Student-to-Student Connections Across a Language Barrier

Annually, students of Kusum Ji in beginner and intermediate Hindi classes collaborate with the Delhi Young Artist Forum (DYAF) for an engaging and light-hearted Zoom session. This event is designed to facilitate mutual language exchange: students share English language skills through interactive games with DYAF participants while DYAF members reciprocate by conversing in Hindi. DYAF is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that seeks to empower underprivileged youth through education, combating social injustice. 

Hindi students spent several classes crafting a curriculum in preparation for this meeting. Students broke off into groups to brainstorm and set up various activities that the DYAF members could shift between such as quizzes on Indian and American culture, emoji word games, a competitive singing game, and slang terms. Hindi students carefully considered which games would provide the most entertainment and opportunities for learning English and American terminology. Conversations with DYAF members gave Hindi students a unique chance to practice Hindi with native speakers, discussing a range of topics from hobbies to family life. 

I found this experience very rewarding and had a lot of fun laughing about American slang terms such as “Rizz '' and “Drip” with the DYAF students. I feel fortunate that the DYAF students made time for us and made the Hindi students feel incredibly comfortable to be vulnerable as non-native speakers. By the end of the call, there was a palpable sense of camaraderie between our classes. Our Hindi class felt much closer to the DYAF students, and we were able to establish a connection through funny jokes, stories, and poetry even amidst the language barrier. 

A goal of every Hindi learner is to one day be able to converse naturally with a Hindi native. Every time we have the opportunity to talk to a Hindi native is a step closer.

Hindi 204, Student Voices: 

Ali: Using my own experiences with various family members who live in India, I sought to teach DYAF members useful and engaging slang terms. Moreover, I tried to relate my cultural experiences in Houston to their experience in New Delhi. I appreciated their kindness and patience while I sought to improve my conversational Hindi skills. 

Prisha: Our meeting with the DYAF members was a lot of fun! I learned a lot about the kinds of things they liked to do, and we talked about our own experiences at Duke. Everyone enjoyed the games a lot, especially the trivia questions! One question that really surprised everyone was that Dangal is the highest-grossing Bollywood film worldwide! It was nice to see the amount of growth from both sides in terms of our Hindi getting better and their understanding of English becoming better as well.

This workshop was supported and funded by Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and Duke Service Learning.