Thursday, November 17
10:30-11:00 AM | International Education at Queen's Conference Opening
Description: Connect with others and enjoy some coffee and tea. Remarks will begin at 10:45am.
Location: Queen's University International Centre (QUIC), Mitchell Hall
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM | Getting a Job in Canada as an International Student: Strategies and Student Stories
Description: Join us for a dynamic conversation with alumni, who were formerly international students at Queen's, as they share their experience and strategies for finding employment opportunities and developing their careers in Canada.
Moderator: Lily Abediny, Director of Career Services and Experiential Learning
Location: Queen's University International Centre (QUIC), Mitchell Hall OR on Zoom
In-person registration option: Live viewing at the QUIC
Online registration option: Zoom
1:00 - 2:00 PM | Should We All Sound White? A Conversation about Accent Discrimination in Higher Education
Description: This session aims to spark a conversation on the issue of accent discrimination in higher education. Join us to discover a few findings from a Queen’s report on perceptions of accent and authority among instructors and discuss what accent is and whether it matters in communication in higher education. Have stories to share? We will make space to listen to your experiences and think together about how we can raise awareness of this issue in our community.
Presenters:
Yunyi Chen, Educational Developer-Program & Curriculum Globalization, Centre for Teaching & Learning, Queen’s University
Victoria Surtees, Specialist in Teaching & Learning, Internationalization, Teaching & Learning Centre, University of the Fraser Valley
Location: Zoom
2:30 - 3:30 PM | Study Abroad: Culture, Self-Discovery, and Identity Stories
Description: The opportunity of studying abroad appeals to many students at Queen’s. Immersing yourself in a new academic, cultural, and often a new linguistic environment is a chance for immense growth of personal and academic nature. This growth also affects our identities- we enter our host cultures with pre-established identities and during our time abroad we may experience changes affecting us in many ways. Do we come back the same person we once were? In this panel, we will discover stories of students who went on an exchange and learn how this experience shaped them.
Moderator: Dr. Margaret Maliszewska, Exchange Coordinator for the Faculty of Arts and Science, Office of the Vice-Provost International
Panelists: Hanna Slowikowska (4th year BAH-BED, History major); Rebecca Star (4th year BAH, Psychology major); Lauren Zweerink (4th year BAH, Political Science major)
Location: Queen's University International Centre (QUIC), Mitchell Hall
Friday, November 18
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM | Introduction to Intercultural Awareness
Description: In this informative and engaging 1-hour workshop, participants will learn about some of the various “ingredients” that comprise culture as well as look at how the cultures we are tied to can influence the way we see the world around us.
Presenter: Lee Richard
Location: Queen's University International Centre (QUIC), Mitchell Hall
12:00 - 1:00 PM | Conference Snack Break
Description: Connect with others and enjoy some light refreshments between conference sessions.
Location: Queen's University International Centre (QUIC), Mitchell Hall
1:00 - 2:00 PM | Rethinking Academic English: Balancing Assessment and Linguistic Diversity
Description: The linguistic diversity of Canadian university campuses is increasing. According to enrolment figures from 2021, international students, many of whom have English as an additional language, comprise roughly 14% of the Queen’s undergraduate and graduate student population.
Additionally, recent census data from Statistics Canada shows that one quarter of Canadians, including current and future university students, identify a language other than English or French as one of their first languages. When looking beyond Canada and considering academic English on a global scale as the lingua franca of academia, students and academics with English as an additional language are the majority of academic English users (Mauranen & Hynninen, 2010). In many contexts, this diversity is viewed as a strength to be celebrated; however, within the Canadian post-secondary classroom, plurilingualism/multilingualism is not always valued and some instructors may regard the use of non-dominant languages as detrimental to students’ learning experiences. At the same time, several scholars have pointed to the harm generated by not accepting varieties of English in the classroom and linguistic racism has been linked to adverse mental health effects among international students. In response to these issues/conversations, this panel discussion explores faculty expectations around academic English at Queen’s and asks how we might balance concerns around needing a shared language for classroom discussions and assessment with the need to embrace the linguistic diversity of students.
Moderators:
- Johanna Amos, Acting Academic Skills Support Coordinator (EAL) / Academic Skills and Writing Specialist
- Lydia Skulstad, Intercultural Academic Support Coordinator
Panelists:
- Bronwyn Bjorkman, Associate Professor of Linguistics and Associate Head Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
- Paula Larrondo, PhD candidate in Engineering
- Lindsay Morcom, Associate Professor and CRC in Language Revitalization and Decolonizing Education
Location: Zoom
2:30 - 4:00 PM | Speak Up: Tell Me What You See
Description: Join Bader Curator of European Art Suzanne van de Meerendonk for a tour and discussion of the exhibition The Fabrics of Representation at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre. This session will focus on building conversations around observations by considering the representation of global material culture in Dutch and Flemish paintings of the seventeenth century. What is depicted and how? Why do you think the artist chose to depict this? What role does the item or material play in the painting overall? Tell me what you see!
Curator: Suzanne van de Meerendonk
Location: Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, 36 University Ave