Congratulations to Francesca Boschetti, Associate Director of the English Language Institute at the York University School of Continuing Studies, on her recent speaking session at the 17th annual Languages Canada Conference held in Vancouver in early March.
Speaking in the conference’s Academic Leadership and Program Innovation stream, Francesca’s session, titled “Globally Networked Learning: Internationalization at Home in English Language Classes” was well attended by instructors and education professionals.
In her presentation, Francesca discussed a collaboration she spearheaded with York International and the York University English Language Institute to launch a “Globally Networked Learning project.”
This project entailed a virtual exchange between English for Academic Purposes students at the English Language Institute and English for Hotel Administration students at Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM) in the Dominican Republic.
Students involved in the initiative interacted with PUCMM students through online activities, including chats through message boards, group discussions on Zoom and friendly competitions and games. Through this experience, students in both classes enhanced their cross-cultural communication and networking skills and gained a unique “internationalization at home” opportunity via online learning. ELI instructors at York University, who created lesson plans and facilitated the sessions with the instructor from PUCMM, were instrumental in the success of the initiative.
During her presentation, Francesca shared the best practices, learning outcomes, strategies and challenges they encountered from this virtual exchange, hoping to inspire language education professionals in attendance. She also detailed how the Institute identified a university partner, designed programming, collaborated with instructors and engaged different cohorts of students.
The presentation was well received by an engaged audience. Attendees approached Francesca seeking advice on how to successfully launch similar programs at their institution, inquiring about technical requirements, English proficiency level and student engagement.
As a thank you to Francesca for sharing her expertise at the conference, Languages Canada donated to Soul Bilingue — an organization that empowers underprivileged Brazilian youth through English language education — in Francesca’s name.
The Languages Canada Annual Conference is the organization’s flagship event and acts as “a meeting place for Canadian and international education partners and stakeholders to re-connect, share, learn and collaborate,” according to the organization’s website.
Over 200 delegates attended the conference, including directors, program managers, marketing staff and academic leaders from Canadian public and private language education institutions.
Congratulations again to Francesca on her highly successful session! We are proud to have one of our leaders represent the School’s English Language Institute at this conference.
