On 8 June 2023, the Nordplus/ Nordic Languages Project „Discover Iceland and Sweden“ final international conference titled „Bridging Communities: Promoting Linguistic and Cultural Diversity“ took place in Vilnius City Council Conference Hall at the City Municipality.
The conference was attended by the participants from all over Lithuania as well as the Project partners Mimir from Iceland, More mosaic from Sweden along with the representatives of the associated partners – Vilniaus Karoliniškių gimnazija, Panevėžio Vytauto Žemkalnio gimnazija and Vilniaus kolegija.
Warm Welcome words of SIH director and project coordinator Daiva Malinauskienė and The Honorary president of the Lithuanian Association of Language teachers, FIPLV Nordic Baltic Region secretary Eglė Šleinotienė were followed by a musical greeting given by a student from Vilniaus Karoliniškių gimnazija Rytė Raguckaitė.
The keynote speaker Joanna Dominizcak, the Program Director for Icelandic Language and International Cooperation at Mimir, Iceland during her presentation „Icelandic is ready for the future. How diversity can accelerate progress“ provided a pleasant surprise – a Welcoming video from prof. PhD Inga Minelgaite, Honorary Consul of Lithuania in Iceland.
„Discover Iceland and Sweden platform – a Tool for Discovering New Countries through Language and Culture“ – the next presentation by SIH Project coordinator Gileta Kierienė, who introduced the audience to the Project and demonstrated its main product – the educational platforms Play your Way to Iceland and Play Your way to Sweden for learning the basics of Icelandic and Swedish languages and exploring the culture. The presentation was followed by the input interviews with the students from Vilniaus Karoliniškių gimnazija Elzė Šiugždaitė, Vėjus Bubinas and Mantas Binkis, who actively participated in the project activity including the piloting of the platform.
After the coffee break, the work continued in two practical workshops moderated by representatives of the project partners:
The conference was followed by a panel discussion “Bridging Communities: Promoting Linguistic and Cultural Diversity” moderated by Eglė Šleinotienė. The panelists:
The conference was moderated and summarized by SIH director and the project coordinator Daiva Malinauskienė.
