As 2010 begins, colleges are initiating new programs to further educate a generation that is dealing with one of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
Recently, President Barack Obama passed a U.S. Defense bill giving $2.88 million to the Strategic Learning Initiative (SLI).
“This bill will improve foreign language education in the U.S.,” said Tianwei Xie, coordinator of the Chinese branch of Cal State Long Beach. “We actually were benefitting from this fund since 2007.”
The SLI programs are used not only to educate future business employees international skills and language proficiency, but to improve the country’s national security.
According to a Committee for Economic Development report, the language programs are “enhancing the ties of national security” by improving people’s communication skills with the world, which “could be a decisive [factor] in encouraging countries throughout the Middle East and South Asia to embrace democratic pluralism and reject violent extremism.”
The programs are also becoming an economic necessity for the U.S. to maintain global competitiveness by enriching students knowledge of foreign languages and world cultures.
Each year, American businesses lose around $2 billion due to their employee’s inadequate cross-cultural guidance in multicultural scenarios, according to the CED report. Statistics also show that 80 percent of business leaders believe their businesses will increase by hiring internationally competent employees and will help improve their exportation to foreign markets.
“At the student level, our SLI participants have been able to increase their language proficiency two to three times the rate of language students normally make in traditional classroom settings,” said KimOanh Nguyen-Lam, executive director of the initiative.
The bill will help fund the following California State University campuses’ programs: CSULB (Mandarin Chinese), Cal State Fullerton (Persian), Cal State Los Angeles (Korean), Cal State Northridge (Russian) and Cal State San Bernadino (Arabic).
The bill will also help begin San Francisco State’s Mandarin Chinese and San Jose State’s Arabic foreign language immersion programs.
This summer, CSULB will offer a new opportunity for students to learn Mandarin Chinese. The program, which begins with an on-campus summer immersion that lasts from six to eight weeks, will allow students to have direct language instruction, weekend excursions to local Chinese communities and cultural activities, which include martial arts and Chinese music.
The second phase is an academic year of online learning and face-to-face study where students will be mentored by native speakers online or in the community.
Lastly, the students will further their education of the culture and language by traveling abroad to that target language country, where they will attend courses with native-speaking students and participate in field work and internships.
By the end of the program, students will be able to communicate in Mandarin Chinese, read and write in the language and have a better grasp of the culture.
Candidates for the Mandarin Chinese program must have two years or equivalency of university-level Chinese language study and be willing to commit to two consecutive summers. The candidate must also complete the Chinese language content course for the semesters in between.
In addition, students must pass the Chinese SAT and participate in an interview with the SLI staff.
CSU students have first priority but the SLI staff is also allowing students from community colleges and other institutions of higher education to apply. The program includes a nonrefundable $600. Full and partial scholarships are also available.
Not knowing whether the SLI program will get additional funding next year, the group hopes to further its cause by dispersing funds to help support other CSU campuses develop similar programs within their schools.