1. Please Delete This Slide Before Presenting to Students
Purpose: This PowerPoint is meant to be used as a tool to introduce your students to TalkAbroad and to begin a discussion in class. This PowerPoint is not exhaustive. Please provide the TalkAbroad Student Manual to all students for complete instructions.
Usage: Please delete this first slide. There are a number of slides that are meant to be updated with specifics for your class. As TalkAbroad is used in many different ways this PowerPoint will try to provide only the basics of the tool. You can adapt this to your class freely.
There are also suggested talking points provided in the notes section of this PowerPoint.

3. What is TalkAbroad?
TalkAbroad is an opportunity to talk with a native speaker in the target language. Doing so can raise oral proficiency levels and provide exposure to the culture of another country.

4. Why is this class using TalkAbroad?
This is the instructor’s area to communicate the purpose of using TalkAbroad in this class. How does it fit into the curriculum? What do you want the students to get out of the experience? Common purposes include exposure to the culture, raising the comfort level in language production, providing a foundation of oral proficiency to build upon in the future, to be exposed to varying dialects, prepare for a study abroad program, prepare for an Oral Proficiency Interview, etc. This is a very important thing for students to understand.

5. How does TalkAbroad work?
You will receive an assignment for class.
You will create a TalkAbroad account and purchase credits.
You will select a conversation partner and make a reservation to speak with them.
You will complete the conversation via the TalkAbroad website.
The audio recording of your conversation will be made available.
Use this slide to give an overview of the process. We will go through each step quickly in the next few slides to point out common Problem areas.

6. Assignments for this class
This area is meant to allow instructors to share their assignment with the class. The assignment should also be in the syllabus for future reference.

7. 2. Register and Purchase Credits
Register a Student account at
Make sure the following are inputted correctly:
Timezone
address
Introduce them to the registration process. It is often helpful to actually navigate to talkabroad.com and show them the registration form. Please emphasize they need to double and triple check their timezone and skype username. The timezone is used because the conversation partners are often located in a different timezone. We calculate the correct attendance time for both parties. If the student registers with the wrong timezone he/she will receive the call at the wrong time. If the student inputs the wrong Skype Username the partner will call the wrong person. The partner does not have the ability to call any username other than what is given by the student.

8. Credits to purchase/pre-purchased codes
Section Codes
Credits to purchase/pre-purchased codes
The section codes are unique for each class. We suggest including them on this slide. You can also explain the method for payment in the right column. Normal payment method is using a credit card on the website, but you can specify if credits need to be purchased through the bookstore or will be provided by the department using a pre-purchase code.

9. 3. Choose a Conversation Partner and Create a Reservation
All conversation partners have a profile giving a description of the partner. Encourage your students to take some time and read through the partners. Choose a country they’re interested in, find a partner with similar interests or hobbies, etc. Choosing a partner that matches them is a great way to have a meaningful experience.

10. Conversation Guidelines
Make a reservation by selecting a time on the calendar of the partner.
Reservations must be made 36 hours in advance.
Reservations may be cancelled up to 12 hours before start time.
All conversations are 30 minutes in duration.
This is a great place to remind students that they need to plan ahead and avoid procrastination. 95% of problems with TalkAbroad arise because students don’t plan ahead and wait until the last moment. This causes a multitude of problems from not being able to finish the assignment on time to experiencing problems with their computer/internet due to poor planning or a lack of reading the instructions. There are a lot of logistics involved in a successful conversation, and many of those depend on the student following the instructions in the manual (testing their Skype account, being on time, etc.).

11. FAQ about Partners
Conversation partners live in the country indicated on their profile.
TalkAbroad is a part-time job and they are trained, paid, and supervised accordingly.
Most partners use TalkAbroad as a way to pay for their university education.
They are real people. Please be courteous.
This is a great slide to use as a springboard to speak about differences in culture and how to be respectful and conscientious to the conversation partner. US culture is very informal but many of the countries where conversation partners live are very different. Examples that have caused problem in the past include student dress (students should attend conversations dressed appropriately—men with shirts, etc.), conversation topics (religion, sex, politics, etc.), being on time, looking presentable, etc. This isn’t “just” a homework assignment they can do after rolling out of bed…it’s meeting an actual person!

12. 4. Complete the Assignment via the TalkAbroad website
At the time of your conversation log into the TalkAbroad website and select “Join Conversation”
Technology requirements:
Computer with high speed Internet
Microphone
Video Camera
Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox Browser
We suggest spending 5 minutes showing students the TalkAbroad web conferencing system. You can do a practice call by having two students navigate to “talkabroad.com/test”. There is always a varying level of familiarity with computers among students, and some students need a lot more help than others. Showing them how on a computer and doing a practice call in class is excellent preparation.

13. Suggestions for the conversation
Arrive 5 minutes early
Know who to contact in case you or the partner have problems with the Internet connection
Prepare a topic or topics to discuss
Complete a test call prior to the scheduled time to assure you will not experience problems. This can be done with the support team.
Set aside 1 hour for the conversation in case there are delays due to internet problems.

14. 5. Submitting the Audio Recording
After the conversation has been completed, you will receive an with a link to provide feedback and submit the recording to your professor. Recording the conversation is done by the website. You will only need to verify the audio recording was successfully uploaded. If there were any technical problems with the call (such as poor call quality) please indicate it on your feedback and TalkAbroad will help reschedule the conversation.
This is an excellent time to set the expectations of your students. You can remind them that many of the partners live in developing countries. That means many of them will live with relatives and share rooms. They may see other family members in the video. Many of the countries are hot with very little access to air conditioning, meaning that partners may need to leave the windows open so they don’t overheat. Students may hear traffic, dogs barking, kids playing in the street, etc. That needs to be expected and welcomed as part of the experiential learning process. That being said, if there are disturbances that impact the experience for students to a large degree they only need to let us know on the feedback form and we will replace the credit so they can redo the conversation with no questions asked. We have a very liberal policy on this because we want the students to have a good learning experience.

15. TalkAbroad Support http://support.talkabroad.com
TalkAbroad provides full English-speaking support. This is your first stop for any questions or problems.
TalkAbroad is very responsive and should contact you within an hour after your request.
You can also contact TalkAbroad support via chat on the student homepage.
You can emphasize that TalkAbroad is their first stop. They should come to us with questions before hassling an instructor. We have a great system in place, we will usually respond within minutes to any questions often are available for chatting right through the chat bar on the website. Please use the support team as they’re in place to save time for the instructor.

16. Questions?