Category Archives: Language courses

Seachtain na Gaeilge 2024

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Irish Language and Cultural Celebrations @Queen’s
Ceiliúradh Teanga agus Cultúrtha @Ollscoil na Ríona

The Language Centre team are delighted to invite you to join us in celebrating SEACHTAIN NA GAEILGE 2024.  All events below are open to all QUB students and staff and are free to attend.  If you would like to attend any of these events, please do register so that we can monitor registration numbers.

Tuesday 5th March: 12.30pm-1.30pm

Our Tráth na gCeist/Quiz gets Seachtain na Gaeilge underway here at Queen’s. Questions will be General Knowledge and will be asked as Gaeilge/in Irish. Teams will be provided with an Irish speaker, if required. Places are limited, so please book early.

Registration

Wednesday 6th March: 10.00am
Scoil an Droichid will celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge with us, as they visit the QFT to enjoy the Irish Language version of ‘Puffin Rock And The New Friends’.

Wednesday 6th March: 2.30pm
Acclaimed Irish Language film, Tarrac, comes to the QFT as part of Seachtain na Gaeilge 2024. This film is subtitled in English and is Rated 15. Seating is limited, so please book early.

Registration

Thursday 7th March: 12.30pm-1.45pm
Dr. Fionntán de Brún, Professor of Modern Irish in Maynooth University and Award-winning Creative Writer, guides us on a bilingual walk & talk around Queen’s and the surrounding area, exploring the history behind our local place names.

Registration

Tuesday 12th March: 12.30pm-1.30pm
Yoga Instructor, Nuala Ní Scolláin, guides us through a Yoga class…in Irish! Suitable for all levels of Yoga and Irish! Very limited spaces.

Registration

Wednesday 13th March: 1.00pm-2.00pm
We are teaming up with Queen’s Campus Run during University Wellbeing Week for a Run/Walk…in Irish! Get your steps and your ‘cúpla focal’ in one go! Choose your own distance…and pace!

Registration

Thursday 14th March: All day (9.00am-4.00pm) ‘Comhrá-thon’ is a day-long conversation…in Irish! We invite you to join us as we keep the conversation flowing throughout the day @Junction Café.

‘Comhrá-thon’ will conclude with our ‘Ciorcal Comhrá’, where we invite everyone for refreshments, music, and chat as Gaeilge/in Irish!

Email mark.harte@qub.ac.uk with your preferred 30-minute slot and the names of those taking part.

Registration

Happy International Mother Language Day

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This annual observance, which takes place on 21st February every year, is a celebration of cultural and linguistic diversity.

This afternoon, our Language Centre team joined the celebration of multilingualism at the launch of a new Staff Network for Promoting Linguistic Diversity & Minority Languages. This well-attended event is a wonderful celebration of a belief in the power of language to connect people. Preserving, respecting and learning languages is so important for building tolerance and empathy in our divided world.

Language – A Bridge; Not a Barrier!

Don’t forget that registration opens for our Spring term courses on 1st March, via our Language Centre Website.

Welcome back to Winter Term

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Welcome back to Language Classes and TLE!

The Language Centre 2nd semester classes kick off today Monday 15th and wish all the learners a great start!

Tandem Language Exchange activities restart from this Wednesday 17th January. All Queen’s students and staff members are welcome to attend TLE events throughout the academic year, whether they sign up for the language courses or not.

For those who sign up for both, it can be complementary way to develop your language skills with a potential language partner, with whom you can work with a buddy from another culture for mutual support. For those who are unable to attend a language class, perhaps joining our TLE will be a viable option for you to keep your flame of enthusiasm burn.

Welcome back and enjoy your learning!

Celebrating World Arabic Language Day

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Happy World Arabic Language Day!

As the world commemorates World Arabic Language Day on December 18th, we are pleased to have Wejdan, a PhD student who speaks Arabic as her native language, to reflect on the richness of the Arabic language.

My name is Wejdan, and as a proud Saudi, the Arabic language is a source of identity, which serves as a foundation of Saudi culture and heritage. Arabic is poetic and has been cherished for centuries, with a rich literature, science, philosophy, and religion history. It is a language that exhibits diversity in dialects and accents across Arab countries. Saudi Arabia is home to several dialects, reflecting the country’s diverse geography and cultural heritage, making Saudi Arabia so vibrant and captivating.

You will notice a palm-shaped bookmark in the photo. This palm is a symbol deeply rooted in my culture, representing generosity and hospitality. It serves as a reminder of the values we hold dear as Saudis and the warm welcome we extend to others.

In my pursuit of embracing cultural diversity and expanding my language skills, I have recently joined the Language Center activities. I am excited to start this journey, exploring other languages like Japanese. The book in the photo above is an Arabic handbook to learning the Japanese language, exemplifying the bridge between cultures and the pursuit of knowledge.

Let us appreciate the power and beauty of the Arabic language together. World Arabic Language Day is such a chance to promote cross-cultural exchange and understanding.

Learn Arabic, attend cultural events, discover traditional arts and crafts, and interact with Arab people.

Sign up for a Language Centre course

Click here to visit the Language Centre website for more course information and registration.

Registration will close on Thursday 11 January at 5pm and classes will commence week beginning Monday 15 January. We recommend that you register early to avoid disappointment.

Tandem Language Exchange Live

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Calling all students and staff members who are keen to boost language exchanges!

Following the initial Tandem Language Exchange (TLE) meeting last Friday (13/10), the second TLE meeting is set for this Friday (20/10) from 1 pm to 3 pm, at the Auditorium, McClay Library.

All welcome and bring your friends/colleagues along! If you have not registered for the TLE programme yet, please remember to sign up for it before coming to attend, which will facilitate your access onsite.

For more information, click here.

Happy International Friendship Day

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“The International Day of Friendship was proclaimed in 2011 by the UN General Assembly with the idea that friendship between peoples, countries, cultures and individuals can inspire peace efforts and build bridges between communities.

The resolution places emphasis on involving young people, as future leaders, in community activities that include different cultures and promote international understanding and respect for diversity.”

– UN

At Queen’s, we have seen friendship developing in many ways, one of which is through joining our Tandem Language Exchange (TLE) programme. As Luisa, a German student in exchange of her language for Mandarin Chinese with Lingzhu, said, “What started off as a language partnership soon turned into a real friendship and apart from learning German and Chinese we also go running together and spend time as friends.”

While it is quiet on campus during the summer break, those who are keen to develop their language skills through TLE can still maintain their language partnership onsite or online. The new round of TLE events will begin after the new academic year starts, so enjoy your summer time (and with old friends) and be prepared to look for new language partners starting from October 2023.

To register for TLE, sign up via go.qub.ac.uk/tandemlanguage

Happy UN French Language Day

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Bonjour! Did you know today, the 20th March, is the UN French Language Day? Joyeuse journée de la langue Française !

On this special day, Manon Merle, a French student doing Politics at Queen’s School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, shared with us her experience of coming to study at Queen’s with her language exchange needs.

I am Manon, a French native speaker studying at Queen’s as an Erasmus student. And there are quite a few Erasmus students from France like me studying on campus! We are very eager to get to know you!

In my home university in France I study political science and am going to apply for a master in the ecological transition. I have decided to study abroad in Belfast mostly to improve my skills in English, to discover new people, a new city, a new culture and a new educational system. Many other French students have the same idea as I have, and we hope to contribute to Queen’s as a vibrant French-speaking community. As I hope this experience here to help me with my English, I recently signed up for the Tandem Language Exchange programme. So, I’ll be happy to promote my native language as well as to learn other languages from you!

To learn French (or the other languages) with us Language Centre, visit www.qub.ac.uk/lc (or scan the QR code) and sign up for the classes which will commence week beginning Monday 24 April 2023.

To find a language partner for language exchange, visit Tandem Language Exchange (TLE) programme. The coming TLE session is scheduled on Wed 22 March between 11:00 and 12:00 at the Training Room 2, McClay Library.

LC Course Enrolment 2023 Spring

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Happy March! We are pleased to announce that the Language Centre spring course enrolment starts from Wednesday 1st March, for the classes to commence week beginning Monday 24th April 2023.

Online registration will be closed on Thursday 20th April and we welcome all to make an early registration to avoid disappointment. Class schedule and registration links are accessible via Language Centre website.

Celebrating International Mother Language Day

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Happy International Mother Language Day!

Observed on the 21st February every year since 2000 it was created by UNESCO to address the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity for sustainable societies.

The Language Centre at Queen’s is committed to promoting language learning and use in different contexts of education for a variety of purposes. We also value the richness of languages and cultures brought in by staff and students to Queen’s as the main part of the assets of our multicultural campus. We believe that linguistic diversity is a key feature of university campus life, and part of our Equality Policy. 

To celebrate the International Mother Language Day we would like to invite you to join us in our Tandem Language Exchange (TLE) programme, via which you may find language partners to swap with each other’s native language in a mutually supportive and respectful way.

For more details and registration information, please check the TLE page or scan the QR code below for a quick access. The coming TLE session is scheduled on Wednesday 22nd February 2023.

Have a great start

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Happy return and new start!

We are pleased to have met quite a number of our international students, including the new cohort of Erasmus/Study Abroad students today at the Tandem Language Exchange event and the SU Welcome event at the Graduate School Social Space today! All seemed very keen and enthusiastic about starting their journey of language learning and intercultural exchange at Queen’s and elsewhere. 

We look forward to the language course and academic programme start from the next week onward and welcome more students, as well as staff members, to join us in the coming round of enrolment and related events.

  • Tandem Language Exchange at Queen’s
  • Tandem Language Exchange at Queen’s
  • SU Welcome event at The Graduate School

And, happy weekend to you all!