Digital language learning with Arabic speaking migrants

Linda Bradley, Faculty of Education, University of Gothenburg

Catering for the sizable number of migrants who have come to Europe from the Middle East is a huge challenge. Two areas that are mentioned as specifically important in terms of integration are learning the language and finding ways into professional life. Here, mobile technology can serve as a bridge to accessing language and work. This seminar addresses Arabic speaking migrants’ development of language and vocational skills and what role mobile technology can play as a mediator. Based on investigations of digital literacy among migrants in Sweden, the seminar will address affordances in mobile applications and online resources as tools for learning a new language and vocational skills.

Photos below

Iraqi Women Uprising: Through Visual Arts on Murals and Creative Language on Signs

Zeena Faulk, University of Warwick, PhD Researcher

Thursday 27th February 2020 17.00-18.00, Social Sciences S0.09

On October 1, 2019, peaceful protests broke out in most Iraqi cities. The reasons for the protest include the dissatisfaction with the government’s performance, lack of jobs, extensive foreign meddling in Iraq, and oppression as well as lack of civil liberties. University students, professors and workers led the first wave of protests, signalling for the first time no allegiance to any political and/or religious groups. However, the Iraqi government’s unexpected crackdown on the protesters led to the Tishreen (October) uprising, which swiftly gained traction throughout Iraq, which forced the Iraqi Prime Minister Abdul Mahdi to resign. Since then, Iraqi women have been taking to the streets to participate in the uprising, organize groups, treat the injured, provide food, write graffiti and chant alongside defiant men. This involvement of women in Iraq’s current political quagmire is unprecedented, particularly in Baghdad where women express themselves through graffiti and creative language on the signs. In this seminar, we will be looking at how texts and images are used to represent women in the currently troubled Iraq, and what that means with respect to women’s involvement in Iraq’s future politics.

Zeena's postgraduate-level work with Dr Chantal Wright challenges the notion of cultural nontransferability of satire by focusing on the political satire of post-2003 Iraq. Iraq experienced an explosion of political satire following the 2003 invasion and occupation by western powers, a flowering that presents particular challenges for translation due to its heavy reliance on cultural background and fleeting political context. Using reader response theory, Zeena's work intends to show that it is possible to go around such limitations in creative ways, rendering this satirical and critical response to war understandable to those with limited knowledge of Arabic and Middle Eastern culture and history.

Emma Mort - Care4Calais – a practical, humanitarian response to the refugee crisis on our doorstep. Social Studies S0.09 17:00 - 18:00

Emma Mort is a teacher, member of the National Education Union National Executive and campaigner and activist who has taken part in 8 volunteering trips with Care4Calais in the last 2 years.

Since the ‘Calais jungle’ was cleared in October 2016, many people believe that the refugee crisis in Northern France is over, yet this couldn’t be further from the truth. Across Northern France and Belgium hundreds of refugees are still living in the most desperate circumstances, having already undertaken difficult and dangerous journeys, suffering cruel and degrading treatment by the French authorities.

In this seminar, Emma will be speaking about the vital work that Care4cCalais do in delivering aid and support to refugees living in these conditions across Northern France and Belgium. In addition, she will be sharing her experiences of the practicalities of organising and delivering this aid as well as giving an insight into what life is like inside a refugee camp only 30 miles from the UK border. There will also be a chance to consider the importance of the humanitarian aspect to delivering aid and the Care4Calais ethos of treating everyone with dignity, recognising our common humanity and building relationships in order to provide essential social interaction and the much-needed help that other organisations aren’t able to.

This will be followed by a chance to ask questions about any issues that have been raised during the course of the seminar.

Lost in Translation - Workshop with Piers Ibbottson

Performing Shakespeare in other languages.

http://www.directingcreativity.co.uk/

https://www.wbs.ac.uk/about/person/piers-ibbotson

Wednesday 5th February 9.30-11.30, WBS Create

In this workshop we will look at the challenge of performing Shakespeare in translation.

One approach to the performing of Shakespeare pioneered by the Royal Shakespeare Company under the guidance of the renowned scholar and director John Barton and voice coach Cicely Berry, focused on the plays as spoken poetry. They focused on the language and developed an approach to performance that honoured the auditory nature of Elizabethan theatre (as opposed to visual) and emphasised the powerful and extraordinary poetry of Shakespeare. This was a shift away from modernism and the psychological approach taken by contemporary playwrights of the 50’s and 60’s when their work was being developed. Their emphasis on the text and the structure of the poetry, led to the development of an approach to acting and to training actors that encouraged a visceral, embodied connection with the language.

The workshop will use some of their methods and approaches in a practical, participatory session in which we will explore the connection between voice, verse and emotion.

We will then look at different translations of the same piece of text to investigate the impact on both the speaker and the audience of the same dramatic moment articulated in different languages: We will

Experience the embodiment of vowels and consonants in different languages

Investigate the ways different languages express emotion through sound

Examine speech acts and the ways they are embodied differently in different language

Explore the impact of the specific language on the manner and the content of an emotional moment

Examine different translations and their impact on our understanding in performance

Feedback

'I really enjoyed the workshop in the sense that it led us to explore the musicality of different languages. It helped me realized the non-translatable part between languages and made me think about what was missing in traditional ways of language teaching and learning. It is also quite interesting to know that this project is aimed to help across-culture communication in the business field since the problem might originate from our mindset for language teaching, which put too much attention to "meaning decoding" instead of cracking and embracing the uniqueness of different languages. I am interested in participating in workshops like this in the future.'

' I really enjoyed the workshop, I thought that the facilitator was incredibly knowledgeable and engaging.At multiple times while I was watching, I found myself wishing I were there in person to participate!

Many of the translations that were read were in Italian, so maybe there was that extra element of enjoyment for me as I was able to appreciate the difference between the English original and the Italian translation. But I also enjoyed when one of the participants read her translation of Shakespeare in Arabic. I have a very basic knowledge of Arabic but I was still able to appreciate the difference in the sound of the translation. I think it was a workshop that everyone could enjoy regardless of their language combination.'

On Tuesday 28^th January, we are pleased to welcome Prof Janice Carruthers, Professor of French Linguistics at Queen's University Belfast and Leader of the Sociolinguistics Strand of the major interdisciplinary project Multilingualism: Empowering Individuals, Transforming Societies (MEITS). It is her involvement with this project that forms the basis of our seminar. This is an excellent opportunity to engage with current research into how multilingual individuals and societies draw on multiple languages, cultures and modes of thought.

This Tuesday - Seminar - Dr. Joanne Lee

Language, memory and migration in the novels of Laura Pariani

Seminar - Award Winning Author and Activist Dr. Preti Taneja

The Syrian Conflict: How to Form Research Responses via Fieldwork with Refugees

Thursday 9th January 2020, Social Sciences, Cowling Room S2.77, 17.00-18.00

Seminar - International Artist and Activist Salma Zulfiqar

20th November 2019, 17.00-18.00 in Social Sciences A1.11

You can book a place by emailing MITN@Warwick.ac.uk or by booking on via SkillsForge. The event is free but we need numbers for catering and logistics so please let us know if you can join us.

Salma Zulfiqar is an International Artist and Activist working on migration. She will be speaking about her Migration Project and her work with Migrants and Refugees in the UK with relation to social inclusion and more recently about her lobbying at the EU Parliament. She will also be introducing her new film ' We are searching for life - Refugees ' a short spoken word film which calls for safe Migration and explores the issue of social cohesion of Syrian refugees in Birmingham. Please see the film here. Salma will also be sharing her experiences of working with migrants and refugees with the United Nations all over the world. This will be followed by a Q&A.

Salma's current creative projects, such as ARTconnects & The Migration Blanket, focus on empowering refugee and migrant women by promoting integration, working towards preventing hate crimes and extremism. Her artwork has been exhibited in London, Birmingham, Paris, Greece & Dubai and she has been celebrated as one of Birmingham's most inspirational women in the book Once Upon A Time in Birmingham - Women Who Dared to Dream. Salma has also worked all over the world with the United Nations raising awareness of humanitarian issues in conflict and developing countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, Egypt, Somalia, Chad and Kenya.

Winner of the Rising Star Award - Diversity 2019 powered by The Sunday Times

Asian Women of Achievement Awards 2019 Shortlist - Social & Humanitarian

Photos from the event