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.
