Recruiting Among Hard to Reach Language Communities

Meeting potential Members with less commonly taught languages has always been one of the core goals of the National Language Service Corps (NLSC). Attending the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL) conference from April 21 - 23, 2017 in Rolling Meadows, IL was an opportunity to successfully promote the NLSC and engage attendees who spoke a variety of languages such as Swahili, Yoruba, Kisii, Akan, Lingala, Kinyarwanda, and Gusii. The conference attendees were interested in the NLSC, particularly in the language resources and other exclusive benefits available to NLSC Members.

NLSC Washington D.C. Regional Chapter Learns about The Language Flagship

On Saturday, March 5, 2016, the National Language Service Corps (NLSC) Washington D.C. Regional Chapter met for its first event of 2016: a keynote luncheon highlighting the Arabic Flagship Program of the University of Maryland College Park (UMD). 

NLSC Members Graduate from the English for Heritage Language Speakers (EHLS) Program

The National Language Service Corps (NLSC) is pleased to announce the graduation of 16 NLSC Members, applicants and prospects from the English for Heritage Language Speakers (EHLS) Program at Georgetown University on Monday, August 20th 2012. 

Professional development opportunity

The English for Heritage Language Speakers (EHLS) program is an adult scholarship and professional development opportunity which may be of interest!

EHLS is an intensive, advanced English and professional skills program that prepares nonnative English speakers for careers with the federal government. The program involves 6 months of full-time study at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, followed by two months of part-time study which can be completed remotely. Participants improve their English through study of research and presentation skills, meeting participation and facilitation, and professional writing. The program also provides support for participants who are seeking employment with the federal government.

Full scholarships, a living stipend (during the full-time portion of the program), and a relocation reimbursement are available for qualified applicants. EHLS is currently seeking US citizens who are native speakers of Arabic, Balochi, Dari, Hausa, Hindi, Igbo, Mandarin Chinese, Pashto, Persian Farsi, Punjabi, Somali, Swahili, Turkish, or Urdu.

Please visit http://www.cal.org/ehls/ for more information and contact ehls@cal.org with any questions.

EHLS and the NLSC are initiatives of the National Security Education Program (now the Defense Language and National Security Education Office, or DLNSEO).

We're coming to Baltimore and Denver

Our recruiters will be at two events coming up soon.

First, we'll be at Fest Africa in Baltimore, MD on August 8 & 9 (this weekend). Event details at www.festafricausa.com. If you speak Somali, Swahili or Hausa, we're especially interested in meeting you!

Second, we will be exhibitors at the annual conference of the National Association of Asian American Professionals in Denver on August 14 & 15 (next Friday and Saturday). The organization web site is www.naaap.org and the conference site is www.naaapconvention.com.

Charter Members and staff comment on the NLSC and being involved

At our meeting with several NLSC Charter Members last month we had a video crew ask those members and staff about the NLSC and their involvement. Here are the highlights.

Here's a larger version:

New video explains the NLSC

Here's the video we've been talking about, which we unveiled at our meeting with several NLSC Charter Members earlier this month. We added a new ending, calling for the viewer to volunteer, which is why we didn't post it immediately after the event ... we pulled together the original on a VERY tight schedule, so we didn't have time to have the alternate ending ready at the same time. So without further adieu, here it is:

Here's a larger version:

Time well spent at the NCOLCTL/ALTA conference

Last week, four of us attended the annual conference of the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL) and the African Language Teachers Association (ALTA) in Madison, Wisconsin. NCOLCTL's membership includes speakers of several of the languages we're recruiting for, including Swahili, Somali, Hausa, Indonesian and Thai.

The conference had about 300 attendees. A nice size ... as the conference progressed, all the faces became familiar and folks we spoke with would stop by to say "hi" and talk with us some more. Our table was directly behind the conference registration table, and we saw many happy reunions ... clearly this is a close group.

NLSC recruiter Bridget Baker and I were at our recruiting table. We met the Executive Director, Antonia Schleicher, a woman who brings a huge smile with her wherever she goes. Another Bill, our Chief Linguist Dr. Bill Rivers, has been involved with NCOLCTL so he already knew her, and was in the perfect position to introduce us to other attendees.

We had the pleasant surprise of meeting three attendees who are also among NLSC's Charter Members. It's nice that we've reached a point where we and Members can bump into each other at events like this. Linda, who works with Bill, speaks Swahili and was thrilled to have a chance to not only speak with others in Swahili, but to attend conference sessions conducted in Swahili.

Bill Rivers spoke in one of the conference sessions on US Language Policy Attitudes: 2000-2008. Despite the policy controversies about the English-only movement, bilingual education, the growing numbers of Americans who speak minimal English, and language and national security, there have been only sporadic studies of the state of representative public opinion on these issues. Bill discussed this study, which compares data from two surveys. (He co-authored the research with John Robinson, University of Maryland and Paul Harwood, University of North Florida.)

This week, it's on to the National Chinese Language Conference in Chicago..