National Security Language Initiative

[francisco gomes de matos]

What OTHER languages  are included, Harold ? How can we find out ? The text
mentions OTHER LANGUAGES....
I´m curious.
Francisco Gomes de Matos,Recife,Brazil

----- Original Message -----
From: "Harold F. Schiffman" <haroldfs at ccat.sas.upenn.edu>
To: "Language Policy-List" <lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 12:30 PM
Subject: National Security Language Initiative


> January 5, 2006
>
> National Security Language Initiative
>
> Briefing by Dina Powell, Assistant Secretary of State for Education and
> Cultural Affairs and Barry Lowenkron, Assistant Secretary of State for
> Democracy, Human Rights and Labor
>
> President Bush today launched the National Security Language Initiative
> (NSLI), a plan to further strengthen national security and prosperity in
> the 21st century through education, especially in developing foreign
> language skills. The NSLI will dramatically increase the number of
> Americans learning critical need foreign languages such as Arabic,
> Chinese, Russian, Hindi, Farsi, and others through new and expanded
> programs from kindergarten through university and into the workforce. The
> President will request $114 million in FY07 to fund this effort.
>
> An essential component of U.S. national security in the post-9/11 world is
> the ability to engage foreign governments and peoples, especially in
> critical regions, to encourage reform, promote understanding, convey
> respect for other cultures and provide an opportunity to learn more about
> our country and its citizens. To do this, we must be able to communicate
> in other languages, a challenge for which we are unprepared.
>
> Deficits in foreign language learning and teaching negatively affect our
> national security, diplomacy, law enforcement, intelligence communities
> and cultural understanding. It prevents us from effectively communicating
> in foreign media environments, hurts counter-terrorism efforts, and
> hamstrings our capacity to work with people and governments in
> post-conflict zones and to promote mutual understanding. Our business
> competitiveness is hampered in making effective contacts and adding new
> markets overseas. To address these needs, under the direction of the
> President, the Secretaries of State, Education and Defense and the
> Director of National Intelligence have developed a comprehensive national
> plan to expand U.S.  foreign language education beginning in early
> childhood and continuing throughout formal schooling and into the
> workforce, with new programs and resources.
>
> The agencies will also seek to partner with institutions of learning,
> foundations and the private sector to assist in all phases of this
> initiative, including partnering in the K-16 language studies, and
> providing job opportunities and incentives for graduates of these
> programs.
>
>
> The National Security Language Initiative has three broad goals:
>
>
> Expand the number of Americans mastering critical need languages and start
> at a younger age by:
>
> Providing $24 million to create incentives to teach and study critical
> need languages in K-12 by re-focusing the Department of Educations Foreign
> Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grants.
>
> Building continuous programs of study of critical need languages from
> kindergarten to university through a new $27 million program, which will
> start in 27 schools in the next year through DODs NSEP program and the
> Department of Education, and will likely expand to additional schools in
> future years.
>
> Providing State Department scholarships for summer, academic year/semester
> study abroad, and short-term opportunities for high school students
> studying critical need languages to up to 3,000 high school students by
> summer 2009.
>
> Expanding the State Department Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching
> Assistant Program, to allow 300 native speakers of critical need languages
> to come to the U.S. to teach in U.S. universities and schools in 2006-07.
> Establishing a new component in States Teacher Exchange Programs to
> annually assist 100 U.S. teachers of critical need languages to study
> abroad.
>
> Establishing DNI language study "feeder" programs, grants and initiatives
> with K-16 educational institutions to provide summer student and teacher
> immersion experiences, academic courses and curricula, and other resources
> for foreign language education in less commonly taught languages targeting
> 400 students and 400 teachers in 5 states in 2007 and up to 3,000 students
> and 3,000 teachers by 2011 in additional states.
>
> Increase the number of advanced-level speakers of foreign languages, with
> an emphasis on critical needs languages by:
>
> Expanding the National Flagship Language Initiative to a $13.2 million
> program aiming to produce 2,000 advanced speakers of Arabic, Chinese,
> Russian, Persian, Hindi, and Central Asian languages by 2009.  Increasing
> to up to 200 by 2008 the annual Gilman scholarships for financially-needy
> undergraduates to study critical need languages abroad.  Creating new
> State Department summer immersion study programs for up to 275 university
> level students per year in critical need languages.  Adding overseas
> language study to 150 U.S. Fulbright student scholarships annually.
> Increasing support for immersion language study centers abroad.
>
> Increase the number of foreign language teachers and the resources for
> them by:
>
>
> Establishing a National Language Service Corps for Americans with
> proficiencies in critical languages to serve the nation by:
>
> 1. Working for the federal government; and/or
>
> 2. Serving in a Civilian Linguist Reserve Corps (CLRC); and/or
>
> 3. Joining a newly created Language Teacher Corps to teach languages in
> our nations elementary, middle, and high schools.
>
> This program will direct $14 million in FY07 with the goal of having 1,000
> volunteers in the CLRC and 1,000 teachers in our schools before the end of
> the decade.
>
> Establishing a new $1 million nation-wide distance-education E-Learning
> Clearinghouse through the Department of Education to deliver foreign
> language education resources to teachers and students across the country.
> Expand teacher-to-teacher seminars and training through a $3 million
> Department of Education effort to reach thousands of foreign language
> teachers in 2007.
>
> 2006/12
>
>
> Released on January 5, 2006
>
>
>
>
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