High school students learn to speak Akan-Twi from Samuel Darkwa, left, a teaching assistant and graduate student in the Department of African Languages & Literature. (UW-Madison Language Institute)
Eighty high school students from 20 schools around the state had the chance to speak (and sing) in 10 different languages at the inaugural Wisconsin Global Youth Summit on Feb. 23 at Union South.
The day focused on what high school students can do to bring international elements into their schools. The University of Wisconsin-Madison's Language Institute coordinated and facilitated demonstration language lessons to give participants an interactive experience with new languages.
Brief presentations at the end of 30-minute language lessons brought students to their feet to demonstrate their new knowledge. Students recited days of the week in Norwegian and a north African poem in French; greeted each other in Japanese (proper bowing included), performed a tongue-twister in Thai; and sang songs in Akan-Twi, German, Russian, Swahili, and Zulu, among other activities.
Volunteer instructors from UW-Madison departments of languages, literatures and cultures included:
• Samuel Darkwa (Akan-Twi), Department of African Languages & Literature
• Kannikar Elbow (Thai), Department of Languages & Cultures of Asia
•Peggy Hager (Norwegian), Department of Scandinavian Studies
• Nancy Heingartner (Russian), Center for Russia, East Europe & Central Asia
•Andrew Irving (French), Department of French and Italian
• Bongani Mbatha (Zulu), Department of African Languages & Literature
•Takako Nakakubo (Japanese), Department of East Asian Languages & Literature
• Christopher Tabisz (German), Department of German
•Anne Waliaula (Swahili), Department of African Languages & Literature and African Studies Program
• Xin Zou (Chinese), Department of East Asian Languages & Literature
The summit was put together through a collaboration involving the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the UW-Madison Division of International Studies and Global Wisconsin, Inc., and co-sponsored by the International Professionals Inc. of Madison and the State Superintendent’s International Education Council.