GERMAIN'S STORY

Germain is from Benin and is studying in France at Supméca-Paris for a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering. 
As part of his studies, he is required to do a number of internships, and his current internship has brought him to a university in America for a semester. 
He contacted me a few months before coming to the U.S. because he was worried that his English wasn’t good enough and he couldn’t find many opportunities in Paris to practice with native speakers – this is the story of how he found a solution.

In each year of Supméca, we must do a mandatory internship.
My dream was to perform my 2nd year internship abroad, especially in the U.S. After a huge amount of applications sent to companies and universities around the U.S., I ended up getting accepted for a research internship at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
After being accepted, I immediately started to worry about my poor spoken English.
As you know, for a non-native English speaker being able to write a resume or a cover letter doesn’t necessarily imply being able to have daily conversation free from, “What?” “Can you repeat that?” or “Can you speak more slowly, please?” That was my case.