World Languages Week celebrates linguistic diversity at UCC

By Daniel Botros, Year 11
The annual, student-run event took place from January 13 to 17 and was filled with dynamic programming.
With 14 cultural affinity groups at the school, we believe it’s absolutely vital to recognize the College’s rich linguistic diversity. The role of languages in our daily lives is an important topic to explore, especially as we live in a linguistically diverse city. The message conveyed during the week was that language is crucial to the identity of both an individual and their community. We hope that events like these will lead to a more peaceful and compassionate society. 
 
The week started off with guest speaker Mark Hachem’s assembly speech stressing the importance of being curious about language learning and combating the fear of exclusion, followed by a session by Hachem on the Arabic language.
 
Our Pluralism Fair was incredibly successful, featuring cuisine and music from ten different language and culture clubs.
 
Tuesday began with an advising session focusing on language and its relationship to empathy, and ended with a well-received live cooking demonstration from the Chinese club.
 
On Wednesday, the Jewish Culture Club held a challah bread baking session, while the Spanish club organized a salsa dance with Bishop Strachan School students. Thursday marked the annual poutine buffet at the Upper Dining Hall, as well as another advising session around technology’s role in pluralism. Many students also attended a discussion with Francois Bergeron, editor-in-chief of Toronto francophone newspaper L’Express.
 
The week concluded with an insightful presentation by Luka Bulatovic, Year 9, and Chas Dingle, Year 8, about their exchange in France and an intense Pamplemousse tournament. This year’s champion was Year 9 student Jordan Osten.

The week was a huge success and the World Languages Committee will be working diligently to ensure next year’s is even better.


For more photos and videos of the event, please visit UCC's Instagram page.
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