to Covid-19. It is still offered on Wednesday from 12-1 p.m., led by Ruth Yoder, an adjunct instructor and tutor at PVCC; just fill out the form that is offered online.
These are the steps to take if you’re not familiar with doing things online. The student can follow this link to sign up for the next ECC: https://forms.gle/4cGzzeDgGcD2ULiU6.
The college offers reading and writing courses for non-native English speakers, but the Writing Center felt that an informal setting would offer them the opportunity to practice speaking English or, as Yoder said, “give them a safe place to practice.”
One of the things they practice is going over idioms. For example, “get off my back” means stop bothering me; “you hit the nail on the head” means you’re exactly right. This is what the ECC clarifies for the students.
If there are any students who would like to practice speaking English in a safe place, they can go to the Writing Center. They also make sure to have extra tutors to help so that everyone has a chance to practice speaking English.
The last ECC for this semester will be Wednesday, April 29, 2020, and it will be about Online Learning and Communication.
The ECC will start in the summer so keep an eye out for the next schedule for the summer on the Writing Center webpage and the PVCC Writing Center Facebook page.
