L-café: The International Home

Abstract

In this narrative, a young English woman, studying Japanese language as an international exchange student, writes about her experiences working at the L-café, a social language learning space located on the campus of a large national university in Japan. In her story, she relates how working at the L-café as a conversation partner and later as a peer teacher for one of the conversation classes offered her cross-cultural learning opportunities and experience as a language teacher, a career option she hopes to pursue. She also discusses the role the L-café played in helping her adapt to life in her host country, primarily by providing her a comfortable environment in which she was able to meet people from all over the world and make friends.