Immigration Learning Circles
In February 2025, WALC launched a new community program called Immigration Learning Circles. Designed to foster dialogue and understanding, these circles invite local and regional experts, scholars, and individuals with lived experiences to share diverse perspectives on immigration-related topics. Past sessions have featured discussions on settler colonialism, refugee oral literacy, the history of the U.S. Mexico Border, the U.S. immigration system, and the history of Mexicans in Wisconsin.
This initiative is part of WALC’s ongoing commitment to broaden the public’s understanding of literacy—expanding it beyond reading and writing to include civic and cultural literacy. By creating space for meaningful conversation, the program aims to build community awareness around immigration and refugee resettlement, in Oshkosh and in the Fox Valley region. As of September 2025, the circles have attracted approximately 120 new audience members to WALC, expanding the organization’s community reach and impact. Immigration Learning Circles are open to the public on a sliding scale donation basis and are held at the WALC Downtown Oshkosh Learning Center.
We are currently seeking a sponsor for the 2026 Immigration Learning Circle series. If you are interested in learning more, view our sponsorship packet at the button below or email thompson@winlit.org
Upcoming Learning Circles
“You are so articulate!” How Discrimination Shows up in and through Language
When we think of discrimination, we often focus on race and ethnicity. But discrimination based on language—accents, dialects, and language varieties—also happens every day, often unnoticed and unchallenged.
In this talk, Dr. Chu explores how language and language ideologies are deeply connected to race and ethnicity. Drawing from her own experiences as an immigrant in the U.S., she highlights linguistic discrimination and shares tangible ways we can work together to challenge and dismantle it.
Past Learning Circles
