| Description |
- Please make sure to register via KSL by January 31.
- Send a list of the languages you speak to maria.chevekouko@unibe.ch.
- On Friday, February 13, 2026 (before the first week of the semester!), a mandatory
block session will take place from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
- This introductory session will be compensated during the semester: the sessions on
April 13 and April 20, 2026, will therefore not take place.
Life expectancy in Switzerland is continuously increasing, leading to a growing number of
older people. Advanced age, in turn, is associated with a higher likelihood of needing care.
Questions surrounding aging, the need for care, and the consequences of age-related
illnesses are therefore highly relevant societal issues.
In multilingual, migration-shaped Switzerland, many residents of care institutions are
multilingual. This seminar takes this as a starting point for an inter- and
transdisciplinary course that includes both theoretical and practical components.
In this third edition of the seminar, we will jointly explore multilingualism in the
context of nursing homes, focusing on one of our partner institutions in the city of Bern.
We will document and analyze the linguistic situation as reflected in the institution’s
mission statement, at the management and care levels, as well as among residents, their
relatives, other staff, and visitors.
We will apply and practice various methods such as expert interviews, narrative
interviews, linguistic landscaping, and participant observation.
In addition, students will be paired with multilingual residents. These pairs will engage in
conversations about their lives, memories, and migration experiences. Students will
also conduct simple language tests with residents. Pairings will be based on a shared
language, which may be the student’s first (mother) tongue, family, heritage, school,
or current language of study. Students are expected to have basic communicative skills
sufficient to conduct a conversation.
UnVergessen (UnForgotten) is a diverse seminar that thrives on the interests and
disciplinary backgrounds of its participants. Accordingly, the seminar offers plenty of room
for student-driven questions and topics that emerge during the semester.
For example, a student with a linguistic focus might explore how the communicative
situations of multilingual care-dependent individuals, with or without cognitive
impairments, can be described in nursing homes. A participant with a historical interest
might treat residents as contemporary witnesses, conducting oral history interviews.
We look forward to students bringing their own interests into the seminar and helping us
shape this project-based course together. All disciplines are welcome! |
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