Virtual language café English-German

Virtual English-German exchange

meet, listen, speak

Join the language café and meet German and English speakers!

© Bild erstellt mit flux

Students from the Open University in the UK meet students from the Technische Universität Dresden in Germany to chat in an informal atmosphere on interesting topics. The meetings are moderated and held bilingually. The focus is on conversation - language and culture should be experienced and discussed together. The virtual meetings serve to

• exchange ideas on diverse and interesting topics 
• practise oral language skills and free speech
• hold conversations in small groups and in plenary sessions

Who is it for?

Open University students who are intermediate/advanced learners of German (at least Level B1) and TUD students who are intermediate/advanced learners of English (at least level B1), especially for participants in the SprInt programme.
Recognition for SprInt certificate (TUD only):
Participants in the SprInt programme can submit regular participation in the virtual language café as part of their ‘Language Expertise’ or the "Excellence" certificate. 

Your moderators

• UK: Dr Christine Pleines and Dr Karina von Lindeiner-Strasky are senior lecturers at the School of Languages and Applied Linguistics at the Open University/UK. This year, they are working together on "German studies 3", the final German module in the BA in Language Studies qualification.
• DE: Antje Neuhoff is the head of the Multimedia Language Learning Centre at TU Dresden. The MSZ also organises regular face-to-face language cafés for various languages; the virtual language café is currently available for English-German exchanges. 

Topics and Dates in 2024/25

We will meet 8 times between November24 and July25 , usually on Thursday evenings from 19:00-20:30 German time (18:00-19:30 UK) on the following days with these topics:

• 6.11.24: Ich in meiner Region
  Landschaft und das Leben in der Heimatregion, regionale Dialekte, regionale Persönlich-keiten etc.
• 5.12.24: Innovationen und Forschungsbereiche
  Die beste Erfindung aus den letzten 100 Jahren, Pflegeroboter, Corona und Impfstoffe, Atomkraft, Klimakrise etc.
• 23.1.25: Geschichte
  deutsche Geschichte (Weimarer Republik / das Deutsche Kaiserreich / Nationalsozialis-mus / DDR) und britische Geschichte
• 5.3.25: Migration
  persönliche Erfahrung mit Migration, Migrationssituation in Deutschland und GB, erfolg-reiche und weniger erfolgreiche Maßnahmen in Bezug auf Migration etc.
• 10.4.24: Kunst
  Was ist Kunst, welche Funktion hat Kunst; Stellenwert von Kunst, eigene künstlerische (kreative) Aktivitäten, etc.
• 14.5.25: Wirtschaft und Nachhaltigkeit
  Arbeitsort, eigene Tätigkeit, Arbeitsbedingungen in diesem Beruf, Rolle von Betriebsräten und Gewerkschaften, Änderung der Industrielandschaft, Konflikt zwischen Ökonomie und Ökologie, etc.
• 12.06.25 Thema noch offen
  Teilnehmer entscheiden vorher  
• 03.07.25: Thema noch offen
  Teilnehmer entscheiden vorher  

Tool used?

--> Online in a ZOOM meeting

Registration for OU students

Please register using this link.

For TUD members: Please switch to the German version of this page for registering (the link differs for TUD memebers). 

After registering, you will receive the access code for the virtual language café by e-mail.