UW Offers Free Language and Culture Sessions Via Zoom

Registrations are now being accepted for the popular World Language and Culture Program (WLCP) at the University of Wyoming this semester. A total of 28 free nonformal world language and culture sessions are available via Zoom. Registrations will be accepted through noon Saturday, Feb. 3.

The WLCP is a volunteer and service-learning program that offers free world language and culture sessions to members of the UW community and those interested throughout the state. The WLCP is committed to 21st-century linguistic and cultural literacy to cultivate lifelong learning, appreciation and enthusiasm for world languages and cultures.

Language and culture sessions in Arabic, Armenian, Bengali, Burmese, Chinese, English, German, Georgian, Hebrew, Japanese, Kazakh, Russian, Spanish, Sinhala, Turkish, Ukrainian, Uzbek and Yoruba -- along with aspects of culture -- begin Monday, Feb. 5, and will end Friday, May 10.

“The program views language and culture as being inseparable and strives to integrate the teaching and learning of both simultaneously,” says Dilnoza Khasilova, the WLCP director. She is a UW assessment/scholarship of teaching and learning specialist and a permanent visiting scholar. “The mission is to provide access to adults who want to learn world languages and gain awareness of world cultures in a nonformal setting.”

Sessions will be offered virtually throughout the day and early evening, generally once a week. To view the schedule or to register for a class, go to www.uwyo.edu/wlcp/index.html. The schedule also can be found on Facebook.

The WLCP was developed in 2013 by Khasilova, a graduate of the College of Education and a UW alumna who earned her doctoral degree in literacy studies and curriculum and instruction. The program serves as an example of a graduate student master’s project that turned into an alumni service program that collaborates closely with UW’s Global Engagement Office and other departments and offices on campus.

The program was launched in 2014 with the support of Dilnoza’s adviser and mentor, Amy Roberts, an associate professor in the UW College of Education, and with the help of UW’s local and international communities, including UW’s graduate and undergraduate students, faculty, staff, exchange students, Fulbright scholars and visiting scholars who volunteered to teach their target languages and cultures.

“For the past four years, we started offering our sessions virtually via Zoom. This transition helped us continue offering WLCP sessions virtually again this semester,” Khasilova says. “Going virtual in 2020 allowed us to be inclusive, add more diverse languages and offer our service to the entire state of Wyoming and beyond. For example, some learners even are joining our sessions from different parts of the world.”

She adds that the WLCP provides opportunities to build a community of learners; connect with global alumni; develop cross-cultural understanding; provide service-learning and teaching; develop volunteerism; leverage engagement and internationalization efforts; and bring language and cultural exposure.

Khasilova says the WLCP is thankful to all past and current partners such as UW departments, offices and centers, including the Associated Students of UW; the College of Education; the Global Engagement Office (International Students and Scholars, Education Abroad, Center for Global Studies); the Department of Modern and Classical Languages; Service, Leadership and Community Engagement (SLCE) office (volunteer hub); School of Politics, Public Affairs and International Studies; Arabic and Middle East Studies Program; and Institutional Communications and Marketing for all of their collaborations.

“These collaborations include recruiting volunteers, supporting cultural events on campus to celebrate world languages and cultures, marketing and advertising, and assisting with scheduling classrooms and providing space in the past,” Khasilova says.

For more information, email WLCP at wlc@uwyo.edu or Khasilova at dkhasilo@uwyo.edu, or follow on social media at @worldlanguageandcultureprogram.