After a three-year hiatus, the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures successfully hosted the 43rd Annual Language Fair on campus on March 31, 2022. The encompassing theme for this year's edition was "A World of Migrants," and over 350 high school students from across the state attended and engaged in different language and cultural events.
As in previous years, students performed and showed exhibits in five categories—drama, music, poetry, poster, and folkdance—in different languages at different levels. Faculty judges presented the awards at a closing ceremony in the Centennial Room, and Cornerstone Christian High School's film "Del Oeste," which earned the inaugural Short Film award, was screened. Competitive event results are available on this website, and schools are recognized below.
Participants at Language Fair. Select to enlarge.
"The department wants to express heartfelt gratitude to the high-school language teachers and students of the state of Nebraska," Nora Peterson, associate professor of French in, and chair of, the department, said. "It is your positive energy, commitment and willingness to participate that made this 43rd Annual Language Fair a success. We are humbled and we look forward to meeting you again next year."
Additional highlights:
Community Room
Our Community Room featured over 25 booths from university, city and state community partners, including: Asian Community & Cultural Center, Catholic Social Services, Center for Legal Immigration Assistance, ECHO Collective, El Centro de las Americas, Lincoln Literacy, Nebraska Department of Education, Spanish Studies Institute, the Department of Classics and Religious Studies, College of Arts and Sciences, Combs Honors Scholars, School of Global Integrative Studies, Honors Ambassadors, Kawasaki Reading Room, and Russian Club. The booths offered resources and information and attracted a steady flow of attendees.
Traditional Dances
In collaboration with Dr. Eva Bachman and the UNL International Folk Dancing Club, we were able to offer mini-lessons and demonstrations of traditional dances: Bolivian, Czech, French, German, Peruvian, and Russian. These were attended by over 350 high-school and undergraduate students.
Participants at Language Fair. Select to enlarge.
Tea Time
The Kawasaki Reading Room's Tea Time event welcomed 206 participants,who sampled a variety of teas and delved into Japanese culture.
Mini-Lessons
As in previous years, students attended language and culture mini-lessons in a variety of languages: Arabic, Catalan (from Spain), Dari (from Afghanistan), Dutch, Greek, Japanese, Karen (from Myanmar and Thailand), Khmer (from Cambodia), Kurmanji (from Iraq), Latin, Nuer (from South Sudan), Persian, and Russian. They were so popular that some classrooms ran out of space. We collaborated with the Department of Classics and Religious Studies and ECHO Collective to offer them.
Participants at Language Fair. Select to enlarge.
Summer opportunities for high school students were announced, including:
- taking online Russian classes through UNL's NE NOW program.
- attending the Global Challenges Summer Camp, organized by the University Honors Program and the College of Arts and Science's Pre-College Institute, with the collaboration of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and the School of Global Integrative Studies. The camp provides an opportunity for high school students to engage with environmental issues by creating community with faculty members, college mentors, and elementary-aged youth in Lincoln. Participants will also be able to learn beginner language skills in Chinese, Russian, or Spanish.
"We look forward to welcoming the schools that were not able to attend this year's event," Peterson said. "We missed your participation, and we hope that we are all able to meet for the next one."
The department would like to recognize these high schools for their awards (in alphabetical order):
- Bellevue West High School (French Music, French Drama)
- Bennington High School (French Music, French Drama, French Poetry, French Poster)
- Centennial High School (Spanish Poster)
- Columbus High School (Spanish Music, Spanish Poetry, Spanish Drama, Spanish Poster, Folkdance)
- Cornerstone Christian High School (Short Film) for Del Oeste
- Elkhorn High (Japanese Drama, Japanese Poetry)
- Elkhorn North High School (Japanese Drama, Japanese Poetry)
- Elkhorn South High School (Japanese Drama, Japanese Music, Japanese Poetry)
- Norris High School (Spanish Poetry)
- Omaha South High School (Chinese Drama, Chinese Poetry, Spanish Poster)
- Palmyra High School (Folkdance)
- Pender Public Schools (Spanish Poetry, Spanish Poster)
- Platteview High School (Spanish Music, Spanish Drama)
- South Sioux City High School (French Poetry)
Students attending Language Fair. Select to enlarge.
Next year's event will take place on April 13, 2023.
