For the second consecutive year, a free summer Persian Language program for youth, developed by faculty in the College of Letters and Sciences, has been awarded a STARTALK grant of $100,000 by the National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland.
Like the previous grant, STARTALK 2010 will fund a free four-week summer Persian language program. This time however, a broader range of students will be eligible to participate, with students in grades 7-16 earning high school and college language credit by participating in the National University program. It will run July 6 – 30.
Two COLS faculty members have been instrumental in securing the funding and implementing the program: Ramin Sarraf, Ph.D., and Azita Mokhtari, Ph.D. In addition to language instruction, the non-residential day program includes cultural activities and field trips that are designed to supplement the language portion of the curriculum.
STARTALK is part of a U.S. government initiative to increase the number of Americans learning, speaking, and teaching critical languages. According to Dr. Sarraf, Persian is spoken by an estimated 71 million people, and career opportunities for Persian speakers have increased steadily in recent years.
For more information regarding the STARTALK program at National University, contact Dr. Sarraf at rsarraf@nu.edu.
