Teaching visit at ITESO University in Mexico

​Vigilija Žiūraitė, a Spanish lecturer at VMU Institute of Foreign Langauges, participated in an Erasmus+ teaching visit at ITESO University in Guadalajara, Mexico, from March 10 to 14.

During her visit, Vigilija Žiūraitė delivered lectures to students enrolled in the Bachelor of Translation and Interpretation programme within the Department of Foreign Languages. She also conducted a Lithuanian language and culture workshop open to the entire university community. She was pleased to observe that both students and teachers showed a keen interest in Lithuania, actively attending the sessions and engaging with the country’s history, customs, and socio-political landscape. Additionally, V. Žiūraitė shared her insights on Lithuania’s position in global politics during an interview organised by ITESO’s Sociopolitical and Legal Studies Department (video on Youtube).​

Colleagues in the Foreign Languages Department, Director Sarah Joanne Brown and Lecturer Martha Carillo Flores, ensured a welcoming and enriching experience for V. Žiūraitė. Beyond her academic engagements, they organised cultural excursions to Tlaquepaque, Tequila, and Puerto Vallarta cities, providing her with a deeper knowledge of Mexico’s cultural diversity. According to Vigilija Žiūraitė, Mexico remains an underrated region about which little is known, and conversely, Lithuania is not widely recognised there. Therefore, such Erasmus+ visits offer a unique opportunity not only to explore another country’s culture, acquire new knowledge, and establish valuable connections but also to promote the names of Lithuania and VMU.​

 

Guests from the University of Silesia

Last week, the IFL hosted four language teachers from the University of Silesia in Poland. Iwona Sznicer and Urszula Michalik gave English lectures and shared their knowledge on developing intercultural competence, while Miroslawa Michalska-Suchanek and Robert Bonkowski gave lectures to the students of Polish A1 and talked about the Polish language, culture, food and holidays.

The University of Silesia is one of the partners of the Transform4Europe University Alliance, so we have been very pleased recently to receive either guests or IFL lecturers on a teaching visit to the university every semester.

 

German Courses for Beginners

 The opportunity for students to take part in a full beginners Online German course from April 22 onwards until July 18 which will take place Monday and Thursday from 14.30 to 16.00 CET.

Participation in the course is free of charge, but places are limited. Up to 6 ECTS points can be granted. Interested students should directly contact me (lukas.redemann@uni-saarland.de) with their full name, student e-mail address, home university until April 3rd, 12.00 CET. 

You can find out more about the institute offering these courses here: https://www.uni-saarland.de/en/global/german-courses/semester-courses.html

But please note that the registration modalities are the ones mentioned in this mail and not the ones on the website as this is a special offer.

IFL hosted a visit by Aleš Janoušek from the Landesverband der Volkshochschulen Sachsen-Anhalt

From 10 to 14 March, the Institute of Foreign Languages hosted a visit by Aleš Janoušek from the Landesverband der Volkshochschulen Sachsen-Anhalt e.V., the association for adult education in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.

In addition to teaching various groups of German language learners, Aleš also presented his activities at the Foreign Language Institute. During this visit there was also time for discussions about possible joint projects and cooperation between the institute and the association.

Activities implemented under the Erasmus+ programme.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Co-Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

Open Competition for Scholarship of Drs. V. and S. Čepukėnas

On the initiative of Neila Baumilienė, an alumna of Vytautas Magnus University and the Executive Director of the New York Office of the Kazickas Family Foundation, and with the support of the Kazickas Family Foundation, a scholarship in memory of Drs. Vaclovas and Dr. Stefanija Čepukėnai was established at Vytautas Magnus University. The daughters of Drs. V. and S. Čepukėnai, Rasa and Milda, also contribute financially to this scholarship. The aim of the scholarship is to foster the French language and Francophone culture by enabling the most active students to deepen their learning and study it further, as well as to promote and spread it in society.

The Scholarship amount in 2025 is €4 000 (four thousand euros); applications are accepted until March 31, 2025.

More about it read hear

 

Second-graders from Užliedžiai School-Multifunctional Centre visit the Institute of Foreign Languages

On 28 February, UKI was delighted by a fun-filled buzz – the second-graders of Užliedžiai School-Multifunctional Centre were the guests. They were met by UKI Director Dr. Terese Ringailiene and international students – Cianne from Canada, Parminder from India and Jose from Portugal. The students told the children about their home countries and traditions. Cianne taught a children’s song in French and Jose told a story.

Parminder was particularly popular, telling about the traditional Holi celebration, during which participants sprinkle each other with coloured paint, and revealing why they always wear a turban. The children peppered the students with questions about their home countries and Lithuania. The meeting was like a nice trip around the world.

VMU celebrates Mother Language Day

On 21 February, the Institute of Foreign Languages celebrated the already traditional Mother Language Day. During the language lectures, lecturers of the Institute of Foreign Languages spoke about dialects and other varieties of the language they teach, and from 10 am onwards, both VMU students and Transform4Europe University Alliance partners were invited to take part in a fun and interactive talk show / game “Guess my Language”.

The Vice-Rector of Communication of VMU, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vilma Bijeikienė, welcomed the diversity of languages at VMU and the T4EU University Alliance and the cooperation with its partners as an opportunity to open up new possibilities. Dr. Teresė Ringailienė, Director of IFL, wished both to love and preserve the Lithuanian language, which has survived very difficult historical periods, and to appreciate and enjoy other languages, because historically Lithuania is a multilingual and multicultural country, and international students bring their own languages, cultures, and attitudes to our daily life.

The game for all Alliance students was hosted by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jaq Greenspon. We learnt many interesting things about their countries and cultures from the international students, and the participants were able to hear not only Ukrainian, Portuguese or Turkish, but also the really unusual languages such as Malayalam, Cornish, Cantonese, Irish… The participants who were the best at identifying languages were awarded prizes, and everyone definitely enriched their knowledge and had fun.

More events took place at VMU: on 20 February, an event dedicated to the Ukrainian language took place, and on 21 February, lecturers of specialised subjects were invited to speak in their own dialect. In the evening, everyone enjoyed a concert by Rokas Kašėta, a guest from Dzūkija, and an open mic, where everyone could read their own work.

More about the event: https://www.vdu.lt/lt/vdu-vyko-renginiai-gimtosios-kalbos-dienos-proga/

Creative writing workshop with writer Bárbara Mingo from Spain

27 February, 11.00 am A creative writing workshop in Spanish with Spanish writer Bárbara Mingo Costales will take place at Vytautas Magnus University (V. Putvinskio g. 23, Room 002) on 27 November 27-27 at 11 am. The event is organised in cooperation with the Embassy of the Kingdom of Spain in Lithuania. The language of the event is Spanish.


Bárbara Mingo Costales (Santander, 1978) graduated in Audiovisual Communication from Complutense University of Madrid. She is a co-founder of the film magazine Cabeza Borradora and has published books of poetry, short stories and essays, including The Wave (2021) and Lloro porque no tengo sentimientos (2024), which won the Tigre Juan prize. Vilnis (2021) is dedicated to the Lithuanian painter and composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis. The author uses a suggestive and fragmented structure to explore the artist’s work and his synthesis of visual and sound arts.

Bárbara Mingo Costales is coming to Lithuania at the invitation of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Spain to participate in the annual Book Fair in Vilnius. On the morning of 27 February, she will also meet the VMU community in Kaunas. All those interested in literature, Spanish language and culture are cordially invited to attend. A2 level of Spanish and above is required.

Contact: Vigilija Žiūraitė, Spanish lecturer at VMU UKI, e-mail: vigilija.ziuraite[eta]vdu.lt.

Please note that the event may be filmed and/or photographed and you may be featured in photographs or videos of the event, which may be published in various media.

Merry Christmas from Institute of Foreign Languages!

The festive season is often associated with a source of light and warmth: candles, light garlands, a fireplace or the Star of Bethlehem. On the occasion of Christmas and the coming New Year, we wish you true and bright festive joy! May your life be full of light in all seasons, and may your heart burn with creativity, enthusiasm and hope!
Sincerely yours,
VMU Institute of Foreign Languages

Sustainable Multilingualism 2025

The Institute of Foreign Languages of Vytautas Magnus University and the Language Teachers’ Association of Lithuania are pleased to invite you to the 8th International Scientific Conference “Sustainable Multilingualism 2025”, which will be held in Kaunas, Lithuania, on 29–31 May 2025. Abstract submission is open until 17 February 2025.

The aim of the Conference is to bring together language policymakers, researchers in language and multilingual competences, teachers, students, and all those who are interested in multilingualism to share their experiences and insights.

The first two days of the Conference will focus on research topics related to multilingualism in society (implementation of language policy, preservation of languages, enforcement of linguistic rights, etc.); language teaching/learning and the development of multilingual and intercultural competence; multilingualism and professional practice; the development of the teacher’s multilingual competence; and the contemporary Lithuanian language, which is the basis of our multilingual

competence. On the third day, the Conference participants will be invited to explore Lithuania and its cultural heritage on a guided excursion in Dzūkija.

The keynote speakers of the Conference, world-renowned scholars, will present their latest research on the challenges faced in language teaching/learning and translation and on the future of a multilingual world. This year’s Conference programme includes four keynote speeches that will be given by the following speakers:

· Dr. Karina Firkavičiūtė, who is the Head of the Lithuanian Karaim Association of Culture, a civil servant of the EU Research Executive Agency, an associate professor of Humanities, a musicologist, a member of the Lithuanian Composers’ Union, and a holder of a Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary European Studies.

· Dr. Jūratė Ruzaitė, who is a Professor at the Department of Foreign Languages, Literary and Translation Studies at Vytautas Magnus University. She has rich experience in (inter)national research projects, including a national project “Semantika-2” (2018–2019), which developed software for automatic detection of offensive online comments in Lithuanian. Her research interests include sociolinguistics, pragmatics, discourse analysis, language and ideology, hate speech, propaganda and disinformation.

· Johan Sandberg McGuinneis, who is a South Saami and Scottish Gaelic poet, traditional yoik singer, writer, literary scholar and language activist, the president of Tjállegoahte, the Saami Writers’ Centre in Sweden, and the Regional Representative for Sápmi in the Swedish Writers’ Union.

· Dr. John W. Schwieter, who is a Professor of Psychology, Linguistics, and Spanish at Wilfrid Laurier University and adjunct professor of Linguistics at McMaster University, both in Canada. Dr. Schwieter’s research interests include cognitive and neuroscientific approaches to multilingualism and language acquisition; translation, interpreting, and cognition; and second language teaching and learning. He has published more than 100 journal articles and book chapters and is the author or editor of 23 books.

Abstract submission and registration for the Conference “Sustainable Multilingualism 2025” are open until 17 February.

Abstracts may be submitted in English, Spanish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, French, German and Ukrainian.

We kindly invite you to register, share your research or simply join us to listen to the papers and converse in a foreign language with the Conference guests, which will help you improve your multilingual competence. Abstract submission and registration are available on the Conference website.