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This year's Language Campus Seminar was intended to strengthen the sense of togetherness within the Language Campus. The seminar was opened by  Language Campus Chair Katja Mäntylä who explained the history and scope for action of the Language Campus.

The keynote speech was given by Marko Siitonen on the topic of “language of the community”. He spoke about how the basis of every community is the sharing of something in common and how community develops through communication and interaction. The speech was rounded off by a community building thumb wrestling tournament at the end of the speech. After the thumb wrestling, participants were further encouraged to socialize through speed friending bingo.

Community was promoted in different ways during the parallel sessions. Topical issues common to Language Campus members were addressed in the Multilingual Work Community and Artificial Intelligence for Language Campus members workshops, and communality was also encouraged through a less academic programme in the form of campus tours, voice care workshops and singing bowl relaxation.

In the Multilingual Work Community workshop, held by Adrienn Károly and Marc Perkins, experiences of the links between language choices and a sense of belonging were shared, and reflections on how to build a linguistically accessible work community for all were explored. In the AI workshop, Jenny Tarvainen and Pasi Hämäläinen presented different aspects of ethical considerations and responsible use of AI in the language field, while Dmitri Leontjev and Ari Huhta presented an AI tool developed in the DD-LANG project to support English language literacy in secondary school students.

Mikko Jäkälä and Tamás Péter Szabó worked as campus guides on the Seminaarinmäki architecture and history tours. Anne Alanne's voice care workshop provided advice and exercises for a lighter way of producing sound. Seminar participants also had the opportunity to unwind in a singing bowl relaxation session given by Kaisu Peltoperä in Ryhtilä.

At the end of the seminar, participants were able to sing together in several languages, accompanied by piano teacher Mia Liukka. The multilingual songs included, inter alia, Mamma mia, Frère Jacques sung in canon, and the ever-popular Gaudeamus igitur.

At the end of the seminar, the Language Campus Award was presented to Sabine Ylönen in recognition of her valuable, versatile and long-term work for the JYU Language Campus.

Finally, the seminar participants were gathered for a group photo on the Seminarium stairs, in the name of community, of course.

After the seminar, a recreational event was held at the Seminarium, where the participants could continue their discussions in a relaxed atmosphere while enjoying delicious food.

Feedback on the event was collected through an online questionnaire. Positive feedback was given in particular on the community atmosphere of the seminar, the keynote speech, the varied programme and the content of the sessions. Suggestions for improvement included the possibility to further promote interactivity, multilingualism and linguistic accessibility. Some respondents wanted a more relaxed programme, while others wished for more academic content in the future.

Ohjelma oli tänä vuonna erityisen hyvin onnistunut, tuki hyvin yhteisöllisyyttä. Minusta Kielikampusseminaari voisi jatkossakin keskittyä yhteisöllisyyteen ja yhteiskunnallisen vaikuttavuuteen.

The enthusiasm of the organisers. Overall, a very good atmosphere.

There were current themes discussed, such as multilingualism in the work community and dealing with AI.

Kiva, kun sai tavata kollegoja ja oli monipuolisesti kivaa, rentouttavaa ja uutta tuonutta ohjelmaa! Kiitos Kielikampus kun tarjoat mahdollisuuden kohdata ja kehittyä ja palautuakin.

Todella mukava ohjelma: tarpeeksi "vapaamuotoista" mutta silti ohjattua, sivistävää ja yhteisöllisyyttä tukevaa. Todella herkullinen ruoka.

Organizing team of the seminar:

Mikko Jäkälä

Essi Laitinen

Maija Lappalainen

Katja Mäntylä, Language Campus Chair

Tamás Péter Szabó

Roosa-Maria Vesanen, Language Campus Coordinator