African languages institute to open

The country’s first institute dedicated to preparing teachers of African languages will culminate Friday, July 7, at the university with a celebration at 5 p.m. in 260 Bascom Hall.

Sponsored by UW–Madison’s year-old National African Languages Resource Center, the institute has brought together scholars and teachers from 10 American universities including Yale, the University of California-Los Angeles, Johns Hopkins, Penn State and others.

Center director Antonia Schleicher, UW–Madison professor of African languages and literature, says the center’s inaugural event will help participants develop their own African language programs. “We want to give them the big picture about what it means to coordinate these programs,” she says. In addition, the institute also provided insight and ideas about curriculum and instructional materials such as software and textbooks.

Schleicher says that eventually, the center would like to work with K-12 teachers as well as college and university instructors. “Exploring teacher preparation and teaching methods is absolutely crucial on the K-12 level to prepare those students for the serious study of African languages later on,” she says.

Established last fall under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, the National African Languages Resource Center taps national experts in African languages from Arabic to Zulu. UW–Madison’s 38-year-old Department of African Languages and Literature teaches Yoruba, Swahili, Arabic and Hausa.

For more information, or to arrange a talk with institute participants, contact Schleicher, (608) 265-7905; ajschlei@facstaff.wisc.edu.