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Almost 300 students from 11 high schools visited the University of North Georgia (¹ú²ú×ÔÅÄ) for a day to celebrate language and culture learning and compete in a variety of ways. The Department of Modern Languages hosted its 49th annual Modern Language Day on April 23 at ¹ú²ú×ÔÅÄ's Dahlonega Campus.

The day included exhibits, skits and other performing arts, creative writing, and a language bowl. Students were able to display their skills in Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish.

Dr. Tatiana Maslova, assistant professor of Russian, served as director of Modern Language Day, coordinating more than 20 faculty and staff members who helped bring the event to life.

"At a time when many higher education institutions are reducing the role of foreign languages in the humanities, the ¹ú²ú×ÔÅÄ Department of Modern Languages proudly continues to offer major and minor programs in 10 foreign languages and remains committed to high standards in both language and culture teaching," Maslova said. "Modern Language Day allows prospective students to experience our campus, meet faculty and current students and see that language learning can open academic, professional and personal opportunities."

Dr. Kristi Hislope, department head of Modern Languages and professor of Spanish, always enjoys seeing how excited students are to participate in Modern Language Day.

"It gives us a chance to showcase all of our programs and help them realize they may even want to learn more than one language," Hislope said. "We want to give these students a chance to show what they've learned. This is a place where they can do that and get formal recognition for it."

Networking was another helpful aspect of Modern Language Day.

"Students had the opportunity to meet and interact with other high school students who shared the same interest in foreign languages and cultures," Maslova said. "For many of them, it was inspiring to see how many young people are passionate about language learning."