A 5-year online meeting history
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Guidelines
Restructuring Our Sessions
I was looking into the reasons behind the drop in participation at our Sunday meetings and seeking ways to improve all our sessions. This includes adjusting the weekday meetings and potentially scheduling new times.
While most of the feedback was positive, I will be implementing a few key changes for both weekday and weekend meetings this week. I will be reinforcing participation structures to ensure everyone has the opportunity to contribute and receives equal time to practice their target language.
I will restructure the start of the meeting to include a brief, dedicated introduction period for all members, especially to welcome anyone new.
I am adjusting the time dedicated to speaking each language to ensure better balance and equal practice time for everyone.
Our Sunday sessions will no longer be ‘Spanglish’ free-for-alls. To maximize structured learning, we are adopting the same time-structured format used during the weekdays.
To address feedback about feeling uncomfortable in large groups and ensure better participation balance, I will limit breakout rooms to a maximum of 5 participants. This helps us maintain a balanced Spanish/English speaker ratio.
If you prefer focused one-on-one conversation, please let me know at the beginning of the session, and I will work to pair you up.
I am considering creating a room for general open discussion led by a volunteer moderator. If you are interested in taking on this role, please let me know!
To help everyone avoid repetitive small talk and always have something new to discuss, I will prepare a webpage link with suggested topics you can use during the meetings.
I am currently considering adding a new session on Fridays to give everyone an extra practice opportunity.
Essential Group Guidelines
To ensure everyone has a productive, comfortable, and fair language exchange, please adhere to the following guidelines:
If you are fluent in the target language, your role is to encourage and guide those who are learning. Please yield extended speaking time to them.
To ensure participation balance, limit individual speaking turns to 2–3 minutes. After your turn, pass the conversational floor to someone else.
Focus on positive and constructive topics. Please avoid discussions about politics, recent negative news, or questions that could cause discomfort or offense.
Be mindful when joking. If you don’t know someone well, favor clear communication over humor that might be misunderstood or cause discomfort.
In group settings, avoid side conversations in your native language. Keep the focus on the target language practice.
Please keep in mind that early arrivals allow me to organize balanced breakout rooms (aiming for 4 participants) effectively.
Feel free to bring your own discussion topics, exercises, or games to share with the group.
If you specifically seek a one-on-one session, please notify me at the start so we can arrange private rooms if available.
Please join from a quiet location as background noise can make your speech unclear.
If you are eating during the session, make sure your speech clear.
I strongly encourage keeping your camera on to enhance connection. If you need to step away for an activity, please log out and rejoin when you are ready to fully participate again.
Please try to keep rooms at a manageable size (ideally under 6 people). If a room becomes too large, feel free to move to another room to start a new conversation.
Commitment to Quality
I received comments regarding the host’s activity level, and I agree! Going forward, I will be more active in ensuring everyone is happy and participating. Please remember that if I visit your room, I am not a supervisor—I’m just another language learner like you, focused on building a great community.
Many of you offered valuable suggestions on session timing, with some finding the time too early and others too late. Unfortunately, I cannot change the current time for our exchanges, as it is anchored to my current personal availability required to organize and host these sessions effectively.
I know this may seem repetitive, but the introduction of the One-Time donation has led to a major shift in attendance, dropping from an average of 80 to 40 participants. Crucially, this change has resulted in a significant increase in participant quality and commitment. We now have a core group of members who:
- Are committed to learning and helping others.
- Come prepared for good conversation.
- Contribute to creating a cozy, supportive environment where everyone feels encouraged to talk.
The donation has effectively filtered out the previous inconsistency, ensuring that everyone who joins is truly invested in the language exchange experience.