French:

• Visit of professors from CEGEP of Quebec, Canada – Mr. Jean Boisvert (Introduction to Quebec literature) , Ms. Liette Bergeron (Quebec Literature), Mr. Jean Philippe Boudreau (Quebec cinema)
• Teachers Training Workshop on Evaluation organized in collaboration with the Institut Français and the IATF (Indian Association of Teachers of French)
• Workshop on teaching of literature and cinema in a language class- By Christian Roddier – Attaché Linguistique, Embassy of France & Valentin Moisan-Attaché de cooperation – Institut Français- orgainsed in collaboration with the Institut Français and the IATF
• Workshops and training for Teachers and Masters Students on different aspects of language and culture.
• Launch of the section’s magazine: French Nagar.
• Launch of “Asterix chez les Punekars” (comic book) with the help of the then turor Ms. Delphine Bechetoille.

Russian :

• The Russian Section recently procured more than 10,000 books from Russia under the international book exchange program on various subjects like linguistics, semiotics, poetics, machine translation, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, literary criticism and methods of teaching|.
• There is a film club that shows Russian films to students which meets on the last Saturday of every month. We show classic films like Battleship Potomkin and Ivan’s Childhood, cartoon films, romantic comedies, etc.
• Students admitted to the certificate course are given a welcome party every year in September. In December every year the students prepare a concert to celebrate The New Year. In March, the International Women’s Day is celebrated with various competitions.
• The students go for a picnic in January every year. In the past, we have visited places like Morachi Chincholi. We also occasionally arrange educational tours, for example, to visit the Russian Cultural Centre in Mumbai or to Alibaug to visit the memorial of Afanasy Nikitin, the first Russian traveller to India.

Japanese :

On Friday, 30th August 2024, the Japanese language section at the Department of Foreign Languages of SPPU welcomed a delegation from International Cooperation Organisation of SMEs in Asia (ICOSA) which also had dignitaries from AOTS, retired professors and representatives of various SMEs.

They interacted with our students ranging from Basic to MA level. It was a heart-warming experience to listen to these seniors sharing their stories and motivating our young people to have dreams!

We look forward to gaining more knowledge from the ICOSA members which will help our students go a long way!

We thank IJBC for introducing the wonderful people to us !!

The Japanese Section has always been extremely active in various curricular activities. Some of them are as follows:

1) Welcome Party: The year always begins with a Welcome Party (Kangeikai) for the new comers which not only welcomes them to our Japanese section but also offers an orientation for the year.

2) Song Competition: Japanese Language Song Competition (UtaTaikai) which encourages the students to sing songs in the Japanese Language with Karaoke in the background.

3) Quiz Competition: Japanese Language Quiz, conducted by the senior students for the junior students, which makes everyone tickle their brains.

4) Cultural Fest: An introduction to Ikebana, Shodou, Origami, Japanese cuisine, Wearing Japanese Yukata,etc

5) Story recitation: A special event for first year students to make them aware of their memorizing and presentation skills.

6) Handwriting competition: Yet another event for first year students to make them aware of their handwriting skills.

7) Speech competition: An internal round of speech competition is held and students selected in this round are sent to the West Zone Japanese Language Speech Competition by MOSAI. A mentor is provided to each student by the department to excel in next rounds.

8) Reflections (Japanese Exhibition): The year ends with “Reflections-Tenrankai”, the grand event of the year which is an exhibition wherein all the students showcase various aspects of Japan, through projects on topics like the 4 seasons of Japan, Sumo Wrestling, Japanese Music, Onsen (Hot spring), Shinkansen (Bullet Train), Samurai, Obentou(Japanese tiffin), and much more.

9) Delegation from the Department of Commerce and Trade of Tottori Prefecture, JAPAN.

A high-level delegation from the Department of Commerce and Trade of Tottori Prefecture, JAPAN visited the Department of Foreign Languages on 28th August 2024. The group of delegates consisted of the prefectural government officials as well as a few company representatives. We discussed various collaborative possibilities.

Tottori, a beautiful region on the West side of Japan located on the Sea of Japan coast is known for its picturesque landscapes, sand dunes and also for top Manga artists, is surely a good destination for those who wish to be immersed in the language and experience classic Japan!

Spanish :

Since its inception, the Spanish Section has been organizing various activities. Like every year, the last academic year was full of such events and this year continues with the same fervor. In addition to the regular cultural events, this year we had the pleasure of hosting the honorable Counsel General of Spain in Mumbai, India Sr. Eduardo de Quesada. He visited to our Spanish sections library and interacted with the faculty.

Also this year M A course in Spanish has started, Sra. Ana Maria Madrigal gave an inaugural lecture on ‘Romanticism’.

Our library, the best in Pune for all levels of Spanish students has recently added a large number of books and recently we have new arrivals added to our library collection, contributed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This year too we continue being the affiliated center for the DELE exams in association with Instituto Cervantes (on behalf of the Ministry of Education of Spain).

We also plan a workshop every year covering various aspects of teaching such as ‘Translation and Interpretation’, ‘Spanish Literature’, ‘Use of multimedia for language teaching’ etc.

Last year a group of our students and ex-students had visited Spain on a study tour (which included a two week Spanish language course in Spain), organized and coordinated by Inés Carbajal and Rina RChowdhury which proved to be a great success.

Also we have our students blog : www.espanolenpune.wordpress.com