Below you will find information about the National Security Agency and student program opportunities. The application for the Summer 2025 internship programs will be open until October 1st. NSA offers multiple employment opportunities for students in college, recent graduates, and industry professionals! Please visit the following website to learn more: https://www.intelligencecareers.gov/nsa/index.html
As part of the US Intelligence Community, the National Security Agency (NSA) focuses on signals intelligence, which involves the interception of communication signals between people, machines, or both. NSA is the undisputed leader in this field. Our signals intelligence activities are never directed at American citizens. Cybersecurity is our other specialty, which is all about protecting American systems from prying eyes.
NSA’s professed mission is saving lives by preventing another 9/11.
Here are a few NSA opportunities for your students to consider:
- Summer Language Program Internship: Spend 12 weeks this summer working as a language analyst at NSA. The summer 2025 program is hiring students with proficiency in Mandarin Chinese, Persian Farsi, and Arabic, but other languages are considered on a case-by-case basis. The application is open September 1st through October 1st. Note: There is only one job ad for all the summer internships. Applications also require one letter of recommendation, so don’t wait until October 1st to apply!
- Cooperative Education Program (Co-Op) for Language: Students in this program will alternate semesters between college and working at NSA as a language analyst. Students can apply for the Co-Op Program starting their second semester Freshman year or during their Sophomore year. Application period is open from September 1st to October 31st and from February 1st to March 31st.
- NSA Codebreaker Challenge: The NSA Codebreaker Challenge provides students with a hands-on opportunity to develop their reverse-engineering / low-level code analysis skills while working on a realistic problem set centered around the NSA’s mission. The challenge will open September 16th and run through January 17th, 2025.
- Other permanent positons, like the Language Analysis Development Program (LADP) and the Intelligence Analysis Development Program (IADP) will be posted on an as needed basis on intelligencecareers.gov.
**Please note that all students must be U.S. citizens and able to obtain a Top Secret security clearance. Students are able to apply to any/all programs that interest them.
NSA will also be hosting two virtual Language Analysis Information Sessions that students and faculty are welcome to attend:
- Wednesday, September 18th 2:00pm – 3:30pm EST via Handshake: https://app.joinhandshake.com/events/1607095/share_preview
- Thursday, September 19th 7:30pm-9:00pm EST via MS Teams: https://events.gcc.teams.microsoft.com/event/559e4b76-60f8-42b8-9170-550f453dbc76@d61e9a6f-fc16-4f84-8a3e-6eeff33e136b
Stokes Scholarship for Chinese is for High School Seniors interested in pursuing Chinese in college and majoring in Chinese or a related degree should apply for the scholarship their senior year (September 1 – October 1). This scholarship pays up to $30,000/year for tuition, plus a year-round salary. The students will also work 12 weeks each summer at NSA as a Chinese Language Analyst. After graduating, the student is required to work 1.5 times their length of study at NSA. See the job posting here: https://apply.intelligencecareers.gov/job-description/1235693
This month I decided to visit a place that I know very little about in my research and explore one of their many indigenous languages. Australia has more than 250 indigenous languages including 800 dialects. But today I am going to focus on one: Pintupi.
Pintupi belongs to the Wati branch of the Pama-Nyungan language family. The traditional land of the Pintupi people stretches from Lake Macdonald to Lake Mackay and from Mount Liebig to Jupiter Wells in the Western Region of Australia. However, in the 1940s until the 1980s the Pintupi people were forced to move out of their native lands into the lands of the Papunya and the Haasts Bluff in the Northern Territory. In recent years, there has been an initiative for the Pintupi to move back to their original homeland.
As of 2016, there were about 150 speakers of the original Pintupi language. This may not seem like a lot of speakers, however, that can be attributed to the emerging dialect in the younger generations. A new variety or dialect of Pintupi called Pintupi-Luritja is being spoken by the children growing up in the displaced areas where other indigenous languages, such as Arrernte and Warlpiri, are spoken. Including this new dialect, there were 900 Pintupi speakers in 2016. These numbers have the potential to rise as not only are children learning the language through their parents, but it is also being taught in schools.
The Pintupi language itself has 17 consonant phonemes and 6 vowel phonemes, three of which are long and three are short. All are monophthongal at the phonemic level. The “r” letter has a single contact trill (also known as a flap) but can increase to a true trill in slow, emphatic, or angry speech. In general, Pintupi is an easier language to read out loud because of its straightforward phonological structure with consonants and vowels. There are two syllable types: consonant followed by a vowel and consonant-vowel-consonant. The first syllable is always the stressed syllable. Secondary stress can appear on any following syllables in a word, and the language is consistent in following its own rules. However, not much is available online in terms of learning grammar such as sentence structure, conjugation, or vocabulary.
This alphabet chart is from the Wangka Language School in Australia
Pintupi-Luritja became the first Indigenous Australian language to receive a full official translation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was translated by the elders and linguists at the Australian National University in 2015. Check out a sample of Article 1 below:
“Nganana maru tjuta, tjulkura tjuta, manta yurungka parrari nyinapayi tjutanya liipulala nyinanyi, nganana yanangu maru tjuta wiya kuyakuya. Yuwankarrangkuya palya nintingku kulini. Tjanaya palya kutjupa tjutaku tjukarurru nyinanytjaku, walytja tjuta nguwanpa, mingarrtjuwiya. Tjungungku palyangku kurrunpa kutjungku. Wangka ngaangku nganananya tjakultjunanyi rapa ngaranytjaku kutjupa tjuta nguwanpa.“
Sources:
Language School with Pintupi in Australia – Pintupi – Goldfields Aboriginal Language Centre. https://wangka.com.au/pintupi/. Accessed 30 Aug. 2024.
Dictionary – Hansen, K.C., and L.E Hansen. “Pintupi Dictionary.” Pintupi Dictionary, Summer Institute of Linguistics Australian Aborigines Branch Darwin, 1974, www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/71/56/73/71567375556029744862280495518305766687/Pintupi_Dictionary.pdf.
Example of the Language: https://youtu.be/_NvcRgD3xcM
“Pintupi.” Pintupi Language and Alphabet, 8 July 2024, omniglot.com/writing/pintupi.htm.
By Laura Standel
School’s out and summer is here! For many kids, that also means summer camps. Personally, I loved going to summer camp when I was younger, but it wasn’t until I was much older that I learned of the Concordia Language Villages. Deep in the North Woods of Minnesota, over 867 acres, Concordia College puts on outdoor summer camps for kids, adults, and families, all about learning languages.
The camps are set up as villages full of cultural activities and lessons. A camper can be a complete beginner in the language or already have some skills. The camps offer 14 different languages to choose from, including: Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish.
Activities put on by the multicultural staff include archery, woodworking, water activities in various lakes, and many other cultural-based arts, music, and crafts. The camp is conducted entirely in the target language, from conversations at meals to evening campfire songs and everything in between. Their mission is “to create a place that is both culturally authentic and uniquely our own. In the Language Villages, everything from the music played to the dishes used in the dining hall reflects the culture each was designed to represent. Immerse yourself in the world of a native speaker, where you can truly learn to live a language, not just speak it.”
These camps are not just limited to kids, but there are times for just adults and families too! This way you can continue to go to summer camp while growing your language skills! Prices depend on which session you choose, but scholarships are available. Some of the sessions start in the spring while others stretch late into the fall, so be sure to check the times for whichever you are interested in to be sure you don’t miss the deadline.
The organization’s website states, “We build a positive, supportive community of learners where anyone – regardless of proficiency – can benefit from our language and cultural immersion experience. No other educational institution in the United States provides the level of cultural context the Concordia Language Villages offers our participants. Our programs are rigorous, fun, intentional and time-tested. The CLV way of immersion brings our mission of inspiring courageous global citizens to life.”
Sources
Concordia Language Villages. https://www.concordialanguagevillages.org/. Accessed 27 July 2024.
“Concordia Language Villages – Bemidji, MN.” Yelp, https://www.yelp.com/biz/concordia-language-villages-bemidji. Accessed 27 July 2024.
Friend of the Museum Tim Brookes has published a book of Sudoku puzzles using endangered alphabets. He has shared a sample with us for your puzzle-solving fun. The introduction to this book explains more.
Introduction
Why endangered alphabet sudoku?
In almost every corner of the world, there are communities with their own writing system — alphabets, pictographs, other forms of writing — that has been forced to the brink of extinction.
More than 90% of the world’s writing systems are in this critical situation. When a script falls into disuse, the entire written record of that culture — sacred texts, poems, personal correspondence, histories, the collective collected wisdom of that people — is lost. And with it goes much of their sense of history, identity, self-respect, and purpose.
It’s a cultural and spiritual catastrophe. Research all over the world shows that under these circumstances the extent and quality. of education, average birth weight and life expectancy go down, while levels of infant mortality, homelessness and incarceration, and even suicide go up.
Conversely, some communities have tried to gain a sense of linguistic pride and cultural identity by inventing their own writing systems, but those scripts struggle for acceptance in the face of those of more powerful neighbors.
The Endangered Alphabets Project is the only organization in the world promoting and supporting marginalized scripts. We do that by compiling the Atlas of Endangered Alphabets (endangeredalphabets.net), by raising awareness, by providing technical help, by promoting the artwork of typographers and calligraphers breathing new life into their culture’s letterforms — and by making games …
. . .like these sudoku, which open the player’s eyes to what it must be like to be out of our depth in a country that uses a different language or script. An endangered alphabet sudoku shows us all too vividly how hard it is to process unfamiliar written symbols. It’s hard enough to recognize and identify the symbols themselves one by one, but trying to scan the mass of glyphs to pick up likely combinations is extraordinarily difficult. We may feel baffled, overwhelmed, angry, foolish, resentful. This is the challenge many minorities, refugees and immigrants face every day.
Hint: in the face of this challenge, I tackle these puzzles by assigning each symbol a number from 1-9, solve the puzzle using symbols I know well, then convert them back to the endangered alphabet symbols. But you may not want to
take such short cuts!
Either way, have fun, fellow geeks!
Tim Brookes
Founder, the Endangered Alphabets Project
www.endangeredalphabets.com
Sudoku is a number puzzle where the goal is to fill in a 9×9 grid with numbers 1–9 so that each row, column, and 3×3 quadrant has exactly one of each number.
In Tim’s version, instead of the numbers 1-9 you have nine different letters or characters from a particular minority script. But you’re still trying to do the same thing: make sure that each row, column, and 3×3 quadrant has exactly one of each symbol. For your convenience, the pdf below may be printed or print the sudoku grid here.
Balinese Alphabet SudokuText and puzzle © Endangered Alphabets Sudoku by Tim Brookes – Percentage Possibility Publications $17.95 Available at https://www.endangeredalphabets.com/endangered-alphabetsmerchandise/
There are many different strategies that teachers and self-studiers can employ when it comes to language learning. Some may seem more interesting than others (depending on who you ask) but in the end, it can and should be fun. Puzzel.org is a great resource for language teachers because it allows you to make your own puzzles. From word searches to memory games to bingo, and more, puzzel.org provides a wide variety of activities that teachers can tailor to their own classes and engage each of their students.
Since the puzzles can be embedded on a website, they can easily be accessed. Students do not have to go to another site so there is no risk of mistyped addresses or private data being shared.
With various options for subscriptions, the pricing per year is kept low to provide an educational resource Subscriptions start at $32.55 per year, with discounts for non-profits. Teachers can easily make as many puzzles as they want inspired by any language lesson material. You can create a memory game to help with informational recall, a ‘label this’ puzzle for the use of images and diagrams, and hidden word games to promote familiarity with the target language. There are at least 24 different puzzle types to explore that teachers can create and share with their students. Learners of all ages can do these in class, outside of class for fun homework, or earn some unique extra credit!
The current languages available are Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Danish, Brazilian Portuguese, English, Dutch, Spanish, French, European Portuguese, German, Italian, Slovenian, Indonesian, Polish, Greek, Turkish, and Hungarian.
Look over Puzzel.org for yourself and try it out below:
Today, Filipino is the official national language of the Philippines, but it was not always that way. This month let’s learn about Tagalog, another major language in the island nation of the Philippines. First, a break-down of the name so that we can understand where it comes from:
Taga means “from”
Ilog means “river”
Therefore, when you put it together it becomes Taga-Ilog meaning “from the river” or river dwellers. This eventually became the name of the language as it was spoken by those who lived by the rivers.
Before the 1930s there was no national language of the Philipines. English and Spanish were considered official languages, but they were not national. In 1937 the Filipino government declared Tagalog the national language. This was controversial because the language was only spoken in the central and southern regions of Luzon, which is the northern region of the Philippines. People in the far north of Luzon and the southern regions didn’t speak it and therefore did not support or recognize it as the national language. The reason the government chose Tagalog is because it was spoken in Manila and its surrounding areas, which is where the government was located.
Some of the reasons to choose Tagalog were first that it did not have nearly as many dialects as other languages in the Philipines at the time and second, there was already an extensive amount of historical documents and books written in Tagalog. Therefore it was already well established. Lastly, it was chosen because it was the most widely understood language throughout the Philipines even though many did not speak it fluently.
This was until 1987 when Filipino was declared the national language. Filipino comes from Tagalog but has a lot of loan words from various languages such as Spanish and English. The main difference is that Filipino is largely Tagalog with a lot of loan words.
Filipino gets its influence from Spain because of its 300-year occupancy in the country.
Examples:
Tagalog – Spanish – English
kabayo – caballo – horse
radyo – radio – radio
kutsara – cuchara – spoon
tinidor – tenedor – fork
Also, China because many people from the south of China immigrated between the 16th and 19th centuries. Chinese immigrants also heavily influenced Filipino cuisine and culture with the ideas of feng shui.
Examples:
Tagalog – English
hikaw – earrings
susi – key
ate – older sister
kuya – older brother
There were also influences from the United States and Japan due to their occupations in the early 1900s.
Examples:
Tagalog – English
wais – wise
bolpen – pen
nars – nurse
drayber – driver
Examples:
Tagalog – Japanese – English
karaoke – カラオケ – karaoke
katol – 蚊取 り- incense to repel mosquitoes
tsunami – 津波 – tsunami
Tagalog purists, those who speak Tagalog and are not supportive of loan words or Filipino, would use other words than those above. They would use words from pre-colonial times. For example, instead of the borrowed general word for horse kabayo they would use the word for a female horse meyr.
While Tagalog is a language in the Philippines, there are speakers around the world on every continent. There was even a Filipino researcher who spoke Tagalog in Antarctica. In total, 47.3 million people around the world speak Tagalog as a native language.
Learn more about the written languages in the Philippines through our speaker on Two Efforts to Revive the Ancient Filipino Script – Calligraphic Art and Language Teaching here.
For more information:
https://www.worlddata.info/languages/tagalog.php
Rockville Science Day 2024
Play the quiz show games on origins of scientific terms in 12 categories. Game 1 | Game 2
Posters: These posters explain Linneaus’ system of taxonomy. Click an image to enlarge.
Puzzles: click on the document to print and make your own puzzles with binomial nomenclature (scientific names) of various animals. Art by Linda Mitchell Thompson
Starting in the early years, a dual language education has many benefits for children that can impact them for the rest of their lives. This includes health benefits, academic benefits as well as future career opportunities. According to a study in 2016 (link below) in the National Library of Medicine, students in dual language programs outperformed students in mainstream English programs in both English and math standardized test scores. It is because of these benefits, and many more, that the state of Washington may be putting a law in place in favor of dual language education.
The House Bill 1228, sponsored by Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self, D-Mukilteo, would create permanent funding to make more dual language programs available to every school district in Washington State by 2040. This bill was passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate. The Legislature plans to fund at least 10 new dual language programs annually with an average grant award of $40,000. This would help programs’ startup costs, support professional development for teachers, and provide instructional materials in the second language that would be taught.
It would allow for districts to apply for funding through the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to either start or expand their current dual language or tribal education programs. Currently, 141 schools offer dual language programs, with 122 of those using English and Spanish. This also covers any type of dual language program, including those that are 50/50 between the two languages and programs where kindergarteners have the second language 90% of the day and English 10%, with an increase in English each year until they reach 50/50.
However, this bill not only has a focus on dual language education, but it intends to increase tribal education as well. This would allow for Indigenous students to reconnect with their language, culture, and oral tribal traditions in schools across the state. Indigenous languages are included in the bill’s definition of world languages. The bill gives priority to schools with over 50% of the student population being students of color. This bill is well on its way to creating more dual-language educational programs which takes the state, and then the country, one step closer to a better education overall.
Read more here:
Bazzaz, Dahlia. “New Report: WA Student Test Scores Inching up in Math and Reading.” The Seattle Times, The Seattle Times Company, 14 Sept. 2023, www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/wa-student-test-scores-in-math-and-reading-inch-up-newest-release-shows/.
Bialystok, Ellen. “Bilingual Education for Young Children: Review of the Effects and Consequences.” International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2018, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6168086
“Bill Status-at-a-Glance.” Bill Summary RSS, 2024, app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1228&Year=2023.
Romero, Jacquelyn Jimenez. “Dual Language Education Is One Step Closer to Becoming a WA Law.” The Seattle Times, The Seattle Times Company, 15 Mar. 2024, www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/dual-language-education-is-one-step-closer-to-becoming-a-wa-law/.
Are you a language teacher of Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Persian-Farsi, or Russian who is passionate about innovation? Ready to make a difference while expanding your professional toolkit?
OLC will host the STARTALK Digital Learning Institute for Critical Language Educators this summer highlighting leading-edge digital strategies and tools. The program will blend theory and hands-on practice, allowing you to develop proficiencies to…
- Design impactful digital learning experiences aligned with STARTALK Principles,
TELL Framework, and OLC Quality Scorecards - Discover and evaluate blended, hybrid, and fully online teaching modalities
- Develop engaging, accessible, and equity-focused teaching and learning practices
- Deliver an innovative lesson plan using open educational resources
See the announcement below for information.
STARTALK AnnouncementRegister for April 17, 2024 – 02:00pm – 03:00pm Information Session
The UNA-USA is a membership organization of Americans who work to support the ideals of the UN. It encompasses a national network of chapters, youth engagement, advocacy efforts, education programs, and public events. There are more than 200 chapters across the US with 60% of members under the age of 25. Each group each embodies a commitment to the mission of the UN and to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Approximately 1,000 advocates attended the 2024 Global Summit.
The overarching goal of this summit was to highlight actions currently going on and to inspire “bold action” by participants as they work to impact people and the planet. The UNA-USA brings the work of the UN to local communities around the country. One overarching theme was to inspire members to act locally in order to affect global changes. It was clear that the attendees were committed to this work, well-informed, and active individuals who strongly believe in the goals of the UN. The program began at 10:00 AM in the Security Council Chamber. The entire program took place in this chamber with one break for lunch. After opening remarks, we listened to a variety of interesting speakers who engaged the audience through question/answer sessions and small panel discussions.
Highlighted speeches and Panel Discussions:
Rachel Bower Pittman, executive director of the UNA-USA welcomed the attendees citing the work of the member groups for 80 years in forwarding civic engagement, gender equality, and sustainable development goals.
Mr. Stephane Dujarric, the UN spokesperson for the Attorney General of the UN, Antonio Guterres hosted a question/answer session with attendees in which he highlighted the work of the UNA to bring global problems to light and to work toward relieving these issues starting at the local level. “The path to relieve
global problems resides in each individual at the local level first.” Further, he mentioned that the UN has adopted an accountability of action making it
necessary for any nation who vetoes an action to publicly explain his vote to the assembly members. ***He also indicated that he is happy to be invited to
speak to various groups.+++
Session I dealt with human rights and technology. Mr. Kevin Kissel, Google Cloud Technical Director at Google spoke at length about quantum computing and the work that his organization is currently carrying out. He has had a long history in computing both at Google and at other organizations. His comments comprised Artificial Intelligence and other aspects and uses of technology that are currently in use and others that will potentially be released in the near future. His comments were both interesting and informative, and he would most likely be of interest to the general public.
Vitorino Mello Oliveira, a Portuguese Diplomat, Adjunct Professor, and a member of the Portuguese Mission in New York City spoke about how to build a cohesive group agenda of young people with the goal of moving them from local to global actions. He mentioned that the unit in New York is a collaborative between the US and Portugal citing collective issues that both American and Portuguese youth value.
+++He receives numerous requests to address different organizations.+++
The Enduring Heartache of War was a strong topic for a small panel discussion. Two speakers, Dr. Zeinab Hijazi and Alona Volinsky spoke with passion on the topic of “The Enduring Heartache of War.” They focused on the impact on children growing up in war-torn areas, the lack of food, medical care, mental health support, and the rupture of families. Children, boys, in particular, have no positive role models; the displacement of families and the rupture of families have been felt for generations unless there are services to counteract the trauma; 30% of children in these areas suffer from mental health problems.
David Ohana, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer of the UN Foundation (an excellent speaker!) talked about a variety of initiatives his group has organized. His mantra is “Never leave an idea unrealized, especially one that can help others.” Currently, he and his group are working on a communications message dealing with plastic found inside human beings. He is also asked for speaking engagements. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8PGg1BWACk Check out “I was here.” United Nations Humanitarian Day was organized and produced by Mr. Ohana and his committee. Anne Marie Hwa Hou addressed the assembly on fashion as a statement about who we are and what we stand for. She provided interesting facts on overproduction, the fashion industry and its
impact on climate, and the unfair treatment of women and children in poor countries, individuals who are overworked and live in dismal conditions. A sustainable fashion show followed featuring a number of entrepreneurs who design and produce sustainable fashion. Prota Fiori is a luxury shoe brand made from sustainable footwear. Edelweiss Vogel is an artist from the Philippines who connects her craft with a commitment to sustainability. Remake is a global advocacy organization uniting change-makers in the fight for human rights and climate justice in the clothing industry. Julieta Gaitan is a Colombian fashion designer fighting to reduce pollution and environmental damage in the textile industry, she has developed sustainable textiles and natural dyes using fungi. A sustainable fashion show followed the presentations.