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In this issue:

Ø NALRC Hosts FLTAs

Ø New Somali Textbook

Ø ASA Conference

Ø Summer Institute

Ø ACTFL Conference

NALRC hosts Fulbright FLTAs
During two week-long sessions in August, the NALRC hosted orientation workshops for nearly 90 Fulbright-Hays Foreign Language Teaching Assistants (FLTAs). FLTAs are selected by the Institute of International Education as part of a Fulbright-Hays program that brings language teachers to various U.S. universities in order that they might assist in language teaching for one academic year and learn teaching skills they can take back to their countries of origin. Before reporting to their various assignments, the FLTAs were introduced to the American education system, language pedagogy, and each other at the orientation, which took place at the Sheraton Hotel in Madison, WI.	Antonia Schleicher with FLTAs		with students in an American academic environment, standards for learning foreign languages, incorporating culture into the foreign language classroom, individual differences in learning foreign languages, classroom management, preparing syllabi and lesson plans, and error correction. At the completion of the workshop, the scholars reported to their various universities, armed with the background and skills to be effective language teachers. The NALRC hopes that such training and professional development opportunities continue to professionalize the field of language teaching, especially the LCTLs. In all of this, we are proud to have the African languages at the forefront of the initiative.
	Professor Antonia Schleicher, Director of the NALRC, was the workshop leader. Students from countries such as Argentina and Afghanistan rubbed elbows with peers from places like as Kenya, Tanzania, and Nigeria. The highly successful program introduced the enthusiastic scholars to the basics of teaching foreign languages. The training menu included such critical issues as curriculum development, dealing

Somali textbook hits shelves
The newest NALRC textbook to come out this year is Af Soomaali Aan Ku Hadalno by Abdullahi Abdinoor. This latest text expands the NALRC list of “Let’s Sepak” texts to 10. According to Ali Jimale Ahmed, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at Queens College in New York, “This is a book that takes the learning of Somali to a new level. Let’s Speak Somali forces the learner to engage in		a productive tussle with the Somali language.” The NALRC is sure that other readers will agree. Though following the format of all the NALRC’s communicatively oriented textbooks, Abdinoor’s text is highly original. Lidwien Kapteijns, Kendall/Hodder Professor of History at Wellesley College, sees in the text “a delightful approach.” He adds that, “This is not some standard grammar, with standard exercises, that has been translated into Somali.” Indeed, the NALRC endeavors to make all of its materials this “delightful” and innovative. Communicatively oriented texts are the mainstay at the NALRC, which strives to		not only to produce texts for African languages, but to push the envelope of language pedagogy. Though dealing with sound systems, grammatical constructions, and orthographies that are ‘completely foreign,’ students of African languages for which there are NALRC texts, are learning these languages at a rate equal to or faster than languages which are ‘less foreign.’ In the next year, new textbooks will be available for Kikongo, Wolof, and Hausa. Additionally, anAdvanced-Level Swahili text is in the works, which will bring the NALRC Swahili program from elementary, through intermediate and advanced.

Ongoing NALRC Projects

Please follow the links below to learn more about NALRC publications

Textbooks

Multimedia

Brochures

Hint: Click on any picture for the full-size version.

African languages and Human Rights at ASA

Matthew H. Brown and Kehinde Omosebi represented the NALRC at the 50th African Studies Association annual conference, held in beautiful downtown New York City at the Sheraton hotel from October 18 - 21. This year’s conference theme of “21st Century Africa: Evolving Conceptions of Human Rights” struck a chord with the NALRC’s notion of language as a human right.
Matthew and Kehinde arrived in New York late Wednesday, the 17^th, and set up the NALRC display booth early Thursday morning, the first day of the conference.

The eye-catching brochures and the “Let’s Speak” and “Let’s Read” textbook series were on display, including the new titles: “Ngativerenge Shona,” “Tusome Kiswahili,” “Af Soomali Aan Ku Hadalno,” and the “Wolof Lexicon and Grammar.” The “Learners’ Reference Grammar” series and all of our organizational journals were also on hand.
Each day, Matthew and Omosebi had the opportunity to speak with professors, researchers, and scholars about African language pedagogy. Many commended the NALRC’s continuing efforts to publish materials for important African languages, noting that

languages are Human Rights and knowledge of them will improve their visibility. Many also offered welcomed critiques on how the NALRC might improve the quality of publications and communication with the field.
Many conference goers interested in the recent activities of the NALRC took a copy of the ULIMI (the NALRC bulletin) and language brochures. Matthew also had the opportunity to attend a few panels throughout the conference, taking ideas and information from the NALRC into academic discussions.
The conference was a

huge success, and the NALRC looks forward to attending the upcoming 51st African Studies Association annual conference next year in Chicago.

Kehinde Omosebi with the NALRC booth at ASA 2007

8^th Summer Institute
a resounding success

NALRC brings African language focus to ACTFL

      For the 8th year running, the NALRC hosted a Summer Institute in Madison, WI for professional development in the teaching of African languages. Through these annual institutes, the NALRC has equipped a total of 126 African language instructors, practitioners, and enthusiasts in the latest communicatively-oriented approaches for teaching African languages to both native speakers and foreign learners and students.
        New teachers, such as university Teaching Assistants, benefit from hands-on, research-supported African language pedagogy. They also get a sense of the atmosphere of a new foreign language classroom while experienced teachers learn new strategies and techniques to apply to their classrooms.
         The 2007 Institute began on Tuesday, May 29, and ran until Friday, June 8. Twenty-four African language teachers and enthusiasts converged on Madison from various locations such as Fisk University, Howard University, University of Lagos (Nigeria), Indiana University, and Yoruba Wunmi (UK). African languages represented at this year’s institute were Kiswahili, Yoruba, Akan-Twi, ChiShona, Lango, Xhosa, Arabic, and Wolof.
         Instructors for this year’s institute were Steve Timm and Joe Nosek, UW-Madison teachers and practitioners of diverse pedagogical theories for the language classroom. During the first week of the institute, Mr. Timm taught and modeled best practices for instruction in speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. Mr. Nosek led the second week, presenting a variety of strategies for realizing vocabulary retention and providing goal-based assessment.

Said Hannouchi delivers an Arabic lesson at the NALRC Summer Institute

       Adedoyin Adenuga and Joseph Chikowero represented the NALRC at the 41st annual meeting and exhibition of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), held at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas, from November 16-18, 2007. The theme of this year’s conference was “Bridging Cultures Through Languages” which the presence of the NALRC augmented by opening up the conference to the many languages on the African continent. Our booth was shared with the University of Arizona-based Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language and Literacy (CERCLL) in the area reserved especially for Language Resource Centers.
        The NALRC booth generated a large amount of interest and excitement among conference attendees due to the fact that the NALRC was the only booth on the conference floor dealing specifically with African languages. Many visitors to the NALRC’s booth were teachers interested in beginning African language programs in their schools at the K-12 levels or finding teaching materials for current African language programs. The ever-popular language brochures were especially influential in illustrating the vast number of languages spoken on the African continent. The NALRC showcased a set of new brochures for Acholi, Ndebele and Swati languages in addition to over thirty others.
        Copies of all NALRC publications were on display, including thre new additions

Adedoyin Adenuga assists a customer at the 2007 ACTFL conference

On Thursday, June 7, a ceremony to present certificates to participants was held in Bascom Hall. Opening remarks were delivered by NALRC Director, Professor Antonia Schleicher and Professor Sandra Arfa, Director of the Program in English a Second Language at UW-Madison. Prof. Schleicher stressed the importance of skills gained from the Institute in equipping African language teachers in their classroom teaching. Participants, professors, and invited guests were treated to an evening of blues harmonica music by the multi-talented Joe Nosek. Moses Mabayoje and his Yoruba ensemble chipped in with their Oriki Olodumare (praise poetry) and Joe Nosek partnered with Steve Timm for their humorous “Performance and Speech Act” to conclude this section of the ceremony. Thereafter, Professor Tejumola Olaniyan of the Departments of English and African Languages and Literature gave a brief speech, noting the great work of the NALRC continues to do in training African language teachers before presenting certificates to participants.
The closing remarks and Vote of Thanks were delivered by Aissatou Diop-Hashim, a French professor and Wolof instructor at Howard University.

from the NALRC Press: Tusome Kiswahili, Af Soomali Aan Ku Hadalno, and Ngativerenge Shona.
Touted as the largest ACTFL conference ever, this year’s convention featured hundreds of exhibitors and other participants. The NALRC booth was patronized by hundreds of scholars, educators, publishers, and other enthusiasts keen to learn about our work. Adedoyin and Joseph spoke with a variety of language teachers and administrators who were interested in bringing knowledge of African languages to their schools while others made enquiries about African language materials. Joseph also gave a presentation about the goals, achievements, and future projects of the NALRC at a session introducing and explaining the benefits of Language Resource Centers.
Having NALRC representation at the conference was helpful both for educators and for the center. The NALRC looks forward to attending the upcoming 41st American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages annual conference in Orlando, Florida.

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