Latest News Archive
Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
23 September 2020
|
Story Nitha Ramnath
|
Photo Supplied
UFS students will be performing at the virtual ICDF on 24 September 2020.
On 24 September 2020, South Africa will be celebrating Heritage Day. For the 25th anniversary of this celebration, South Africans are encouraged to celebrate their culture and the diversity of their beliefs and traditions in the wider context of a country that belongs to all its people. Dr Chitja Twala, Vice-Dean: Faculty of the Humanities at the UFS, says: “The importance of the day is that we must celebrate who we are and learn from each other.” The University of the Free
State (UFS) has a long tradition of commemorating Heritage Day and the ideas underpinning it. One way in which the UFS celebrates and recognises the tapestry of diverse cultures represented on its campuses is through its International Cultural Diversity
Festival hosted by the Office for International Affairs. The purpose of the event is to highlight on Heritage Day that international cultural diversity is a central tenet of the UFS community.
Pursuant to the tremendous challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic globally, the International Cultural Diversity Festival will this year be celebrated in a virtual format. Even during this uncertain time, it is important to find time to celebrate
our uniqueness and to appreciate one another’s heritage and culture in the spirit of our humanity.
Date: 24 September 2020
Time: 10:00
No registration is required!
For the 2020 Heritage Month celebrations, let us share elements about ourselves that make us proud of who we are! The diverse contributions to the 2020 virtual International Cultural Diversity Festival activities will highlight the university’s commitment towards creating a diverse, challenging intellectual environment. As a research-led university, the UFS strives to provide an environment in which new ideas are incubated and debated, contributing to its transformation process and African unity.
For more information contact Bulelwa Moikwatlhai on MaloB@ufs.ac.za
Largest group on African continent introduced to Sign Language
2016-07-05
The introduction of basic Sign Language
as part of the UFS101 course was a great
success. From left are Susan Lombaard,
Annemarie le Roux, Tshisikhawe Dzivhani
(all from the Department of South African
Sign Language), and Lauren Oosthuizen
(UFS101). Photo: Leonie Bolleurs
As a result of a new initiative at the University of the Free State (UFS), the largest group of students on the African continent took part in a first-year seminar which included Sign Language.
A total of 5400 students on the Bloemfontein Campus and 1000 on Qwaqwa Campus were taught basic Sign Language by Susan Lombaard, Acting Head of the Department of South African Sign Language, and her team members, Tshisikhawe Dzivhani, Annemarie le Roux, and Nicolene de Klerk.
It forms part of the UFS101 module presented to all first-year students. The initiative, begun in the first semester of 2016, will form part of UFS101 in future and was met with an overwhelmingly positive response.
Three segments of course
Sign Language was taught in three segments and positioned as large-class learning experiences in the Callie Human Centre (Bloemfontein Campus) and the Nelson Mandela Hall (Qwaqwa Campus). Students were taught about deaf culture, Sign Language theory, as well as how to sign their names, exchange pleasantries, and have a basic conversation.
A valuable skill to have
“It (the Sign Language experience) was very interesting and helpful,” said one of the students. “It is important to have the ability to communicate with all sorts of people, and to be able to help them in a crisis”. According to another, it sparked an interest in Sign Language. “It is a skill I will continue to use and try to learn more from it,” said a third.
Lombaard – in collaboration with the UFS101 team – will be presenting a paper related to this achievement at the DeafNet Africa Conference in Johannesburg, from 26 to 30 September 2016.