2005 News

Center for East Asian Studies awarded grant from Freeman Foundation

The Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS), housed in the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures (SLLC) will be receiving a grant of 90,000 dollars over two years from the Freeman Foundation to conduct NCTA (National Consortium for Teaching East Asia) seminars for secondary school teachers in 2007 and 2008.

The purpose of the NCTA seminars is to encourage and facilitate teaching about Asia in secondary school courses in World History, Geography, Social Studies, and World Literature, and thereby expand knowledge about East Asia across the curriculum. Currently in its eighth year, NCTA supports East Asian seminars around the country, attracting more than 1,500 teachers annually. NCTA is funded by a grant from the Freeman Foundation and is distinct from the Freeman Foundation Undergraduate Asian Studies grants received by colleges and universities (including UMD) in recent years. NCTA seminars consist of thirty-six hours of instruction and demonstrations by university faculty experts and master teachers, and the Freeman Foundation supports these seminars with funds for materials and stipends for the teachers, funds for the teachers’ schools, administrative funds for the seminar site and leaders, and honoraria for guest speakers. Each teacher-participant receives a stipend, teaching materials for personal use, and each participant’s school also receives a mini-grant for additional teaching materials.

The University of Maryland has held an NCTA seminar in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh since 2002, first in cooperation with James Gao (HIST) and, since 2003, with Gretchen Jones (SLLC-Japanese). Due to the success of past seminars, the 90K grant to the University of Maryland will hand administration of the grant and seminar directly and completely over to the University of Maryland, which will continue to conduct an NCTA seminar for secondary teachers in the Maryland-DC area in 2007 and 2008. Jones will serve as administrative contact for the grant and Project Director. Over the past five years that seminars have been held at UMD, more than 70 secondary teachers have participated in NCTA seminars; during 2007-08, an additional 40 teachers are expected to enroll. The number of secondary students in the Maryland-DC-Virginia area thus affected by this program is therefore likely in the thousands. The receipt of this grant and running the seminar will strengthen outreach efforts and enhance the visibility of the Center for East Asian Studies, the School of Languages, Literature, and Cultures, and the University of Maryland.

SLLC Director interviewed for NPR's "Here and Now"

Story aired: Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Is it easier for a person who speaks two languages to learn a third? Dr. Michael H. Long was interviewed on the topic of his current research. The interview can be accessed online below if you have Real Player installed on your computer.




One linguist researching this and other questions about how adults learn second and third languages is Michael Long, director of the University of Maryland's School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.

Around the World Dinner at the Language House

October 24, 2005

The annual Around the World Dinner at the Language House had an impressive turnout, including a number of parents and supporters from around the campus.

In addition to preparing the food, students compiled a slide show that ran during the dinner and presented photos of each cluster, pictures of their dishes, and information about the historical, cultural and geographical background of their culinary creations.

After the dinner, guests were invited to enjoy a short performance of lion dance, violin music, and aikido demonstrations. Finally, a film about students’ activities and their lives in each cluster was shown in the target language. Live translation was provided simultaneously by students.

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Ramsey nominated for Outstanding Faculty Educator Award

October 11, 2005

Prof. Robert Ramsey has been nominated for the 2005 Outstanding Faculty Educator Award. This award is presented each year by the Maryland Parents Association to honor a faculty member who demonstrates a deep commitment to providing an exemplary educational experience for University of Maryland students. Nominations are solicited from current undergraduate students, and the award seeks to recognize a faculty member who enhances the student experience through dedication to teaching and the ability to deliver subject matter in a stimulating and creative way; by grading fairly and objectively; by demonstrating interest in students' personal and academic achievements; and by demonstrating an awareness of and commitment to diversity. According to Brian L. Watkins, Director of Parent and Family Affairs at the University of Maryland, "This nomination is a testament to Prof. Ramsey's dedication to students and the University, and reflects the profound and lasting impact he has made and continue to makes.

Jose Emilio Pacheco receives Federico Garcia Lorca International Poetry Award

October 10, 2005

Distinguished University Professor, José Emilio Pacheco, was named the recipient of the 2005 Premio Internacional de Poesia Cuidad de Granada, Federico Garcia Lorca after receiving a phone call from the Mayor of Granada, José Torres Hurtado. Over thirty poets from Spain and Latin America were in contention and Dr. Pacheco is the second recipient of this fairly new and prestigious literary award. After a long deliberation, the jury, comprised of seven literary institutions, made their decision for the profusion of the poetry of the Mexican writer: "the long poetic and intellectual trajectory of Pacheco has made him into a key literary figure in America and Spain, and his poetic work constitutes a significant contribution to the cultural patrimony of Hispanic Literature". José Emilio Pacheco will receive 50,000 euros, an honorary diploma and a replica of the sculpture Luna by the Granadine artist Miguel Moreno. The prize will be awarded in the city of Granada, Spain, the city of the poet, Federico García Lorca. Said Pacheco,“this is not a personal achievement, but a distinction for all Mexican poetry ". More

Maryland awarded Persian Flagship

August 11, 2005

The University of Maryland, College Park, has recently been awarded a federally funded contract to build a National Foreign Language Initiative Flagship Program in Persian, with UCLA as its institutional partner. Students will spend two years in the Flagship program. UMCP will house the first-year program, with the first cohort of 10-12 beginning work in Fall, 2006. The students will then move to Los Angeles, where UCLA will house the second-year program, while a new cohort begins at Maryland. The UCLA program will include a combination of on-campus classes and off-campus immersion experiences of various kinds. UCLA's program will be supervised and directed by the Director of Iranian Studies in the Department of NELC.

Congratulations to our 2005 Graduates

May 22, 2005

The SLLC celebrated its commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 22nd in the Grand Ballroom of the Stamp Student Union. Seventy out of one hundred fifty four graduates were in attendance, along with family and friends. One hundred thirty three B.A. degrees in Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese, Romance Languages, Russian, Linguistics, German, and Japanese were presented along with fifteen M.A. degrees and six PhDs. Congratulations to the graduates and their families!

Undergraduate Major in Chinese Program Honored

May 15, 2005

One of the Chinese program's undergraduate majors, Christopher Blair-Gould, has just won the prestigious Taiwan Scholarship, which will give him full support for a number of years of graduate study in Taiwan, as well as an initial year of intensive study at Taiwan's best language program, the ICLP, to bring him up to the level of language proficiency needed for his studies. His new scholarship will take him to the Graduate Institute of Linguistics at National Taiwan University, where his training will, of course, be conducted entirely in Chinese at a very high level.

Mr. Blair-Gould has concentrated his time at Maryland on Chinese language and linguistics, and has worked as an undergraduate research assistant on a faculty project involving non-standard varieties of Mandarin. This is the inaugural offering of the Taiwan Scholarship, and competition was fierce. The Chinese Program is extremely proud of Mr. Blair-Gould.

Second Symposium on Spanish Language Communities a Success

March 30, 2005

Congratulations to Professors Ana Patricia Rodríguez, Manel Lacorte, Carmen Roman, who along with Carolina Rojas Bahr of OMSE and graduate students Rebeca Moreno, Megan Krol, Angelo Gómez y Maritza González, achieved another outstanding success in organizing the Second Symposium on Spanish Language Communities in the Greater Washington, DC Metropolitan Area, held this past March 16, 2005. The event was very well attended and has brought continued acknowledgment to the Department of Spanish & Portuguese and the SLLC as a place where community-based issues are recognized and investigated. This one-day Symposium was sponsored by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese; the Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Education (OMSE); the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures; and the Latin American Studies Center. Presenters included a distinguished cross-section of panelists of faculty from institutions in the area as well as from UMD, including Edna Mora Szymanski, Dean of the College of Education. In addition, the Honorable Ana Sol Gutiiérrez, of the Maryland House of Delegates, Dist. 18, gave the keynote address.

See Event Photos

French classes celebrate Francophonie Week

March 30, 2005

French 102, 103, 201, 202 level classes celebrated Francophonie week with a day of cultural presentations on regions of France and French-speaking countries. This annual event is done as an enrichment to the "Chez Nous" program of the beginning and intermediate classes and is a day-long annual celebration of French and francophone cultures featuring student posters, music, food, and discussion in French of student projects.

See Event Photos

Develop Professional Proficiency In Arabic

March 7, 2005

The National Arabic Flagship Program at the University of Maryland invites applications for Fall, 2005. A part of the National Flagship Language Initiative, this federally funded, full-time program offers students with basic functional ability in Arabic an unprecedented opportunity to develop professional proficiency in Modern Standard Arabic, and to expand their repertoire to include at least one dialect. The AFP will employ an innovative, modular, multi-strand curriculum, with options in Modern Standard, Egyptian, and Levantine Arabic, customized for individual students' professional domains. The AFP lasts approximately two years and has articulated components at the University of Maryland, College Park and overseas. At UM, in addition to choices among a rich array of regular course offerings in Arabic language, literature and culture, students and their advisors will jointly select various combinations of new course options specifically designed for Flagship students:

  1. Arabic for career professionals – Task-based instruction (surveys, information-gathering research, presentations using technology in Arabic) with targeted feedback to promote professional-level language.
  2. Arabic for academic purposes – initial course offerings in political science and international relations ("sheltered" content-based courses, taught in Arabic).
  3. Arabic community internship – Task-based instruction tied to internships in the local Arabic-speaking community.

AFP students will effectively be able to live in an Arabic-speaking environment during their time at Maryland, with a minimum of six hours a day of structured language learning experiences, plus Arabic throughout the day with peer tutors (Arabic native speakers matched with Flagship students in the same career field) and faculty mentors, a dedicated Arabic study area filled with Arabic multimedia resources, and a rich variety of visiting speakers, field trips, and other formal and informal cultural experiences. The capstone experience for Flagship students will be Arabic abroad — a year of specialized university study and/or internships in Egypt or Syria.

Upon completing 18-credits, Arabic Flagship Program students will receive a Certificate in Professional Arabic from the University of Maryland. Full funding is available to qualified students willing to make a two-year commitment to government service, and some stipends to others.

New PhD Program in SLA Approved

February 18, 2005

The Maryland Board of Regents gave final approval for the SLLC PhD program in Second Language Acquisition. Applications are now being accepted for Fall 2005. For best consideration, application materials should be received by March 16th. For more details about the program, visit the SLAA web site.

Maryland in Montpellier

February 15, 2005

French Language and Culture on the Mediterranean
June 4 - 26, 2005

This three-week immersion program combines classroom work, extracurricular excursions, and a family stay. The three principal aims of the experience are to continue language learning in an intensive format, familiarize students with an area of France that has been romanticized in the American psyche, and strengthen students' cross-cultural knowledge and sensibility.

The program is designed for students with intermediate competence in French. This might be the intermediate student eager for a first study-abroad experience, students who would like to advance more quickly in the UMD French program, or students who have had time off from French but would like to become re-immersed. Teaching will be adapted to student needs.

Students will attend small-group classes designed for the University of Maryland by the Institut Linguistique Adenet (ILA) in Montpellier, a thriving city a few kilometers from the Mediterranean. The course will include systematic acquisition of skills covering all aspects of the language: broadening of grammar and vocabulary; training in oral and written expression; and the study of the culture and civilization of southern France. Classes are complemented by guided visits to sites in the region (conducted in French), one per week in the city, and one per week outside (the village of St.Guilhem-le-Désert, Avignon, and Aix-Marseilles, for example) as well as informal outings and gatherings.

Students will be expected to read the local newspaper and will integrate what they read and what they observe and experience in graded journal form. Our two weekly discussions will be focused on cultural acquisition, especially at the level of everyday life, and pronunciation.

Visit Maryland in Montpellier for all other details.