Drs. Xiaofei Tu and Wendy Xie were awarded a STARTALK grant of $333,913.00. The federal grant will fully fund 30 rising 11th-14th students (rising high school juniors and seniors and college freshmen and sophomores). The APP STATE-STARTALK Student program includes 60-hour pre-camp and 30-hour post-camp virtual activities and a three-week, residential, immersive program. The highly structured theme- and task-based program will focus on the theme “The High Country Meets the Middle Kingdom.” The program will run from July 11 to July 29, 2022. More information on the program is available here.
STARTALK is a federal grant program funded by the National Security Agency and administered by the National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland. STARTALK promotes the teaching and learning of critical need languages in the United States, with programs for students (K-16) and teachers.
STARTALK’s goals include:
- increasing the number of students enrolled in critical language studies;
- increasing the number of highly effective critical language teachers in the U.S.;
- increasing the availability of quality teaching and learning materials.
More information on STARTALK, critical languages, and STARTALK teaching principles, can be found at https://www.startalk.info/