More than 700 students and teachers from 31 high schools gathered together at the beautiful Union South at UW-Madison for World Languages Day in November.
World Langauges Day is an annual a college-for-a-day experience for high school students and teachers focused on languages and cultures from around the world. The event is sponsored by the Language Institute.
UW-Madison faculty, staff and students representing over 40 languages shared their passion, enthusiasm and expertise with high school students and teachers through over 50 mini language lessons, lectures, presentations, workshops and performances such as:
- Chinese Tea-More Than Just a Drink
- Dancing in Zulu
- Dutch: A Big “Little” Language
- Introducing the Pashtun Way of Life: Pashtunwali
- Write Your Name and Say Hello in Russian
Students made an Italian appetizer, greeted each other in Hindi, tackled Biblical passages in the original Hebrew, learned to express themselves politely in Yoruba, listened to Korean pop music, tried a few steps of a Zulu dance and much more!
For a full listing of sessions, see the website: www.languageinstitute.wisc.edu/wld
Current UW-Madison students played an essential role in promoting the Wisconsin Idea at World Languages Day. Students took part in many presentations by assisting the instructors, demonstrating their own language skills honed at UW-Madison and acting out skits.
At a panel entitled "Meet the Students: a Panel Discussion with UW-Madison Language Students," UW-Madison students of a variety of languages spoke about their language learning and other international experiences and their plans for the future. A corps of over 50 volunteer students assisted in the organization of the event.
High school teachers and students were resoundingly pleased and excited by all they experienced at World Languages Day.
One teacher commented, “World Languages Day is a great opportunity to get kids to begin to consider the study of languages and cultures other than those typically offered in Wisconsin high schools. It gives the kids a chance to dream, and to realize that anything is possible.”
World Language Day is made possible by the generous support of the African Studies Program, the Anonymous Fund, the Center for East Asian Studies, the Center for European Studies, College of Letters and Science, Russian Flagship Center and the Wisconsin Humanities Council.