The annual Language Fair, hosted by the Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language and Literacy (CERCLL), brought students to the Mall to learn about all the different languages taught at the University of Arizona.
The event featured departments, programs and student clubs showcasing the wide variety of languages and cultures on campus. Participants enjoyed performances, games, food and other activities. About 500 students attended during three-hour fair.
As a Title VI Language Resource Center, CERCLL’s mandate is to create resources and provide professional development opportunities for language educators, said Associate Director
Kate Mackay, so the center is not often engaged directly with undergraduate students.
“For CERCLL, organizing the UArizona Language Fair is an honor,” Mackay said. “We love to be able to support not just the many languages and related courses that are taught here at the university, but also to see the energy of the faculty and students that staffed the booths, and the many students participating in the interactive exhibits. These truly are dynamic groups of people, all with an international focus at their core.”
The Language Fair featured numerous languages and cultures:
- American Sign Language and Deaf Studies
- Arabic
- Chinese
- French
- German
- Greek
- Hebrew
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Latin
- Persian
- Portuguese
- Slavic and Eurasian languages, including Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Russian, Kazakh, Bashkir, and others
- Spanish
The event also featured representatives from the following programs, to share information about their offerings in language and culture as well:
- Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language and Literacy (CERCLL)
- Center for English as a Second Language (CESL)
- College of Humanities
- Critical Languages Program – including Cantonese, Danish, Hindi, Korean, Modern Greek, Norwegian, Scots-Gaelic, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai, Urdu, Vietnamese
- World Literature
- UA Study Abroad
The event was organized through the College of Humanities, and cosponsored by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the Center for Latin American Studies.
