A Program of the Following the success of the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program’s Virtual Institutes this summer, we are pleased to announce that the CLS Program will offer further virtual language instruction this fall for the study of ten critical languages: Azerbaijani, Bangla, Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese, Portuguese, Punjabi, Swahili, Turkish, and Urdu.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has restricted the ability of Americans to travel and of students to participate in study abroad programs, it is still essential that American students continue to engage with critical languages and cultures of the world. Participants for these Virtual Institutes will be drawn from finalists and alternates for the suspended summer 2020 CLS Program.
The fall Virtual Institutes will take place online over a period of six weeks between October and November and provide approximately five to seven hours of instruction per week:
- Face-to-face (synchronous) small group class time
- Individual feedback sessions with instructors
- Asynchronous, interactive activities, such as completing virtual museum tours, interacting with social media, etc.
- Homework assignments that reinforce course materials and concepts
- Directed independent study
- Meetings with a language partner for conversation practice
Instruction will be provided by CLS language teachers abroad. Given the abbreviated nature of this programming, academic credit will not be offered for participation in the virtual program.
All finalists and alternates for the languages above have received an email with more information about the CLS Virtual Institutes. If you are a finalist or alternate and have not received an update, please contact us at cls@americancouncils.org.