Coffee and Conversation: A Trip Around World

Callan Shore, staff writer

Men and women of many ages crowd around tables, eating cookies, drinking tea, and sharing conversations about politics, religion, and family. This scene can be found every Friday from 12-2 p.m. at the Dialogue Café, an event held by the Adult Learning Center of Charlottesville.

Dialogue Café is defined by the website as a gathering where adult English learners from around the world can come to practice their speaking skills. But this description only grazes the surface. The conversation group offers an immediate community of accepting people for immigrants and refugees.

The coordinator of Dialogue Café Heidi Gordon says, “The Dialogue Cafe was organized to provide English language learners with an opportunity to practice conversation in a supportive and relaxed setting with native speakers and other learners from many different nations.”

The supportive environment is possible because of the committed volunteers, many of whom return every week. The volunteers come from different ages and backgrounds and reap just as many benefits from the experience as the learners. The learners share stories with the volunteers about their countries, recipes for their favorite dishes, and lessons about their religious beliefs.

Most of the participants do not share a native language and are not yet fluent in English. However, they still manage to form friendships with each other and the volunteers.

The people who attend Dialogue Café each have a unique story to share.

One woman fled Afghanistan, but her family was still there and living in a war zone. While telling her story, she broke down crying and immediately clung to my outstretched hand. In only two hours, the wall between strangers and friends had been torn down.

Dialogue Café is held in the Adult Learning Center building in IX art park; just a short walk from the Downtown Mall.

To participate, volunteers and learners can send an email to Heidi Gordon at hgordon@adultslearn.com.