As part of International Education Week at Wesleyan, the Fries Center for Global Studies hosted its third annual Languages Lead the Way event on Nov. 20 in Fisk Hall. This food, arts, and crafts event focused on conversing in the target languages of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, German, Hebrew, Hindi-Urdu, and American Sign Language.
The event was facilitated by Foreign Language Teaching Assistants, teaching assistants, and students representing all 15 Wesleyan language departments. More than 200 guests attended the event. In order to receive food, participants were asked to learn a few words and phrases of the target languages. “It is meant to be an interactive, fun, and educational event,” said Kia Lor, assistant director of language and intercultural learning. “This is one of the several ways the Fries Center for Global Studies is cultivating and empowering a community of practice of language learners, teachers, and practitioners. We believe creating this interconnected community of practice will help individuals achieve intercultural skills, cultural self-awareness, empathy, and mutual understanding. When we can practice these skills among ourselves, we can then translate them into the world at large.”
This event was co-sponsored by Fries Center for Global Studies; College of East Asian Studies; Romance Languages & Literatures; German Studies; Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies; Center for Jewish Studies; and Less Commonly Taught Languages.
Photos of the individual tables are below: (Photos by Olivia Drake)
The German table.The Italian table.The Spanish (Spain) table.The Russian table.The Portuguese table.The Hindi-Urdu table.Henna at the Hindi-Urdu table.The American Sign Language table.The Korean table.The French table.Croissants at the French table.Japanese origami and writing table.The Arabic table.
Olivia Drake
Mike Mavredakis
Jeff Harder