Wordshop | Love Academic Language

How do you feel when you write and speak in Icelandic about migration, multilingualism and pedagogy?
Are there any concepts in languages that you know that you find difficult to translate into Icelandic? Who can make new words? How are languages connected with feelings?

Let's put our languages on the table and play with words. This event is for students, researchers, teachers, and everyone interested in writing or speaking in “academic language”. We’ll use creative methods and exercises to play with academic texts. We’ll talk about, challenge and invent concepts used to write about migration – multilingualism and pedagogy. We will develop a list of words and definitions that will be part of a dictionary developed within the “Love Speech” project led by the Reykjavík City Library. Language of the event: Icelandic and English, potentially other languages.

The workshop is free, open to all ages, and part of the Love Speech Library project.

Love Speech is a project that emphasizes lived realities, emotional literacy and ownership of the Icelandic language. As the title of the project implies, the emphasis is on playing with words and all those involved in the project are therefore encouraged to create new Icelandic words. The words are then collected in a new dictionary which is kept in the Reykjavik City Library and available to consult on location. In addition to the object of the dictionary, we are creating a platform to discuss what is dear to us - our experience of communication.

Event on Facebook

Facilitators:

Lara Wilhelmine Hoffmann (laraw@hi.is) is a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Education, University of Iceland, currently employed in the project „A Part and Apart? Education and social inclusion of refugee children and youth in Iceland“. Her educational background is in Sociology (PhD, University of Akureyri, Iceland) and Art Studies (Research Master ‘s, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands). Her work addresses issues such as migrant inclusion in smaller (language) communities and the potential of cultural productions as a tool for creating cohesive communities. Lara has been a long-term member of the writers collective and small publisher Ós Pressan and these activities are closely linked to her research.

Renata Emilsson Peskova (renata@hi.is) works as Assistant Professor at the School of Education, University of Iceland. Renata’s current research project Plurilingual Pedagogies for Diverse Classrooms explores how students and teachers can build on their linguistic repertoires to enhance their learning and teaching. Renata’s research interests include plurilingualism and multilingualism, language policies, heritage language education, and linguistic identities. Renata´s work in grassroots organizations Móðurmál – the Association on Bilingualism and Forum of Heritage Language Coalitions in Europe complements her academic work.

Further information:
Martyna Karolina Daniel
martyna.karolina.daniel@reykjavik.is