CLL’s outreach programme offers young and lifelong learners a slice of foreign language and life
Members of the CLL team at the Bishop Anstey High School’s Career Day in May 2024. PHOTOS: COURTESY THE CENTRE FOR LANGUAGE LEARNING
When Sarah, a second-year student in the Faculty of Food and Agriculture’s BSc Human Nutrition programme, attended the boba ice cream tasting event hosted by the Centre for Language Learning (CLL) in March 2024, she didn’t know what to expect. She discovered a vibrant and welcoming community.
“I met so many people who love Asian culture, just like me. It was amazing to bond with others while exploring something new,” she shares.
For Sarah, the event was more than just an introduction to boba tea creations; it was an opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals and gain a deeper appreciation for Asian culture.
This is the essence of the CLL’s outreach programme, an initiative created to inspire a love for languages, foster intercultural appreciation, and develop a sense of belonging in participants.
“Knowing a language and culture is something that opens up a new world of understanding for people,” says CLL French tutor Brendon Best. “It helps to paint life with more colour.”
While its core activities include interactive workshops, games, and craft sessions, its true value, organisers says, lies in empowering participants to connect with other cultures in meaningful ways. By blending cultural experiences with engaging, hands-on activities, the CLL is making language learning both accessible and enjoyable.
The sessions include interactive language workshops, where participants engage in immersive activities to learn basic conversational phrases in languages such as French, German, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish and Yoruba. The programme also offers games, cultural lessons and craft sessions for activities such as crêpe making, origami, paper cutting, and bookmark creation.
The CLL’s outreach team, consisting of both local and foreign staff, has already visited several schools over the years such as Bishop Anstey High School, Mucurapo West Secondary, St Benedict’s College, St Joseph Secondary, Trinity College East, and Caribbean Union College. These visits inspired many to explore new languages.
Apart from the joy and enthusiasm of the participants, the outreach programme success also has a major ripple. Teachers, community and business leaders, parents and students often share how the programme inspired them to integrate language learning into their own environments, fostering curiosity and cultural exchange.
Meg, a student of French and Chinese at the CLL, says that she and her friends who took part in the cultural events discovered that “learning a language is not just about communication. It’s about breaking barriers and connecting with others”.
She adds that “at the 2023 [CLL] Open House, I learned about Japanese children’s games and couldn’t wait to share this fun experience with a friend. It’s exciting to see how these activities inspire others to explore new cultures.”
For more information on the CLL outreach programme, contact them by email at CLL.FHE@sta.uwi.edu.