SFU Multilingual Week
February 24 - March 1, 2025
Multilingual Week (MLW) is SFU鈥檚 annual global connection on campus: your opportunity to meet new people with whom you may share language and cultural connections. To hear from different language speakers and language experts. To find out how language knowledge sets you up for success in your life and career.
Message from the President
Multilingual Week transforms the SFU experience by engaging with the university鈥檚 multiplicity of language speakers and as we celebrate together. Multilingual Week is a time of collaboration and respect. Everyone is welcome. We look forward to seeing you there!
Multilingual SFU proactively fosters an inclusive environment, where everyone - regardless of their native languages - feels valued and heard. This festival is about highlighting the ubiquitous presence of multilingualism in the university and contributing to a more equitable and inclusive campus where everyone can thrive.
2025 event schedule
Everything is free and everyone from the SFU community - students, faculty members, and staff - are invited to attend! All events occur at SFU's Burnaby campus unless noted otherwise.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24
- 11:00am-1:00pm - Film Screening
Presented by the Office of Francophone and Francophile Affairs and the French Student Union
In person, OFFA's Student Lounge, Cornerstone Building 198 - 11:00am-3:00pm - Booths
In person, South AQ 3000 level. No registration; everyone invited - 12:30-1:30pm - Talk
Presented by SFU's Linguistics
In person, Room RCB 7402, - 2:00-3:30pm - Panel
Presented by SFU's World Languages and Literatures
In person, AQ 5118 - 5:30-7:30pm - Reception and Keynote Panel
Presented by SFU's World Languages and Literatures
In person, AQ 3150, ; everyone invited
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25
- 11:00am-3:00pm - Booth
In person, South AQ 3000 level. No registration; everyone invited - 11:00am-2:00pm - Booth
Presented by SFU's Gender Sexuality and Women's Studies
In person, North AQ 3000 level. No registration; everyone invited - 12:30pm-3:30pm - Booth
Presented by International Student Services
In person, Global Student Center, AQ 2013. No registration; everyone invited - 2:00-3:00pm - Talk/Workshop
Presented by SFU's World Languages and Literatures
In Person, Room AQ 5118 - 3:00-4:00pm - Talk
Presented by SFU's Linguistics
In person, Room RCB 7402, - 4:30-6:30pm - Research keynote panel
Presented by SFU's World Languages and Literatures
In person, EDB 7618. ; everyone invited
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26
- 11:00am-3:00pm - Booths
In person, South AQ 3000 level. No registration; everyone invited - 12:00-2:00pm - Student Panel
Presented by SFU's World Languages and Literatures
In Person, AQ 5118 - 12:30pm-3:30pm - Booth
Presented by International Student Services
In person, Global Student Center, AQ 2013. No registration; everyone invited - 2:30-4:00pm - Social [EVENT CANCELLED]
Presented by SFU's World Languages and Literatures
In person, WMC 3250 [EVENT CANCELLED] - 5:00-7:20pm - Forum/Roundtable
Presented by SFU's World Languages and Literatures
In person, WMC 2220
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27
- 12:30am-1:30pm - Booth
Multilingual Snack and Prizes Hour
Presented by Fraser International College
In person, FIC 2360. No registration; everyone invited - 12:30pm-3:30pm - Booth
Presented by International Student Services
In person, Global Student Center, AQ 2013. No registration; everyone invited - 1:00-2:30pm - Panel
Presented by SFU's Center for Educational Excellence
Online, - 5:30-7:30pm - Alumni Panel
Presented by SFU's World Languages and Literatures
Hybrid, AQ 5118 - 5:30-8:30pm - Film Screening
Perfect Days by Wim Wenders
Presented by SFU's Urban Studies Program
In Person, Harbour Centre Room 7000,
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28
- 11:00am-12:30pm - Talk
Conference-discussion with Anne-Jos茅 Villeneuve
Presented by SFU鈥檚 Research Centre for Multidisciplinary Studies on the French-Speaking World - 1:30-2:30pm - Talk
Presented by SFU's Linguistics
In person, Room RCB 7402, - 2:30-4:00pm - Talk
Presented by SNF Centre for Hellenic Studies
In person, Room LIB 7200
SATURDAY, MARCH 1
- 7:30pm-9:30pm
Fontaine is an Innu author, poet and leading interdisciplinary artist.
The discussion will be followed by a cocktail reception and autograph session with the author.
In person, SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts. Free and open to all.
FAQs
Need help finding event locations? Use SFU's Campus Maps + Directions webpage. Select your campus first, then type in the room number. You can also download the SFU Snap app; it has a room finder, too. Download for and .
Messages from the organizers
"Multilingual SFU is a vibrant weeklong festival that brings together students, faculty, and staff to celebrate the myriad languages spoken at the university and in our surrounding community鈥hen institutions prioritize and embrace multilingualism, they begin to dismantle language barriers that can otherwise impede full participation and understanding鈥�.
-- Melek Ortabasi, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programming in FASS, the organizer of Multilingual SFU 2024
"Language is a powerful form of symbolic capital, often employed to validate, include, or exclude cultural groups within social spaces. By celebrating plurilingualism through collaboration with departments, units, student groups, and professional organizations, we aim for Multilingual SFU to illuminate power dynamics and highlight the unique experiences, contributions, and challenges faced by multilingual speakers. Ultimately, we strive to foster greater intercultural understanding and empathy within our community."
-- Jia Fei, Interim Chair of World Languages and Literatures, the organizer of Multilingual SFU 2025
Connect with our Multilingual Week Partners
is a multilingual space at SFU
The SLC provides support 尤物视频 students' writing, learning, and speaking through , , and semester-long .
In the SLC, we recognize that studying in English can be complex, especially for those who did not grow up thinking, speaking, and writing in that language. Having multiple languages to draw from can also support complex thinking and problem solving! What's more, multilingual students bring diverse perspectives and lived experiences that create richer conversations and deeper learning opportunities across SFU.
Students who want to practice their spoken English may be interested in our conversation pods and .
Students who are getting creative with their languages are encourage to submit their writing to our annual SLC writing contest in the category.
And all students are warmly invited to connect with us for our spring .
Office of Francophone and Francophile Affairs (OFFA)
Did you know that SFU is the only university in British Columbia that offers a variety of courses and programs taught in French at the undergraduate and graduate levels? With the Office of Francophone and Francophile Affairs, SFU is committed to contributing to the growth and vitality of the Francophonie by establishing strong ties with the community and offering an unparalleled student experience for all Francophones and Francophiles. Learn more.
The Centre for Educational Excellence 鈥� EAL Consultants
CEE鈥檚 EAL Consultants work collaboratively within the unit and with key stakeholders across the university to provide EAL support to SFU鈥檚 multilingual community. Seeking to counterbalance the yet still prevailing deficit positioning of EAL students (both domestic and international) (Marshall, 2009) in mainstream disciplinary classes, our team, emphasizing asset-based approaches, works with individual instructors (as well as at the program level) to resolve pedagogical challenges to better meet the needs of multilingual students thus allowing them to 鈥榮how what they know鈥� beyond the perceived impediment of language. To that end, we develop instructor-facing programming that foregrounds linguistically responsive pedagogy (LRP)鈥� 鈥�...a pedagogical approach taken up by faculty in what have been traditionally considered monolingual settings with the aims of providing well-supported teaching and learning and equitable outcomes for multilingual learners鈥� (Haan & Gallagher, 2021, p.3).
Haan, J., & Gallagher, C. (2021). Situating linguistically responsive instruction in higher education contexts: Foundations for pedagogical, curricular, and institutional support. TESOL Quarterly.
Marshall, S. (2009). Re-becoming ESL: multilingual university students and a deficit identity, Language and Education, 24(1), 41-56, DOI: 10.1080/09500780903194044
DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS (LING) | INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES PROGRAM (INLP)
The Department of Linguistics is committed to providing high quality scientific research into multilingualism, while also providing a learning and working environment that celebrates multilingualism. We believe that being multilingual is truly a superpower. Through our research initiatives, graduate studies program, and undergraduate program, we foster a cooperative and supportive spirit of collegiality for all of our students, staff, and faculty.
The Indigenous Languages Program (INLP) is housed by the Department of Linguistics. Our mission is the collective and individual empowerment of Indigenous peoples through education, using Indigenous knowledge systems, histories, ways of being, and learning. We partner with Indigenous speech communities and organizations to enable Indigenous language learning on-site within the communities. Since 1993, we have offered courses in more than 18 languages in British Columbia and Yukon.
Participating SFU units
We'd like to thank the SFU community for coming together to make this event happen. Without everyone's collaborative contributions, this "potluck" of an event couldn't have happened.
- Arts Central
- Centre for Educational Excellence
- Department of Economics
- Department of English
- Department of French
- Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies
- Global Asia Program
- Department of Global Humanities
- Indigenous Languages Program
- Department of Indigenous Studies
- Department of Linguistics
- Department of Psychology
- Department of World Languages and Literatures
- Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
- Faculty of Education
- Office of Francophone and Francophile Affairs
- School of Communication
- Urban Studies
- International Services for Students
- 鈥� more being added as units join this year鈥檚 programming
Thank you
We'd also like to extend the warmest and largest thank you to SFU's Centre for Educational Excellence (CEE) for birthing Multilingual SFU in 2022. CEE carried it through 2023, while FASS continued the work in 2024 before handing over programming to WLL for 2025. We recognize that multilingualism is a superpower of a great population of the university - students, faculty members, and staff - and this is something to celebrate every week of the year. We appreciate the support and enthusiasm shared by everyone at the university to take the time to commemorate the importance of multilingualism.