Languages and cultures throughout the world will be celebrated during the UO’s 38th annual Foreign Language and International Studies Day, the largest event in Oregon dedicated to international languages and cultures.

More than 1,100 high school students and teachers are expected to attend the May 6 event. It kicks off at 8:30 a.m. in Room 156, Straub Hall with a keynote address from Janne Underriner, director of the UO Northwest Indian Language Institute.

Following the keynote, students and teachers will attend hourly presentations from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The presentations will represent 40 cultures and will range from a show by the UO’s Korean pop dance troupe “K-Aire” to the classical “Le Théâtre Français,” a presentation about the history of theatre in France.

Excluding the keynote address, the presentations will only be available to the high school students and teachers, but UO students and faculty who are interested in helping with the event can visit the Yamada Language Center website, where they can find a link for information on volunteering.

“FLIS is a chance to visit the University of Oregon and learn more about the availability of different language and cultural opportunities,” said Jeff Magoto, the director of the Yamada Language Center. “Very few programs nationwide offer so many possibilities to explore a multitude of languages in such a hands-on way. Language lessons are always among the most popular, and this year we have instruction in, Arabic, Basque, Chinese, German, Hebrew, Italian, Sahaptin (Ichishkíin), Swahili and Turkish.”

For more information about FLIS, contact Michelle Hefner at 541-346-1538 or via email at flis@uoregon.edu.

—By Craig Garcia, University Communications intern