A Program of the Mike Calistro (CLS 2014 Indonesian) used his Alumni Development Fund to pay for Indonesian language training in a private course entitled Indonesian Maintenance Program (IMP) for himself as well as five other US Army Indonesian linguists stationed in Hawaii. The course focused on reading, analyzing, and translating Indonesian news articles covering political, social, and military issues, thereby increasing participants’ language skills as well as become more informed about Indonesia. Mike is now working with language managers from his Millitary Intelligence batallion to develop a linguist-training cycle with the goal of being able to provide a language training foundation. Course participants have participated previously and anticipate future participation in joint training exercises with the Indonesian military as translators.
Mike and his work was also featured in an article from the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center.
http://www.dliflc.edu/linguist-endeavors-to-maintain-indonesian-proficiency/
The Alumni Development Fund in 2014 awarded funding to 65 alumni from the 2014 cohort who submitted proposals for activities to assist with their continued language learning and/or professional academic development. Priority was given to applications that incorporated or explained how their activity would have a wider impact on others (e.g. students, CLS alumni, community).
2014 ADF projects covered a wide scope of topics and activities. Some projects focused on improving the awardee’s CLS language skills in order to indirectly affect the public through the creation of language materials, improving one’s effectiveness at their workplace, and sharing their research and CLS experience at national conferences. Other projects directly impacted others, for example through the creation of an international pen-pal exchange, language tables at universities, and community events highlighting their host languages and cultures.