Language Outreach

The African Studies language faculty are experts in teaching and outreach. We welcome requests for language support, including developing a program to meet educational, governmental, business or community need. We also can assist with transitions for immigrants new to our community through translation support. Language support requests and outreach may be directed to our African Languages Coordinator, Dr. Alwiya Omar.

Language Outreach to IU

Our language instructors, international graduate students, and Fulbright Language Teaching Assistants (FLTAs) are always happy to engage with students on campus! Would you like a presentation on African cultures or mini-language lessons? Please reach out to us! We have partnered with Living Learning Centers, student organizations, as well as faculty for in-class presentations.

Bridges: Children, Languages, World

Bridges: Children, Languages, World offers exploratory language and culture classes to young learners in the greater Bloomington, Indiana, area. Because learning a language at an early age enhances overall linguistic ability, Bridges aims to ignite children’s interest in languages and cultures, so they’ll be inspired to study both with excitement and enthusiasm all their lives.

Bridges provides instruction to children in languages not typically offered in public schools. The program began with Arabic and Chinese instruction and has since expanded to include Dari, Kinyarwanda, Kyrgyz, Mongolian, Persian, Russian, Swahili, Zulu, and more. Classes are always free and are open to the general public.

Bridges language programs are taught by IU students who are studying Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTLs), in partnership with faculty from the IU’s Department of Literacy, Culture and Language Education at the School of Education. Everyone benefits: the student teachers acquire valuable teaching tools, and the kids learn a new language.

Teachers use the communicative method, which teaches new vocabulary via fun activities like games, stories, free play, crafts, and puppet shows.

For more information or to read the Bridges Blog, visit the Bridges Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/bridgesIU/

Summer Swahili Offerings for K-12

The IU African Studies program offers summer language experiences for K-12 students. Instructors are advanced or native Kiswahili speakers, and all have been trained and cleared to work with children.

Grades K-7

We partner with the City of Bloomington’s summer camp offerings at the Banneker Center, offering elementary-aged children a fun first introduction to Swahili language and culture. Please see their current summer offerings.

Grades 8-12

For middle and high school students (rising 8^th graders through 12^th graders), we offer an in-person (and sometimes online) four-week summer day camp at the IU Hamilton Lugar School. This award-winning, pre-college experience offers an engaging, interactive introduction to Kiswahili as well as cultural experiences! The camp usually runs from the last week in May to late June. This is a no cost opportunity funded through the U.S. Department of Education’s Title VI program. Spaces are limited; applications open in March. For information, please contact Dr. Tavy Aherne.

A wealth of African language resources are available at IU through the National African Languages Resource Center (NALRC).