Learning tips
Learning from your eTandem partner

1. Learning from your partner's modelling

You can learn a great deal from what your eTandem partner says or writes in his native language. This is similar to the learning effect through textbooks or foreign language television, only with eTandem you have more of a say regarding content.

For example, you could ask your eTandem partner to:

• write or talk about topics with vocabulary that is important to you
• give you a sample CV or a sample letter of application
• express himself differently (for example, more simply, using more or less slang), use more professional language, etc.

For this to be effective, it is important to remember to adhere to the basic rule of using your native language at least half of the time!

Pay definite attention not only to what your partner is trying to tell you but most especially also how he is expressing himself.

Here are some concrete tips:

Written eTandem

(e-mail, letters, instant messaging, etc.)

• Make sure that you will be able to work with the texts later: save them (this goes for instant messaging as well), print them and, ideally, put them in a folder.
• Mark phrases and words that are new for you or that you had forgotten.
• Make sure that you will not forget what you may need again later. (Use your own system for remembering: vocabulary lists or cards, reread texts occasionally, etc.)

Oral eTandem

(telephone, video conferencing, etc.)

• Your partner's words are soon gone, but there are still ways for you to keep what is important: interrupt your partner if you did not hear or understand something correctly. Ask him to repeat and/or explain himself.
• Repeat passages that are important to you in order to remember them better, and ask your partner to correct you - pronunciation and intonation as well.
• Perhaps you could also take notes to avoid forgetting important expressions.