More than 525 students from 27 Wisconsin high schools gathered recently at UW-Madison for Languages of the World Day, an event hosted by the UW Language Institute. Throughout the day, students attended presentations and interacted with different world languages and cultures. With more than 50 presenters representing various languages, the students had lots of opportunities to connect and learn in new ways.
“Our intended impact is really to be an outreach event,” says Lydia Odegard, a Language Directions Specialist at the Language Institute and an organizer of the event. “We’re hoping that this event will expose high school students to different languages and cultures that they’re not familiar with, and inspire further learning about those languages and cultures.”