Welcome to our new website!
Welcome to the brand new Language Conversation Exchange (LCE) website! We are excited to have this new space to help you find a conversation partner in the MIT community with whom you can practice or improve a language you are learning with a native speaker.
The Language Conversation Exchange was founded back in 1972 by Dr. Charlotte Green Schwartz. At that time, she worked as a psychologist and a researcher at MIT Medical. Her research revolved around internationals at MIT and how they integrated into the MIT community. Out of her focus groups and surveys came a couple of programs to support the international community, including the MIT Language Conversation Exchange
Designed to help newcomers at MIT get acquainted with our community, while helping their English-speaking conversation partners improve their proficiency in another language, the LCE has seen major evolutions over the years. Starting with paper forms organized in a 3-ring binder to email applications, and to our very first website built by a volunteer in 2009, the LCE has connected the MIT community to conversation, cultural exchange, and friendship for over 45 years.
Back in 2014, the LCE was fortunate to hire Graduate Community Fellows (GCFs) to expand its reach, thanks to the support of the Office of Graduate Education. Prior to that, the LCE was simply a matching service for conversation partners. With the creativity and energy of the GCFs, the program has grown to include mixers, social events, lunches and karaoke nights. With this expansion, our team has grown to include volunteers from across the MIT community. We have also partnered with the MIT Global Studies and Languages department to bring conversation partners directly into the classrooms of language students. And in 2017, the LCE was awarded the MIT Bridge Builder award, in recognition of our “noteworthy collaboration and partnership between student organizations, living groups, dorms, teams, individual students, non-profit organizations, and/or governmental groups to raise awareness, share knowledge, provide solutions, and show commitment to social justice and a more inclusive MIT.”
So what are you waiting for? Join the fun! Register on this site to find a conversation partner, come to our twice monthly lunches, or volunteer with us. We are looking forward to meeting and eating and conversing with you!
Jennifer Recklet Tassi, Senior Program Manager of the MIT Language Conversation Exchange