On Thursday, April 20, over 700 high school students from 24 Wisconsin high schools came to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to celebrate language, literature and culture with UW-Madison faculty, staff and students at World Languages Day 2006.
Students treked around the world by participating in four of the 50 available sessions. World Languages Day sessions spanned the globe, from Brasil to the Xhosa people of South Africa, and even went back in time to explore the foods of the ancient world. In addition, WLD participants had an opportunity to check out their backyard though sessions on various ethnic groups in Wisconsin -- indigenous peoples, Scandinavians, Germans and others -- who helped shape the region and continue to influence it today.
World Languages Day showcased the talents and expertise of over 60 UW faculty, staff, and students who led the diverse sessions.
Keynote speaker Florencia Mallon, professor in the Department of History, and Magdalena Hauner, associate dean of the College of Letters and Science, welcomed the high school visitors at the morning’s Welcome Ceremony.
At lunchtime the UW Band offered a rousing selection of Wisconsin favorites. Bucky Badger coaxed even the shyest to take part in an energetic polka.
The World Languages Day crew, made up of 35 energetic undergraduates, staff and Wisconsin residents, were a key force in helping the event run smoothly.
World Language Day is a program of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Language Institute. It is made possible with the generous support from the Anonymous Fund; African Studies; Center for East Asian Studies; Center for European Studies, Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia; Center for South Asia; Global Studies; Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies, and the Schoenleber Foundation.
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