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CeLCAR NEWS

Spring 2012

  • SWSEEL 2012 Sign up for IU's summer institute to learn various CeLCAR languages: Introductory Dari, Intermediate Dari, Introductory Kazakh, Intermediate Pashto, Introductory Uyghur, Intermediate Ughur, Introductory Uzbek, and Intermediate Uzbek. For more information visit SWSEEL's website.

  • CeLCAR goes Mobile! Our website is now available on mobile devices. Browse and order via your favorite tablet or smartphone.

  • Texts, Tasks, and Sequencing
    Presented by Doreen Ewert and Nigora Azimova, February 16, 2012
    In this workshop, we will discuss the use of texts in intermediate teaching materials and textbooks. We will examine textbook texts and how they are chosen and used. We will practice modifying and scaffolding texts for learner access and engagement. We will evaluate our own texts, textbooks, or course materials with texts according to the SLA concepts of learning and principles for SL literacy development.

  • Building Fluency Through Text-Engagement
    Presented by Doreen Ewert and Tara Zahler, February 9, 2012
    In this workshop, we will discuss the principles behind and practice a variety of fluency building tasks for reading in a second language. We will also evaluate these tasks in relation to principles of second language acquisition and second language reading development. Participants will leave with a range of reading fluency-building activities that develop comprehension by addressing both micro and macro processes of reading. These processes and task-types will be considered in terms of materials development and teaching.

  • Current Perspectives on Foreign/Second Language Teaching
    Presented by Doreen Ewert and Beatrix Burghardt, January 26, 2012
    This workshop provides an introduction to current principles of second language acquisition applicable to materials development and teaching. Together we will engage in self and group reflection about language learning and what that implies for materials development and/or teaching. We will use literacy-engaging tasks to increase understanding of language learning principles, and we will analyze classroom tasks and materials in relation to those principles.

Fall 2011

  • Now available in Apple App Store! CeLCAR's Dari Alphabet and Pashto Alphabet apps are now available for free download on the Apple App Store.

  • Award Winning App! Sukhrob Karimov is the Information and Communication Technology Specialist at Indiana University's Center for Languages of the Central Asian Region (CeLCAR). Sukhrob's Pashto Script Tutorial App won the 2011 Recognition Award for Academic - most compelling application created by student or faculty.

  • Pashto Elementary Textbook. CeLCAR and Georgetown publishing are excited to announce that the long awaited Elementary Pashto textbook is now available!

  • Want to lean Dari? There's an app for that! CeLCAR has just released our newest smart phone app: the Dari Alphabet app. Available for free; download on the Android Market. Our Pashto Alphabet app has been downloaded over 1000 times and our Pashto Script Tutorial app has been downloaded over 800 times.

Spring 2011

  • No Signal in Afghanistan? University's iPad Language App Will Still Work CeLCAR's smart phone and tablet apps were featured in the May 3, 2011 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education.

  • Want to learn Pashto? There's an app for that. CeLCAR's smart phone and tablet apps were featured in the April 2011 issue of IU Home Pages.

  • Pashto: An Elementary Textbook, Volumes 1 & 2 by Rahmon Inomkhojayev is available for purchase from Georgetown University Press this fall!

  • Pashto Language and Afghan Culture Seminar at the Bloomington Convention Center. April 4-14, CeLCAR hosted a combination 5 day and 11 day Pashto language and culture seminar for Indiana National Guard soldiers on the Agricultural Development Teams preparing to deploy to Afghanistan.

  • Sukhrob Karimov, CeLCAR's ICT Specialist, won a license for FlashBuilder Premium for his Pashto Alphabet application. The contest asked for submissions of applications for Blackberry's new Playbook tablet coming out in April. Sukhrob represented CeLCAR and the Indiana University Web and Multimedia Community well. Congratulations Sukhrob!

  • Afghan Languages and Culture Seminar at Camp Allendale. March 7-16, CeLCAR hosted a Pashto and Dari Language and Culture seminar for 120 military personnel being deployed to the Afghan provinces of Farah, Panjshir, Kandahar, Oruzgan, Zabul, Ghazni, Paktika, Paktya, Khowst, Nangarhar, Konar, Kapisa, and Laghman. They received 8 hours a day of intensive language and culture training, including role-plays of scenarios, and attending lectures on topics of Political Science, History, Culture, Afghan Women in Families and Society, and Rule of Law in Afghanistan. The seminar also included a traditional Afghan village luncheon, where the attendees dined on regional cuisine while learning to eat with their hands, sitting politely on the floor while dining, and avoiding topics that are considered rude in Afghan culture.

  • Smart phone apps are here! Our new Pashto Alphabet and Pashto Script Tutorial apps are available for FREE on the Android market. The iPhone and iPad apps have already been developed and paperwork submitted for publishing on the apple market. These should be available soon!

  • Download now: FREE 8.5x11 alphabet charts and full color pamphlets about our languages.

  • Welcome aboard to our newest language developer Fatima Moldashova who will be developing the Introduction to Kazakh textbook.

    Fatima is originally from Atyrau in Western Kazakhstan. She received her BA in Foreign Languages from Aktobe State University in 2005. She taught EFL classes and Kazakh to foreigners for three years in Kazakhstan, prior to accepting a position as a Kazakh language instructor in the Department of Central Eurasian Studies. From 2007 to 2009, she taught Kazakh while working on an MA in TESOL and Applied Linguistics at Indiana University. She has been teaching Kazakh at SWSEEL since 2007. Currently she is a lecturer at the Kazakh British Technical University in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Fall 2010

  • On December 8, CeLCAR's Director, Assistant Director, and Language Coordinator attended the Foreign Language Summit at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD at the invitation of the CIA Director Leon E. Panetta. Panetta, along with the Secretary of Education, Honorable Arne Duncan, called for a National Commitment to Language Proficiency Training as an urgent and critical need for American foreign policy and operations. The summit brought together policy makers, members of Congress, Intelligence Community officials, and leading language educators from across the country. Click here for the full article.

  • CeLCAR is collaborating with IU's Center for the Study of Global Change to participate in the Bridges: Children, Languages, World program designed to facilitate the development of world language instruction programs for children. Beginning in January 2011, free 8-week classes will be available in Dari and Mongolia for K-7 children. Click here for more information.

  • CeLCAR announces: Call for Proposals for development of a Kazakh Elementary Textbook. Deadline: December 10, 2010. Click here for full details.

  • The Department of Central Eurasian Studies (CEUS) at Indiana University-Bloomington invites applications for a Full-time, Tenure-track Faculty position in Turkic Applied Linguistics beginning August 2011 at the rank of Assistant Professor. Click here for full details. (PDF 12KB)

  • Workshop on the deep approach to language learning
    Dates: August 23-27 (5 days)
    Location: Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
    Teacher trainer: Prof. Francois Victor Tochon, UW-Madison
    Goals: Providing training to language instructors such that they can start experimenting the deep approach in their intermediate and advanced courses.
    Note: Although the workshop will target the teaching of Turkish, the teachers of other Central Asian languages may find it appealing and applicable to their own classrooms.
    To learn more about the Deep Approach to Language Teaching and Learning cklick here.

  • CALTA: The Central Asian Language Teacher's Association just released their first newsletter (PDF 711KB). We welcome anyone who is currently teaching or developing curriculum for a modern Central Asian language to join CALTA, please contact: contact.CALTA@gmail.com

  • Intermediate Kyrgyz Modules developed and designed by Kenjegul Kalieva, Amber Kennedy Kent, and Sukhrob Karimov are now available.

  • Uzbek: An Elementary Textbook by Nigora Azimova is available for purchase from Georgetown University Press this fall!

Summer 2010

  • June 18 - August 13 The 2010 Summer Workshop in Slavic, East European and Central Asian Languages (SWSEEL) at IU Bloomington....

  • COMING SOON Uyghur: An Elementary Textbook by Gulnisa Nazarova and Niyaz Kurban.

Spring 2010

  • April 23 - 26 CeLCAR attended and participated in the 13th Annual International Conference of the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL). In addition to our informational booth, CeLCAR staff and affiliates presented multiple session; including Chris Atwood collaborating on "Four Critical LCTL Fields: Infrastructure-Building and Development", Sun-Young Shin and Nigora Azimova's "Design and Development of the Web-Based Proficiency", Rahmon Inomkhojayev's "Technology Assisted Teaching of Pashto Writing", Nigora Azimova's "L2 Acquisition of Turkic Case Morphology: The Research and Its Pedagogical Implications", Malik Hodjaev's "Effective Management of Distance Learning of Uzbek", and Tserenchunt Legden's "Advantages and Disadvantages of Distance Learning and Class Management". Click here to see the Central Asian Research Presented at the Conference.

  • March - CeLCAR's Proficiency Testing Project (PTP) is now in the pilot phase of the project. Testing materials are online and available for use right now...

  • March - Now online: Free Kyrgyz and Turkmen interactive Intermediate Listening and Reading Modules filled with authentic materials...

Fall 2009

  • November 20 - 22 - CeLCAR attended and participated in the 2009 Annual Convention and World Languages Expo of the American Council of the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). The ACTFL Convention featured over 500 educational sessions and events covering the whole spectrum of the foreign language profession and draws approximately 6,000 attendees.