Crossing Borders Virtually With LingBe

In March of 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic was officially announced in the United States. This meant lockdown, social distancing, and virtually no other in-person interaction other than our closest family, all in hopes of stopping the dangerous spread of Covid-19. As I sat around my house with boredom that exceeded any form of boredom I'd ever experienced in my entire life, an idea hit me. I'd previously been interested in learning a new language but had never been able to fully dedicate myself to it. More specifically the language I'd been interested in learning is Portuguese, after hearing it for the first time from a teacher  of French exchange students who visited our school, I knew I wanted to learn it. With all the free time available to me after my online classes I fully dedicated myself to learning Portuguese. 

Through this process I discovered an app called LingBe. Through LingBe I could connect with people across the world and have meaningful conversations all while learning a new language or helping others learn their chosen language. Using my Spanish and English language skills I realized I could help others learn my native languages through conversation. Almost everyday after class I would open up the app and connect with people across the world to help them with their Spanish or English, whichever language they listed. Through these "tutoring" sessions I was able to make amazing friends and learn about different customs, places, and even the history from the home countries of the people I helped. My mind was opened to just how big our world truly is and I was able to converse with others about topics I previously hadn't even thought about. Once I had a forty-five minute conversation with a Russian man who gave me a deep-dive history lesson on Russia, all while I helped him use the correct grammar to make his sentences concise and perfectly understandable.

It is safe to say this was as much of a learning opportunity to me as to the lovely people I had conversations with. While I did spend some time on the app practicing my Portuguese it was always a mutual learning experience with everyone involved. Before I knew it I had accumulated twenty hours helping people on the app! 

I deeply enjoyed connecting with others across various different countries. By the end of my sophomore year I felt as If I had traveled across the whole world all while sitting in the comfort of my own bedroom. In the future, I hope to connect people from the countries I learnt about, marvel at the sights I was told about, and appreciate the cultures of the people who so dearly shared it with me while practicing the languages I call my native ones. While since then I haven't been able to help out as much and things have returned to what we used to refer to as "normal", I will continue to help out when I am able to and continue making these connections.