Guest writer, Kelly Schlinder, Coordinator of the Foreign Language Institute

With the goal of improving community outreach in mind, the Foreign Language Institute (FLI) at Missouri State University (MSU) offered language and culture camps for children in July 2018. It has been a very successful summer with 69 camp attendees, 6 language teachers, and loads of memories.

The idea was based on a need that we noticed for more language offerings for children ages 10-14 in the Springfield, Missouri area. Three elementary schools out of 36 in the Springfield Public School (SPS) System offer foreign language. Six middle schools out of nine in the SPS system offer Spanish and three offer French. One of these schools has no foreign language classes.

In order to provide more language opportunities for youth, the FLI offered six one-week long language and culture camps during summer 2018. Languages included Chinese, German, Japanese, Spanish, French I and French II. Classes were offered at Jim D. Morris Center: July 9-12, July 16-19, and July 23-26. The teachers included per course instructors or graduate students from the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, language teachers from schools in the Springfield area, and upper-level language students.

Instruction was varied and included everything from how to make Peruvian guacamole to how to perform a Chinese fan dance. Students also learned basic phrases and vocabulary for their chosen language, as well as information about places where the language is spoken. We believe that these courses will offer students much needed cultural instruction, as well as language instruction, so that they will become more well-rounded citizens.

In addition to improving MSU community outreach, we feel that we were also able to focus on the Public Affairs’ mission of increasing cultural competence by helping students recognize and respect multiple perspectives and cultures.

The full-price camp rate was $75 for 24 hours. We received a grant from the Foreign Language Association of Missouri which helped us to offer scholarships for qualifying students to enroll in camps at a reduced rate. This grant allowed us to make camps possible for any child in the area who wanted to learn language and culture.

P.S.

Check out what the children learned at the FLI Facebook page.

If you are interested about future FLI summer camp opportunities, please check the website in November for postings or come to the Jim D. Morris Center for Tour of the Globe, the first Friday Artwalk of November, and ask at the FLI table. We hope to have more offerings for 10-14 year olds and add a few camps for 6-9 year olds in summer 2019.