Global Language Initiative

The Global Language Initiative (GLI) is a collaborative effort of over fifteen departments, programs, Colleges, centres, and institutes to increase access to second (and third) language instruction across disciplines. The GLI is committed to promoting intercultural competence and global fluency, supporting the revitalization of lesser-taught and Indigenous languages, and engaging local and global communities.

These are some of the events organized by the GLI:

Global Language Initiative Symposium

January 28th & 29th, 2022 (virtual)

GLI hosted a two-day symposium, which featured presentations on language diversity, multilingualism, and language education, an administrator roundtable, artistic intervention, and a virtual student café. The symposium is scheduled to repeat again in January 2023. 

Screenshot of GLI symposium participants

A Zoom screenshot showing students and faculty from various University of Toronto language departments convene for the first GLI symposium.

We were honored to welcome Dr. Lindsay Morcom, Canada Research Chair in Language Revitalization and Decolonial Education, as the invited keynote speaker. She presented a lecture titled Language Revitalization, Identity, and Community Wellbeing: Why Indigenous Language Revitalization is About so Much More than Language. 

Dr. Lindsay Morcom (Ardoch Algonquin First Nation) is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at Queen's University. She earned her Master's degree in Linguistics at First Nations University through the University of Regina in 2006. She then completed her doctorate in General Linguistics and Comparative Philology as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University in 2010. She is an interdisciplinary researcher with experience in education, Aboriginal languages, language revitalization, linguistics, and reconciliation. She is of Anishinaabe, German, and French heritage and embraces the distinct responsibility this ancestry brings to her research and to her contribution to reconciliation. She is an active member of the Kingston urban Indigenous community and works collaboratively with other organizers of the Kingston Indigenous Languages Nest for urban Indigenous language revitalization. 

 

Beyond the Monolingual Disposition: Plurilanguaging as Empowerment

October 29th, 2021 (virtual)

The fall speaker series continued in October with Dr. Enrica Piccardo's virtual talk “Beyond the Monolingual Disposition: Plurilanguaging as Empowerment”. Dr. Enrica Piccardo is a Professor in the Languages and Literacies Education Program (Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning) and the Head of the Centre for Educational Research in Languages and Literacies at OISE. Her research is centred around Second/Foreign Language learning and teaching, plurilingualism and bi-/multilingualism, the impact of the Common European Framework of Reference on language teaching and assessment, complexity theories, and creativity in language acquisition. 

 

Language Edge event poster

The Language Edge: Multilingualism in the Job Market

September 10th, 2021 (virtual)

As the first panel event in the 2021/22 speaker series, GLI proudly presents "The Language Edge: Multilingualism in the Job Market." On September 10th, students and faculty joined graduates of the University of Toronto’s language departments for a conversation about how knowledge of foreign languages and intercultural competence can help you in the job market and in your future career.

A recording of this session can be accessed here by using the password: lmxVh4*Ra&.