Have you ever sat at a dialogue table with participants who had a different mother tongue to you? 

Utrecht in Dialogue prides itself on welcoming people from different backgrounds and perspectives to the dialogue table. While a large contingent are Dutch native speakers, many participants bring different mother tongues with them. Perhaps they also speak fluent Dutch, perhaps they rely on English to communicate in The Netherlands, or perhaps they are trying to learn Dutch. With Dutch tables and English tables available, participants can use dialogue to practice their skills in either language. If they are a language-learner, what does this individual goal mean for the dialogue, for other participants and for the language-learner themself? Does it add a new richness to the dialogue? Does it make connection harder? Does it change the nature of the dialogue? Does it present new opportunities?

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We invite you to join this workshop on 12th July to learn about the findings of research into multilingualism at Utrecht in Dialogue, test out its recommendations and collaborate with other volunteers, facilitators, partners and participants to make the future of Utrecht in Dialogue more linguistically inclusive. Everyone is welcome! Sign up using the red button and bring a friend, colleague or neighbour along.

Agenda

19:15 Zoom space open

19:30 Research findings and responses

20:00 In conversation about results in breakout rooms

21:15 Share insights

21:30 Close session

Researcher

Evelyn Henderson-Child is an event coordinator and dialogue facilitator at Utrecht in Dialogue. As part of her Master’s in Intercultural Communication at Utrecht University, she has been investigating multilingualism at Utrecht in Dialogue by means of ethnographic observation and dialogue focus groups. In this workshop, she presents her findings and recommendations to Utrecht in Dialogue, its volunteers, participants and partners, and invites everyone to join in creating an inclusive approach to the multilingualism in dialogue. You can read about Evelyn’s interest in dialogue here.