Designing an immersive authentic event with a multilayered learning approach
Wearing my two hats as Head of Business Engagement for GSBL and Course Leader for the MA Conference Interpreting at London Metropolitan University , I organised an event that brought together the interest of both worlds. One of my objectives was to promote languages and raise awareness that multilingualism is an underestimated asset in the professional world. Many students across the university speak languages other than English. However, they are often unaware of the value of their language skills. Rather than a lecture or a workshop, I designed an immersive multilingual event that brought together members of our interpreting Community of Practice (students, ambassadors, alumni and colleagues) who played different roles (organisers, interpreters, helpers, speakers) during the event. All students from the university were invited to join either online, onsite, or on YouTube to discuss the relevance of transferable skills in their professional objective. Why was the event such a succes