Washington, DC, February 27, 2008: The Middle East Institute’s Department of Languages and Regional Studies announces it has been awarded a STARTALK grant from the National Foreign Language Center. The grant will be used to fund an Accelerated Program for training teachers of Arabic and Persian.

The program aims to establish a center to improve the quality of language instruction for Arabic and Persian teachers nationwide. It will be directed by Professor Mahdi Alosh, Associate Professor of Arabic and Applied Linguistics and Associate Dean for International Affairs at the US Military Academy.

Dr. Shukri Abed, Chairman of MEI’s Department of Languages and Regional Studies, envisions the collaboration as a key step toward providing teachers a nationally-recognized certificate in language instruction, “This is a wonderful opportunity for MEI to fill a much-needed demand for well-trained Arabic and Persian instructors while continuing to provide high quality education in Middle Eastern languages.” Dr. Abed sought Professor Alosh’s collaboration because of his reputation as an outstanding and well-respected expert in the field of training teachers of Middle Eastern languages. The curriculum will consist of an accelerated workshop, in-residence training, as well as distance learning to prepare the instructors for certification in their states of residence.

Skills taught in this program are in growing demand. The most recent Modern Language Association survey (2006) shows that Arabic enrollments have increased by 126% since 2002 to more than 20,000. To meet this urgent need, the program for K–16 teachers will not require an additional university degree.

Dr. Jerry Lampe, Deputy Director of the National Foreign Language Center, welcomed the initiative: “Given the rapidly growing need in the United States for well-trained teachers of Arabic and Persian, we are delighted to support MEI’s innovative pilot program that has the expertise and other essential elements to make it successful, and we hope that it will result in the establishment of a permanent center for training teachers of Middle Eastern languages.”

STARTALK is a project of the National Security Language Initiative, a multi-agency effort to expand foreign language education in under-taught critical languages by funding new and existing programs.

The Middle East Institute is dedicated to increasing Americans’ knowledge and understanding of the region. Fore more than 60 years, MEI has offered program activities, media outreach, language courses, scholars, a library focused on the Middle East and an academic journal to help achieve its goals. For more details on MEI language classes, visit www.mei.edu/learn.