#  Congratulations to Iryna Kovalchuk on a successful workshop at UPenn! 

 





March 11, 2026

 

 

On February 20, [Iryna Kovalchuk](https://slavic.fas.harvard.edu/people/iryna-kovalchuk) (preceptor in Slavic Languages and Literatures, Polish Language) and [Dr. Hoa Le](https://ealc.fas.harvard.edu/people/hoa-le) (Senior Preceptor in East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Vietnamese Language) delivered a workshop for the instructors' community at the University of Pennsylvania's Language Center, [“Going Further In and Beyond the Target Language and Culture”](https://plc.sas.upenn.edu/events/2026/02/20/guest-workshop-going-further-and-beyond-targeted-language-and-culture). 20 participants representing more than 15 language programs took part in the workshop – both in-person and online.

Hoa and Iryna shared their experience in conducting joint Polish-Vietnamese multicultural and multimodal interventions in their language programs over the past three years: poetry-illustration workshops accompanied by artist talks, and cultural presentations through food and other artifacts.

Harvard preceptors shared their insights about the power of sustainable collaborations between small language programs, the importance of language centers for the preceptors’ community (especially in the LCTL world), the coincidence which led to meeting an artist of Vietnamese descent in the U.S. who was raised in Poland, and the importance of sharing stories through different modes: seeing through words, reading through images, etc. During the workshop, UPenn instructors brainstormed ideas for different intercultural collaborations (Polish-French, Chinese-Vietnamese, etc.) with the goal of creating a similar multimodal project which will enrich students culturally, evolve strong bonds across language programs, and help them to make the most of intensive foreign language programs.

 During their visit to UPenn, Hoa and Iryna also met with students and preceptors of both Vietnamese and Polish language programs, who were excited to find out about the preceptors’ work at Harvard. Students shared their experience learning Polish and Vietnamese at UPenn and organizing cultural events there.

This spring, Hoa and Iryna again are preparing the project for the students of their programs and Harvard community. Each edition is slightly different! Stay tuned to find out more.

We are so excited to congratulate Iryna on this success of this collaborative project, and look forward to hearing more!



 

 

 

    ![a picture of event](/sites/g/files/omnuum2186/files/styles/hwp_1_1__960x960_scale/public/2026-03/UPenn%201.jpg?itok=-WAWyuy1) 

 



 

  

 



 

 

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