Extension Activities

Esperanto Club

The Department has recently initiated The University of Mumbai’s Esperanto Club where lovers of Esperanto language gather to learn, discuss and share aspects of Esperanto language. A write up based on this initiative was recently published, the link of which is given below:

Panini Linguistics Olympiad programme, India

(an outreach initiative of the Department of Linguistics, MU, 2012-16)

The Department of Linguistics served as the parent institution for the Panini Linguistics Olympiad, India Programme as an outreach programme of the Department from 2012-16, through my initiative. This Programme sought to spread the awareness of Linguistics and of linguistic diversity in the world among the school and college-going students. During this period India has bagged 1 Silver medal, 5 Bronze medals, 2 Best Solutions awards and 4 Honourable Mentions in the International Linguistics Olympiads.

Programmes conducted under the Panini Linguistics Olympiad programme, India

Competitions:

  1. The 14th International Linguistics Olympiad was held in Mysore, India from 25th – 29th July 2016. 43 teams from 30 countries participated. The University of Mumbai was one of the co-partners in the organization of this  major international event.
  2. The Open Round of the Panini Linguistics Olympiad (Junior & Senior) on 9th of January, 2016. 25 students were selected for the Invitational Round.
  3. The Open Round of the Panini Linguistics Olympiad (Junior & Senior) on 11th of January, 2015. 25 students were selected for the Invitational Round.
  4. Participation in the International Linguistics Olympiad held in Beijing, China from the 21st – 25th of July, 2014. The Indian team won two bronze medals and one best solution award.
  5. The Invitational Round was held in Bangalore from 12-19 April, 2014.  4 students were selected from the participants to be part of the Indian contingent in the  International Linguistics Olympiad, 2014.
  6. The Open Round of the Panini Linguistics Olympiad on 5th January, 2014 in 9 cities across India. 88 students had participated in our Junior and Senior Olympiads. 25 students were selected for the Invitational Round.
  7. Inter-School Linguistics Competition (Juinors and Seniors) was conducted in the Department of Linguistics, University of Mumbai on the 20th of September, 2013. 8 schools from Mumbai participated in the competition.
  8. The Open Round of the Panini Linguistics Olympiad (Junior & Senior) on 3rd of February, 2013. 25 students were selected for the Invitational Round.

Workshops:

  1. A Beginners’ Workshop in Linguistics, organized in the Department of Linguistics, University of Mumbai, under Panini Linguistics Olympiad, India programme, 23rd – 28th December, 2014.
  • Workshop titled “Fun with Languages” in the Kala Ghoda Festival on the 3rd of  February, 2014, for children between the age group 10-15 years.  It was attended by more than 40 children.
  • Pre-conference Workshop on Linguistics Olympiad and Popularizing Linguistics in Schools conducted during the 10th International Conference on Natural Language Processing (ICON 2013) held in Noida from 18th – 20th December, 2013.
  • A Beginners’ Workshop in Linguistics, organized in the Department of Linguistics, University of Mumbai, under Panini Linguistics Olympiad, India programme, 25th-27th December, 2013.
  • A National Level intensive workshop to train and select students for the International Olympiad was organized in the Department of Linguistics, University of Mumbai, under Panini Linguistics Olympiad, India programme from 3rd – 8th of June, 2013.
  • A five day Preparatory Workshop in Linguistics to train students for the National Olympiad was organized in the Department of Linguistics, University of Mumbai, under Panini Linguistics Olympiad, India programme from 24th – 29th December, 2012.

B. Language in Education

The Department has sought to actively intervene in the area of language in education in line with its vision and commitment to the future of the lesser known languages. As part of this effort, faculty members interacted with school teachers, critically discussed policy documents concerned with the role of language in education etc.

The Department invited school teachers from various parts of the Maharashtra to participate in the National Seminar on “RTE and the future of our languages” hosted by the Department in collaboration with Dr. Rakhmabai Educational Research and Resource Center, Unique Foundation, Pune.

While this national seminar was conducted in English, the organizers of the Seminar made concerted efforts to publish the proceedings of the Seminar in Marathi in order to reach teachers and education activists in the State of Maharashtra. This involved an additional effort of translation, which was undertaken as part of our commitment. The book has been received well by various sections of society. The details of the publication are as follows:

Pandey, Avinash& Vinaya Malti Hari (eds.). 2018. बहुभाषिकता :गुणवत्तापूर्णशिक्षणाचापाया(Multiligualism: Foundation of quality education). Pune: Unique Academy. ISBN: 978-81-936051-3-4.

In continuation with the efforts of actively intervening in the domain of language in education, the faculty members of the Department interacted with school teachers through a 3-day Workshop on “Right to Education and Development of Languages”, for school teachers, organized by Dr. Rakhmabai Educational Research and Resource Center, Unique Foundation, Pune with SRT Marathwada University, Nanded at SRT Marathwada University, Nanded from 17th to 19th November, 2015.

Furthermore, the faculty members of the Department actively intervened in the ongoing process of policy development for the field of education, through active suggestions made to the government, papers published in the book mentioned above, published articles in various journals as well as talks.