STARTALK
The STARTALK Student Summer Program, offered by the School of Curriculum and Teaching, is a three-week online language immersion program designed for secondary/early college heritage language learners who wish to gain higher levels of language and intercultural proficiency through the study of Hindi/ Urdu in real world contexts and in contemporary learning environments.
STARTALK (startalk.umd.edu) is a national project funded by the National Security Agency. STARTALK’s mission is to increase the number of U.S. citizens learning, speaking, and teaching critical-need languages, with programs nationwide for students (K-16) and teachers.
Kean/STARTALK Program Mission: We believe authentic, challenging, active and relevant language learning experiences optimize opportunities for all students to productively participate and lead in an increasingly diverse and dynamic society.
Beyond STARTALK
Keep Talking! Many opportunities exist where
students can continue learning and develop strong language and culture skills.
Careers in Language-Related Fields
About Language, Languages, and Language Learning
Support for High School Students for Language Study
Support for College and University Students for Language Study
2021 Theme
“Heroes Rise: Indian and Pakistani Heroes Impacting the Local and Global Community” serves as the theme that will guide instruction and learning focused on using Hindi/ Urdu to gain knowledge about past and present Indian and Pakistani heroes and to apply that knowledge in a real world context.
2021 Learning Outcomes
- Improve Hindi/Urdu literacy and speaking proficiency without using textbooks in a highly interactive project-based curriculum.
- Participate in daily structured virtual interactions with partner schools in Gurugram, India and Karachi, Pakistan and with invited “real life” heroes using a variety of technology tools.
- Apply knowledge gained about Indian/Pakistani heroes as the context for the development of a Website which features student created stories, poetry, music and digital media projects to recognize the contributions of these heroes.
- Use the “Heroes Rise” website as an advocacy platform urging individuals to emulate Indian and Pakistani heroes by tapping into their “hero within” and taking an active role in the heritage community here and abroad to improve conditions locally and globally.
- Use increased Hindi/Urdu language skills for community service activities and/or future employment opportunities.
- Earn 1- high school or college credit for successful completion of the program and/or up to 6- college credits dependent results reported on the NYU Proficiency Test.