Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Summer Language Learning

Remember the Chinese Language Camp Zoe attended last summer? Well, now is the time to think about whether your area has similar offerings. You'll recall that the course came about because of a federal program, the Security Language Initiative, and is called STARTALK. You can find all the offerings here, and also search by language (,Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Persian, Swahili, Turkish, Urdu) by state, by residential/nonresidential program. There are 53 programs of Chinese instruction in these states: AZ CA CO CT DE HI IA IL IN KS KY MA MD ME MI MN MS MT NC NH NJ NM NY OH OK PA RI SC SD TX UT VA WA WI WV.

Look for Texas programs here. Zoe will be going to the Birdville ISD/Fort Worth one, which runs June 8-30;  rising 3rd graders are eligible.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another interesting aspect of it that I learned about at Chinese School on Sat. was this program:http://www.nsliforyouth.org/nslicms-0.2/

Those 15-18 year olds selected can go to China to learn language for just the cost of a passport (everything else is FREE)! I wonder how competitive it is. My 11-year-old daughter was most certainly interested in the idea of going to China by herself to learn language.
Sue (aka anonymous)

Ann BF said...

Most important thing we can do to reinforce language acquisition for the kids (otehr than move there for a while as some of us have been able to do) is learn it ourselves! Even the basics make a difference and can help with mastery of names and places which most westerners find disorienting. We can learn too! I tell Helen that when I adopted her, part of my heart became Chinese, too!

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for this reference. The programs I contacted for Hindi are already full for this year, but sound wonderful for next year!

Kit said...

Malinda, I am so thrilled that you posted this. My 17-year-old daughter did get into the Hindi camp at Bloomington, IN as a result of you telling about this. What a gift! Thank you.

Kit