Conversational Café offers relaxed place to practice English
People for whom English is a second language now have a relaxed place where they can speak the language — the Conversational Café offered for three hours every Sunday in the Daily Grind at 166 Costello Drive by Literacy Volunteers-Winchester Area.
The café convened for the first time Sunday, with five participants. “We actually sat and talked for three hours,” said Literacy Volunteers Program/Volunteer Coordinator Peg Crompton.
The participants hailed from Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador. One man, enrolled in an adult English as a Second Language course, has been in the United States for two months, and speaks little English, she said.
While people can receive formal language instruction through Northern Shenandoah Valley Adult Education four nights and two days a week, the café provides a more relaxed environment to practice English, Crompton said.
The café is open to any English-language learner, Crompton said. “It doesn’t matter what language you speak, because we’re speaking English only.”
And while the café is held between 1 and 4 p.m., people do not have to come for the entire time, Crompton said. “You can come in anytime during that time” and stay as long as you want.
The café at the Costello Drive Daily Grind may be the first of many, said Crompton, who hopes to see them one day at other Daily Grind locations in the area.
Comments
Tell us what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!