Language News from DC

Our Liaison from the District of Columbia is Ms. Ewa Zeoli.

The Coalition of Community-Based Heritage Language Schools is excited to invite you to participate in its 11th annual conference! This conference brings together everyone who is interested in learning about and collaborating with community-based HL schools. Attendees typically include directors and administrators of community-based HL schools, teachers, members of the language communities, representatives of public schools, researchers in the field of HL education, and leaders of national language organizations.

This event will be hybrid, held both on site at American University in Washington, DC and online on October 4-5, 2024. Please explore the conference website, learn about the plenary speakers, and register here! Feel free to share the conference Facebook event as well as LinkedIn event widely and invite your colleagues! If you would like to receive announcements about future events and conferences from the Coalition, sign up for their newsletter.

Folklore Expedition in Moldova

Looking for mid-winter adventure?  You’re invited to join a folklore expedition to document the folk drama ”Tsar Maximilian”  performed house-to-house in Moldovan villages as part of the winter festival  “Malanca.”

You’ll capture the action in the January snow as troupes of young actors bring this old folk drama to their neighbors. You’ll record the dialog, songs, dances, music, sword fights, splendid costumes and ad-libbed local jokes. You’ll interview the performers and the locals who grew up with this tradition.

Your expedition will be led by established scholars who have years of experience working in Moldova with foreign volunteers.  

No special skills needed.  Knowledge of Romanian is helpful, but not required. Expedition volunteers pay a fee which covers the cost of their room, board and transportation during the expedition, plus a share of staff expenses. The expedition runs January 9-20, 2025, starting and ending in Chișinău, Moldova.

See the details at the PREEEF website.

See and hear footage from our 2019 Malanca expedition.

Or email us at info@preeef.org

New Language Access Program

The United States Department of Justice Announces New Language Access Program, under the DOJ Office for Access to Justice.

The Office for Access to Justice (ATJ) Language Access Program is dedicated to breaking down the barriers that prevent linguistically marginalized communities and those with limited proficiency in English, including those who are Deaf and hard of hearing, from reporting a crime, understanding their rights, navigating a court process, and from other interactions with the U.S. Department of Justice.

In 2022, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced the inaugural Department-wide Language Access Coordinator, housed in the Office for Access to Justice. The Language Access Coordinator leads ATJ’s Language Access Program and guides the effective implementation of the Department’s language access obligations. The Coordinator also chairs the Department’s Language Access Working Group, which includes representatives from all public-facing components.

On August 15, 2023, Attorney General Garland announced the release of the Department’s updated Language Access Plan. The updated Plan modernizes language access policies to further expand access and advance equity. The Plan provides guidance to Department offices to help them bolster language access planning, which includes understanding trends, needs, and preferences of communities that do not predominately use written or spoken English. The Plan improves translation and interpretation services, promotes quality assurance of those services, and expands the range of tools available to serve the public.

For details of this significant new program, please see the full text of the Language Access Plan here. The National Museum of Language is grateful to our National Advisory Council member, Professor Serafin Coronel Molina of Indiana University, for highlighting the notification of this program in his informative Facebook group, Language Policy and Planning, and Language Revitalization.

World Language Education Assistance Program

United States Representative Jimmy Panetta (CA-19), House Co-Chair of the America’s Languages Caucus, introduced the World Language Education Assistance Program (or World LEAP) Act (H.R. 5603) to establish a first-of-its-kind world language and dual language education grants program for K-12 schools.

Specifically, the World LEAP Act would establish at the U.S. Department of Education a multi-year grant program to allow school districts to establish, improve, and carry out projects that improve and expand world language or dual language programs. The legislation would also provide professional development opportunities for world language educators that are sustained, intensive, collaborative, job-embedded, data-driven, and classroom-focused while supporting pathways for paraprofessionals to gain educator certifications and licenses.

“Developing this legislation with Congressman Panetta’s office has been an honor,” said Amanda Seewald, Executive Director of the Joint National Committee for Languages and National Council for Languages and International Studies (JNCL-NCLIS). “We are thrilled to see the World Language Education Assistance Program (World LEAP) Act introduced to nationalize the crucial discussion of language education as an essential facet of K-12 learning in the United States.

The World LEAP Act will establish the first K-12 world language and dual language education grants program at the U.S. Department of Education in over 14 years. This important legislation prioritizes funding for the development of programs offered across all socio-economic and demographic groups, builds opportunity for heritage and English language learners, requires a reservation of funds for professional development, and promotes career pathways that will generate economic success for our nation. JNCL-NCLIS proudly endorses the World LEAP Act and is grateful to Congressman Panetta for his leadership.”

NEW GRANT FOR LANGUAGE TRAINING CENTERS -due February 25, 2022

DOD grant available to institutions of higher education to sponsor Language Training Centers to address language training needs of military and other national security personnel. The Language Training Center (LTC) Program is a DoD-funded initiative established in 2011 to accelerate the development of foundational or higher-level expertise in strategic languages and regional studies for DoD personnel by leveraging U.S. institutions of higher education to meet the existing and demonstrated training needs of DoD units, offices, or agencies

The link for information, guidelines, and eligibility is:  https://www.dodltc.org/2022-request-proposal.  This grant opportunity is an initiative of the Defense Language and National Security Education Office (DLNSEO).  Deadline for application is:  February 25, 2022, 4:30 pm EST

NEW GRANT ANNOUNCEMENT MCASP & WLARP -due April 8, 2022

Notice of Funding Opportunity the FY22 DoDEA Grants to Military-Connected Local Educational Agencies for Academic and Support Programs (MCASP) and the World Language Advancement and Readiness Program Grant (WLARP) is now available for application on grants.gov:   https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=337732  

The DoDEA relies on one true vision: “Excellence in Education for Every Student, Every Day, Everywhere.”   The grant program beautifully showcases this vision in so many ways.  Through our grant program we are building partnerships with public schools and other community organizations that will help military connected students be college and career ready.  The goal of our grant program is ensure that children from military families have access to quality educational opportunities.  Any Local Education Agency (LEA) awarded a grant under this announcement must use the funds to support programs that can be continued beyond the grant period and demonstrate approaches that could be disseminated to and duplicated in other LEAs.  Awarded projects must provide a written project narrative and a detail budget table which identifies which program (either MCASP or WLARP) the LEA is applying for funding to implement under this announcement.  Additionally, all projects awarded under this funding opportunity must include a professional development component.  DoDEA intends to award multiple grants, subject to the availability of funds.  Each individual grant award will be a minimum of $500,000.00 and may be up to a maximum of $2,000,000, for a period of up to five (5) years.

Applications are due Friday, April 8, 2022.  Technical assistance webinar information is included in the announcement.  If you have questions, dodea.grants@dodea.edu