Chandigarh (Punjabi), Jaipur (Hindi), Lucknow (Urdu), and Kolkata (Bengali), India

American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS)

Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu

Beginning, intermediate and advanced (intermediate and advanced only for Bengali)

June 9 – August 22, 2010

Dates are inclusive of travel and the pre-departure orientation in Washington, DC. Students are required to participate in the full program, including the pre-departure orientation. All travel will be arranged for participants following selection.

The CLS Program offers courses designed to develop students’ listening, reading, speaking, spoken interaction, and writing skills. Students will receive a minimum of 20 hours per week of formal classroom instruction. The curriculum includes readings of newspapers and magazines, fiction, and poetry; listening to daily radio and TV broadcasts; watching films; lectures; interviews with community members; and special vocabulary classes. Using their specific areas of interest, students will receive personal tutorials and write term papers. Students will keep a daily journal written in their language of study, which is reviewed on a daily basis for corrections in grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure.

Weekly activities will supplement formal classroom instruction and will include local trips, guest lectures, monolingual guests, and music and dance performances.

All components of the CLS Program have been developed as part of the language acquisition process. CLS participants are required to attend all program components, including, but not limited to, language instruction (formal/informal), cultural activities, and excursions. Absences will only be excused for medical or other approved reasons.

Students are paired with host families who have experience housing international students. AIIS provides lunch on weekdays. For remaining meals, students will receive a stipend for meals not provided by the family.

The American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) operates intensive advanced training programs in several of India’s languages. In addition to regular programs in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, and Urdu, AIIS offers programs in lesser taught Indian languages on demand because of the near impossibility of studying these languages in the U.S. A well-trained staff, whose pedagogical techniques are constantly updated, teach both academic year and summer programs.

The Urdu program is located in Lucknow, a city that has been the center for Urdu literary and cultural life since the eighteenth century. The Hindi program is located in Jaipur in Rajasthan, a region where the mix of religious traditions, Hindu, Muslim and Jain, contribute to the rich cultural environment. The Bengali program is located in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal and what many consider to be the artistic and cultural capital of India. The Punjabi program is located in Chandigarh.

Learn more about the American Institute of Indian Studies at: http://www.indiastudies.org/