(NAME-MCE) UCA launches Community Language School

[Anselmo Villanueva]

UCA launches Community Language School

http://www.uca.edu/news/index.php?itemid=1644

The University of Central Arkansas today announced the opening of the
UCA Community Language School under the auspices of the UCA Department
of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures within the College of
Liberal Arts.

"With no foreign language education currently available in local
elementary schools, the UCA Community Language School aims to fill an
educational gap by providing children with instruction appropriate to
their level of development," said Dr. Phillip Bailey, Chair of the UCA
Department of World Languages. "We all know that we should be starting
foreign language education earlier than high school because children
are great language learners."

UCA President Lu Hardin approved the new after-school program to
provide an important public service to Central Arkansas children, who
will be able to learn Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, and
Spanish through language lessons offered in Irby Hall on the UCA
campus. Classes will be designed to meet the needs of younger
students, with groupings for children in kindergarten through second
grade, third and fourth grades, fifth through seventh grades, and
seventh and eighth grades.

Sera Streiff-Vena, who began her own foreign language studies as a
child in the fourth grade, will be the director of the new Community
Language School. Streiff-Vena teaches international students in UCA's
Intensive English Program and has a wealth of experience working with
youth.

Introductory courses will be offered during the 2007-08 school year,
and program participants will have the opportunity to continue in a
progressive sequence of lessons. Classes begin on Sept. 17 and will
consist of two 30-minute sessions per week for ten weeks.

More information is available at http://www.uca.edu/wlan or 501-450-3168.

Posted at 10:43 on Tuesday, June 26, 2007