Students and teachers host a big party for language lovers

Wednesday, 28 February 2024

For the first time on Callaghan campus, UON students and teaching staff across Modern Languages and Linguistics hosted a welcome party that brought together more than 120 language enthusiasts from the local communities.

Event view from the crowd
Event view from the crowd

Initiated by Madi Lock – the president of Studies of Language Association (SoLA) and the UON French Society (UONFS), students who returned from study abroad programs shared their linguistic and cultural immersion experiences, and teaching staff of Modern Languages (French, Chinese, German, Japanese and Indonesian) and Linguistics expressed their passions for learning, teaching, and investigating languages. The event showcased the fieldwork by a PhD candidate Laurits Knudsen on Wik-Mungkan language spoken in Aurukun, Far North Queensland, and an eye-tracking study by a PhD candidate Alex Cowan who investigates Chinese learners’ responses to spoken English. The event also offered a fun lesson of Auslan (Australian sign language) by a native signer Billie Mosman.

The audience enjoyed talking to the presenters and networking over pizzas and music afterwards. They included language teachers and students from local high schools (e.g., Kotara High, St. Phillip’s Christian College, Francis Greenway High) and students from UON Open Foundations and Language Centre. Many students visiting from Nihon University enjoyed interacting with the locals. Staff from Education and students from non-language fields such as Mathematics and Engineering expressed strong interests in involving with the UON language communities and participating in their future activities.

Voices:

“I had a lot of fun meeting new people and learning Auslan and about possible opportunities in my future.” (a Year 10 student from St. Phillip’s)

"It was so wonderful to see such a diverse range of people that are passionate about language gathering together to learn more about what is happening in the languages space. " (Andrew Phillips, UON Japanese-English Club President)

“I was happy that I could directly interact with Australian students and make some local friends” (a student from Nihon)

“Many thanks… very informative and pleasant evening!” (a parent of a high school student)

“It was absolutely amazing to hear about students’ international experiences and their research projects.” (Prof. Kate Nash: Head of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Sciences)

“I was heartened to see so many interested in language” (Prof. Susan Ledger: Head of School of Education)

“Big congrats to all the fantastic students and staff in languages! It was such a great atmosphere with a really strong sense of community and inclusion.” (A/Prof. Rachel Burke: Program Convenor of Bachelor of Education (Secondary))

“It was such a pleasure to see Languages and Linguistics working together so well.” (Dr. Marie-Laure Vuaille-Barcan: Senior Lecturer of French and Program Convenor of Diploma in Languages)

“I could not be more proud of the students’ excellent teamwork and their determination to boost the energy of our language community.” (A/Prof. Kiwako Ito: Director of Lab for Applied Language Science; Program Convenor of Master of Translation Studies)

The event was sponsored by School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Sciences (HCISS) and its subgroup Social Sciences and Linguistics (SSL).

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