June has been the month of languages for students at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) with classes taking place to teach them the basics of a number of world languages.
Dozens of students took part in the sessions through #DMUglobal to help improve their speaking and understanding of Arabic, Italian, Japanese and French.
DMU students have been benefitting from international experiences on campus, in the UK and overseas since #DMUglobal began in 2013, gaining valuable skills and experience to help them stand out to employers around the world.
Nine students took part in a two-day language course last week to cover the fundamental elements of Italian, with a number of international students from countries including Brazil, Poland, Japan and India getting involved.
Marina Cangussu, from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, is on an exchange year at DMU as part of her Health Studies degree. She said: “I love Italy and learning the language can only increase my enjoyment of the country.
“I’m hoping I might do an exchange or work there sometime in the future.
“It’s really good for learning lots of useful things, including the main verbs and getting directions, ordering food for example.”
Gonzalo Iturregui, tutoring the Italian course, said: “This is an intensive course where I focus on the basics of grammar - which is key - the main verbs, greetings and vocabulary.
“The learning is rooted in the practical aspects of getting around a city, in ordering food and enjoying Italian culture.”
Mohammed Laher, Imam and Muslim Chaplain for DMU, taught students some aspects of Arabic during another class.
He said: “I was approached by #DMUglobal to do some work regarding internationalisation.
“Due to my skills and experience I was able to improve integration at DMU via teaching another language and help students understand another culture and its values with these Arabic lessons.
“I think the students are quite open to opportunities –this will increase their employability in that they have knowledge of another language.”
Ammarah Omerjee, a second year Accounting and Economics student who took part in the Arabic class, said: “It is really enjoyable. Our teacher is so good to listen to and he makes it so much fun to learn.
“Before these lessons Arabic seemed so hard but now that I am learning it I have found out the characters are the same and it is much easier.
“Personally I want to learn a couple of languages including Arabic and as long as you can keep practising it, you can go to an Arabic speaking country – at the moment I can get by with a basic conversation.
“I would definitely recommend these lessons through #DMUglobal to allow you to speak to other Arabic speakers. It has been very enjoyable.”
There are other opportunities coming for students to try their hand at a foreign language, with a six-week #DMUglobal Mandarin course taking place this summer at the on-campus Confucius Institute.
Posted on Friday 19 June 2015