Applicants for the CLS Spark initiative have been informed of their selection status by email. If you are a CLS Spark applicant and have not received a notification, please let us know by contacting the program at cls@americancouncils.org.
The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program is a summer study abroad opportunity for American college and university students to learn languages essential to America’s engagement with the world.
The CLS Program is part of a U.S. government effort to expand
dramatically the number of Americans studying and mastering critical
foreign languages. Students of diverse disciplines and majors are
encouraged to apply. Participants are expected to continue their
language study beyond the scholarship period, and later apply their
critical language skills in their future professional careers.
Each summer, CLS provides rigorous academic instruction in fifteen
languages that are critical to America's national security and
economic prosperity. CLS participants are citizen ambassadors,
sharing American values and promoting American influence abroad.
Why You Should Study Abroad with the CLS Program
Key Benefits
Develop Key Expertise
The CLS Program provides its scholars
intensive language and cultural instruction
in an environment designed to maximize
their language gains at every level.
Career Ready Skills
Alumni apply their critical language
skills in a variety of professional fields
in public and private sectors as well as
government, helping to support America’s
competitiveness across the board.
Citizen Diplomacy
CLS scholars represent the breadth
and diversity of the United States.
Through personal engagement they
help to spread American values and
develop mutual understanding with
the people of other countries.
Diplomatic representation of the monolith that is the United States military is very similar to the citizen diplomacy aspect of the CLS Program. You cannot begin to understand culture without the language component. With the CLS Program, you gain authenticity by learning the language. Andrea Howard,
Azerbaijani
2015
The CLS Program was instrumental in getting me to the proficiency level required for my career. My employer cited my language skills as one of the main traits that made me an outstanding candidate. John Krzyzaniak,
Persian
2016
"I had always been interested in learning about Brazilian culture and Portuguese language and CLS made that a reality for me." Max Courval,
Portuguese
2020
"The Persian language opens a door to a universe of wonders within the collective history of humankind." Shabbir Abbas,
Persian
2020
For William Yuen Yee being a beginner again is a challenge he embraces wholeheartedly. After dedicating over a decade to Mandarin Chinese, participating in CLS Chinese in 2019 and NSLI-Y in 2018, William dove headfirst into learning Indonesian and is currently participating in CLS Indonesian hosted…
The CLS Program is pleased to announce the results of its inaugural CLS Spark competition. We applaud all applicants to CLS Spark for their commitment to language learning and congratulate the finalists and alternates selected from this impressive pool of students.
Finalists for CLS Spark were sel…
What do snakes, public health and the Arabic language have in common? Ask CLS Arabic scholar Chloe Vasquez! Chloe is participating in CLS virtually from San Jose, Costa Rica while creating a documentary on snake bites and Costa Rica’s health response. When Chloe’s mom was bitten by a pit viper in O…
Meet Brenda Tooley! As CLS Advisor at Grand Valley State University and Associate Director of the Center for Undergraduate Scholar Engagement, Brenda inspires students to go after fellowship and scholarship opportunities that will set them up for academic and professional success. She is a strong b…
CLS Program scholars visited the Parliament of Georgia and met with the Chair of the Education and Science Committee Giorgi Amilakhvari and committee member Khatua Kvitsiani.
Shared from Parliament of Georgia, August 08, 2022
David Anderson (Japanese 2019) paid a visit to Okayama University President Makino Hirofumi before returning to the US, where he will continue his studies at Harvard University.