UW Offers Free Language, Culture Courses Via Zoom for Spring Semester

Registrations are now being accepted for the popular World Language and Culture Program (WLCP) at the University of Wyoming this semester. A total of 18 nonformal world language and culture courses are available free via Zoom.

The WLCP is a volunteer and service-learning program that offers free world language and culture classes to members of the UW community and to those interested throughout the state.

Classes in Arabic, Armenian, French, German, Hebrew, Korean, Russian, Spanish and Uzbek -- along with cultural classes -- begin Monday, Feb. 1, and end Saturday, May 8.

Classes 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 Dilnoza Khasilova, a UW graduate who earned her doctoral degree in literacy studies, and a project coordinator in UW’s English Language Center, and supported by Amy Roberts, an associate professor in the UW College of Education. It was launched in 2014 with the help of UW’s international community and graduate students, who received internal grants to buy curriculum materials and instructional technology.

“Due to COVID-19 restrictions and policies, we started offering our classes via Zoom last semester. We want to stay safe and healthy,” Khasilova says. “Going virtual allowed us to include the entire state of Wyoming, and some learners even are joining our classes from different states and countries.”

The WLCP provides opportunities to develop cross-cultural understandings; service learning and teaching; volunteerism; internationalization; and language and culture exposure. The volunteer WLCP facilitators and instructors include international students and faculty; exchange students; visiting scholars; and international community members.

The Associated Students of UW; the UW College of Education; the Global Engagement Office; and the Department of Modern and Classical Languages collaborate with the WLCP, assisting with scheduling the classrooms, recruiting volunteers and supporting cultural events on campus to celebrate world languages and cultures.

For more information, email Khasilova at dkhasilo@uwyo.edu.