Languages Week Celebrated at Alexandria

The World Languages Department at the Alexandria Campus hosted Celebrate Languages Week, March 14 to 17. The week kicked off with the screening of two films, “The Postman,” in Italian and “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,” in Spanish, which were followed by discussions moderated by professors Nadya Malagò and Eddy Arana. On March 16, Professor Lama Hamdan showed the Arabic language film “Amreeka” and led the discussion that followed.

 

Matt Todd, Patricia Escamilla-Hamm (mother of former NOVA student Patrick Hamm) and Martha Davis.

Professors Martha Davis, Laura Franklin and Dali Tan hosted an international poetry reading on Tuesday. World Language students recited poems in Russian, Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese. This event also featured a display of selected texts from a new collection to the Alexandria Campus Library donated in honor of former student, Patrick Hamm. Hamm was an avid reader and caring friend who took pride in his Mexican heritage. After he died suddenly on October 9, 2015 at the age of 32, his friends from his fall 2014 Spanish 202 class raised $500 to purchase Mexican and Mexican-American literature and nonfiction, in Spanish and English. Each book contains a bilingual bookplate indicating that it was donated in Hamm’s honor.

Shonette Grant, Terry Nealon (CEO of Fishtree) and Martha Davis.

On Thursday three events were featured. In celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, Terry Nealon, Alexandria resident, native of County Mayo, Ireland, and CEO of the educational software firm, Fishtree, presented a “Celebration of Irish Culture and Language.” An International Karaoke Contest followed the presentation. Professor Amanda Trostle hosted the event, and Franklin and Hamdan served as faculty judges. The first, second and third place winners sang in Spanish, Chinese and French, respectively, and were presented with gift cards. Celebrate Languages Week activities concluded with a session of international board games for students of Spanish and Chinese, including Scrabble en español and mah jongg.

Also during Celebrate Languages Week, and under the direction of Professor Elizabeth Bull, the French Club decorated the Liberal Arts Division display case with images of La Francophonie.

From Intercom: http://blogs.nvcc.edu/intercom/2016/03/28/languages-week-celebrated-at-alexandria/