Tandem

A tandem, or language tandem, is a partnership between two people who are interested in learning, or want to improve, the other’s mother tongue. The partnership aims at gaining, or improving your language skill with the help of a native speaker. You decide yourself whether you prefer doing exercises in the respective language, talking about your different backgrounds, traditions, hobbies, daily life or much more. It is also up to you how often and regularly you meet as well as the place where you meet.

In order to get a tandem partner, you have to fill in the application sheet for a tandem partnership (you can find it online or in paper form in front of our office in E 715). Please give the paper version the SLZ-Tandem Tutors or put it into our post-box in front of our office in E 715. We use a database in order to register your tandem request and to allocate appropriate partners. In accordance with data protection, we ensure that we keep your data safe and observe the protection of your private data.

After you receive a tandem partner, the SLZ-Tandem Tutors can advise you about appropriate and helpful methods for tandem-learning.

After  you have requested a tandem partner either online or by putting a paper request in our postbox in front of our office in E715, we will place you in our system. You will then receive a confirmation email and we will try to find a suitable tandem partner for you as soon as possible.

The period from the time you apply for a partner to the time you receive one depends on the availability of appropriate partners. The more people who apply, the more partnerships we can find and the faster an allocation can be made.

The process of finding a suitable partner involves the time it takes, the suitability of language level, as well as age matching. Additionally we also take your particular wishes (gender and whether it has to be a student) into account.

If you apply for a not so commonly spoken language, it is not always easy to find a partner. Therefore, it can sometimes take longer than normal.

It can happen that your partner cannot answer your E-Mail immediately. However, should you feel it is taking too long, feel free to inform us in person or via E-Mail. Even if our effort to get in touch with your partner fails, we can try and find you a new partner. The other partner will be deactivated in our database.

Just send us an E-Mail or come to our office in E715 during our office hours.
We are happy to help you!

The SLZ (self-access study centre) is a single room which is divided into group working space and an individual working space. The tables and workstations in these rooms offer you the opportunity to learn and study at the rear of the SLI.

The SLZ also offers students a wide variety of ways to improve their knowledge of foreign languages by working independently at audio and video work places, at one of the six computers or by using the language books which can be found in the cupboards (in order to use these books please see us first; in exchange for your ID you can borrow materials form the cupboards). In the SLZ, you can find materials for the languages English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, German as Foreign Language, Czech, Polish, Chinese, Arabic, Rumanian, Turkish and Swedish.