“Our club is quite young, but from what I can say, all of us have lost our fear of speaking English at least partially”, – these are the words of our management student, organizer and member of the English Speaking Club Lily.
And this is probably the most important and main goal of the club – to start talking about what the club members are really doing great!
What are we talking about?
Perhaps you did not know, but our university has a Club where our students from different countries meet, have a wonderful time, do some exercises – and all this is in English. There are different levels, different goals, but the Club has already gone beyond the walls of the university, and has become something more for the guys.
According to Viktoria, coordinator of the Welcome office, under which the club operates, the idea to create it appeared a couple of years ago. Because UEHS is one of the leaders in terms of the number of foreign students, sometimes it is difficult for Polish and English-speaking students to find a common language, and the Club is one of the solutions.
“I was assisted a lot by a volunteer from Sweden (who graduated from our university last year) and our most experienced volunteer – Vladimir. This year our team consists of Vladimir, Lily (students from Kazakhstan – who joined us in October), and also Fazish from Uzbekistan and Berfu from Turkey”, Victoria tells about the beginning of the common cause.
Vladimir is our student of Finance, who was at the very beginning of the club, has already traveled all over Western Europe, lived in France, and joined the club, wanting to help others to communicate in English and of course find new friends.
“As the organizer of such a club, I feel like people coming there are becoming more and more open to communicating in English, sharing stories, experiences, and future plans for the weekend. Different people have different levels of English, and I’m glad that they can all communicate and help each other improve”, Vladimir comments.
“We help our members get out of their comfort zone while upskilling their English”, Lily adds.
As is usually the case, it was not easy at the start. But according to Victoria, with time they developed the most attractive formula for the meetings.
“We find out what topics will interest our participants and right after that all volunteers together with the coordinator have a brain storm suggesting all sorts of ideas and working on the format of the future meeting. I can assure you, they do an excellent job, everyone knows what they are responsible for, everyone is very creative. And I know for sure that they will create another incredible project. For them, this is a whole world of creativity and a friendly company that not only comes to the English Speaking club, but also spends time together outside the university walls”, Victoria says.
Indeed, the club has already moved beyond the campus walls, and turned into friendly entertainment. Skating, billiard, bowling, New Year’s night!
“We started organizing outside of the university activities so all of us will find good friends, as well as to make sure that our on-campus meetings won’t be treated as normal classes. And actually, I was the one to initiate the first get-together, because I’ve noticed that people needed that first push to finally gather with one another”, Lily tells.
“We had billiard, Vladimir adds, where almost no one could have played correctly, so people were laughing about their failures. Bowling, people from the club were also doing Secret Santa for Christmas. We are not necessarily initiators of activities, at least now. In the beginning, we were, as people didn’t know each other”.
In addition, the guys have met the new year together, and confidently declare that 2022 started well!
At the moment, during the exams and the vacations, the guys took a break to rest – some of them went home to their countries, but will definitely be back at the beginning of the semester. That’s when the schedule for the new classes will be known.
The guys look forward to future meetings with both current and future members. Perhaps it will be you?