HA: [SEELANGS] Rising Russian Enrollments

[Sandstrom, Betsy C]

Many high school programs are enjoying increased enrollment this year - including mine! We have a limited number of students entering level one language programs in 9th grade (most begin a language in 8th grade and Russian only begins in 9th) and they have a choice of 7 different languages. I have 29 in my level one class up from 16 the past two years. The NSLI-Y Program, Spring Break trips, ACTR National Russian Essay Contest, and ACTR Olympiada of Spoken Russian are highlights that the students look forward to sharing with incoming students. Our high school is a regional school without the support of one or two feeder schools. This makes it difficult for us to reach out to the rising 9th graders. These strong programs that are offered to students impress incoming freshmen who are looking for unique opportunities.

My colleague at Langley High School has 80 students in Level One this year!

with best wishes,

Betsy Sandstrom
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
6560 Braddock Rd.
Alexandria, VA 22312
Betsy.Sandstrom at fcps.edu


______________________________________
От: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] от имени Devin Browne [dpbrowne at MAC.COM]
Отправлено: 16 октября 2009 г. 22:11
Кому: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Тема: Re: [SEELANGS] Rising Russian Enrollments

Might the uptick be linked to the incentive to study critical languages like
Russian?  Has the US governments critical language money filtered down to
undergrad students yet?  There is federal money "out there" for the study of
Russian (and other LCTLs deemed critical under Bush II) and I remember
seeing quite a bit of press for it a few years ago.  As a high school
teacher, I've been encouraging my students to keep studying Russian, that
there's money out there for students who continue their study of Russian,
even if it's not their actual major, is what I recall reading -- that they
just have to continue their studies of the language alongside their other
studies.  But is this true?  How does the $$ get from the feds to the
college students?  Is it through the university language departments?
 National centers for Russian studies?  What specifically does an undergrad
student do to access this supposed money?

Thanks to the person who brought up this topic.  It's interesting to hear
about institutions that are seeing increased enrollments!

Devin

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