Dr Tomasz Wysłobocki – Arqus Cafés
Dr Tomasz Wysłobocki works at the Department of French Literature and Culture at the Institute of Romance Studies at our University. He told us about his work within Arqus, especially about Arqus Cafés, and language internet cafés, which are the part of Arqus project. Registrations for the cafés are currently underway! We recommend and invite you to participate!
photo: Dominika Hull-Bruska
What exactly do you do within Arqus?
Within the project, I focus on the issues of multilingualism and foreign language teaching. The key objective of our team is to create a friendly environment in which we can organize initiatives related to teaching foreign languages and cultures. We aim to strengthen the didactic potential of our staff in the context of multilingualism and teaching in foreign languages, especially English. We hope to encourage our students to open themselves to new cultures and languages. I think that in Poland there is no need to convince anyone of the importance of learning foreign languages…
What do you think about the idea of University Alliances? Is it necessary, If so, why?
I believe it is a valuable initiative that corresponds to the Enlightenment idea to improve the exchange of opinions and experiences related to all aspects of university work – didactic, academic, and organizational. It allow us to develop the best standards and methods for knowledge transfer and academic research in coordination with partners from leading European universities. Our University’s employees have often taken such measures independently. Arqus is a chance to integrate many disparate actions – it is easier to introduce some changes together!
What are the benefits of UWr being a member of Arqus from your perspective?
Besides PR and advertising benefits, participation allows us to demonstrate our readiness for changes and challenges of the modern world. For instance, within Arqus, we provide a series of free online training sessions – “Building the Arqus EMI Community of Practice” – for employees who conduct or intend to conduct classes in English. We often complain about the lack of such possibilities, whereas here they are. Cooperation within the Arqus network makes it possible. I encourage you to get acquainted with the program, which we regularly update on the website: https://arqus-alliance.eu/news/building-the-arqus-emi-community-of-practice-new-series-of-seminars/
What is the idea behind Arqus Cafés?
Arqus Cafés is a virtual meeting place for people who enjoy conversations and want to test their linguistic skills at different proficiency levels (from A2 upwards). This term, our program consists of over ten languages, including exotic ones such as Turkish or Khmer! Meetings within Arqus Cafés are similar to classes, except there are no grades or tests, but there is a lot of conversation in a friendly, informal atmosphere. The point is to meet once a week to learn and practice foreign languages under the eye of qualified native speakers. Due to its international character, Arqus Cafés is also an opportunity to meet people from other countries and universities. Surely the meetings might give the beginning to great friendships… It is a pity that no one from the University of Wrocław has decided to become a Polish language tutor… Meanwhile, there happens to be quite a demand for Polish classes! If anyone would like to participate in this initiative, contact us by email – it is not too late!
Who can participate in Arqus Cafés?
Arqus Cafés is a program for the entire academic community, students or doctoral students, and for employees, both academic and administrative, for all associated with the alliance of the universities. We do not exclude anyone!
How to sign up for a café?
It’s easy! Just visit the Arqus Cafés website, select the language, the day of the week, and the time of the classes, and register through a special form. Registrations have just started! The meetings will begin on March 11th and continue until June 21st. The registration link is here: https://arqus-alliance.eu/our-communities/our-hubs/arqus-plurilingual-and-intercultural-hub/arqus-cafe/
What are your dreams regarding activities within Arqus? What needs do you see? What else can be done? What are the future perspectives and ideas you can think of?
I hope for a possibility to organize extended foreign language courses our students as part of their classes. Another idea is to organize courses for less popular languages, such as Catalan, Finnish, or Hungarian. Naturally, such courses would be conducted online – modern tools offer almost unlimited opportunities for international cooperation! It is usually difficult to gather a big enough group for a less popular language at just one university. Certainly, it would be much easier to organize such classes for participants from nine different universities! Our current obstacles are the administrative and systemic issues caused by legal and organizational disparities of differing systems, which could lead to accountability issues. Yet, we are already testing some solutions. For instance, this term we organize free online courses in German, Lithuanian, Spanish, and Polish, conducted by qualified teachers from Leipzig, Vilnius, Granada, and Wrocław, naturally. As of now, the participants will receive the attendance certificates. It is not possible to classify such classes instead or in place of obligatory language courses or grand the participants with the ECTS points… But I believe that it is only a matter of time! I encourage you to visit the Arqus website and follow our actions on social media.
Interview by Agata Mitek
Translated by Sylwia Szypszak (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) under the supervision of Maria Kozan as part of the translation practice.
