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On 10 December 1987, seventeen diplomatic representatives from twelve foreign countries and states met at MLA headquarters to initiate a forum for the exchange of information. Present at the meeting were Lisa Svoboda (Consulate General of Canada), Farouk Hassan Abdel Fattah (Egyptian Cultural Bureau), Claude Kieffer (representing Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, French Cultural Services), Jean Goyer (Association des Universités Partiellement ou Entièrement de Langue Française [AUPELF]), Lydia Daimer (Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany), Michael Grimm (Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany), Walter Lohfert (Goethe House New York), Amelia Antonucci (Italian Cultural Inst.), Masami Kinefuchi (Consulate General of Japan), Jan Hesseling (Consulate General of the Netherlands), Eva Rygh (Norwegian Information Service), Gaston Harvey (Quebec Government House), Andrée Tremblay (Quebec Government House), Antoni Cornella (Consulate General of Spain), Sofía Urreta (Consulate General of Spain), Marna Feldt (Swedish Information Service), and Lyda Aponte de Zacklin (Consulate General of Venezuela).
Cheryl Demharter, then director of Foreign Language Programs and ADFL, welcomed the participants on behalf of her colleagues at the MLA and introduced the three other staff members who were present: Richard Brod, director of Special Projects; Denise Bourassa Knight, assistant director of Foreign Language Programs and ADFL; and Carol Zuses, assistant to the executive director.
The proceedings began with a short summary of MLA activities related to the foreign language field, including information on publications, surveys, and annual meetings. The availability of mailing lists for those college and university departments that teach specific languages was mentioned, as was the newly instituted International Corner column in the ADFL Bulletin.
The diplomatic representatives were asked to summarize briefly the activities their governments had undertaken to help promote the study of their languages and cultures in the United States. Eva Rygh from Norway described seminars that her office organizes for professors teaching Norwegian language, literature, history, and so forth. Norwegian authors, cultural personalities, and politicians have been speakers at these seminars. Her office also has a program for distributing books, records, and other materials to universities. Rygh further noted that travel grants were available for members of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies (SASS), which publishes a newsletter and sponsors lectures by Scandinavian authors, filmmakers, and scholars.
Lyda Aponte de Zacklin from Venezuela spoke of her office's programs, which include lectures by Venezuelan writers, exchanges of professors who are specialists in literature, and conferences on the literature of Venezuela. A new program promotes the exchange of American and Venezuelan women writers. Cultural exhibits are on display at the Venezuelan mission in New York.
Walter Lohfert of Goethe House New York, the cultural institute of the Federal Republic of Germany, discussed the many projects for the study of German in American high schools and colleges. The ten branches of the Goethe Institute in the United States and the three Canadian branches offer several in-service training programs for teachers of German. The New York Goethe House alone offers more than 80 seminars for high school teachers and makes available 130 scholarships for in-service training programs in West Germany and West Berlin. Organizers are discussing the development of off-campus courses for the in-service training of German teachers. In addition, every year more than 2,600 students learn German in special programs in West Germany. The Goethe Institute facilitates exchange classes at the high school level and develops materials for teaching foreign languages using the communicative approach. It also has an information program that includes travel funds for high school social studies teachers. In New York state, 400 teachers annually apply for 25 such travel grants. The Goethe Institute also provides information to school guidance counselors, principals, and supervisors.
Amelia Antonucci of Italy mentioned that the four Italian cultural institutes in the United States maintain a computerized clearinghouse that collects information about Italy, the Italian language, college and university programs in Italian, and so forth. The institutes have also developed an English videodisc encyclopedia on Italy and have made newsreel information available on videodisc. Through a New Jersey distributor, students and teachers of Italian can receive the newsmagazine videocassette Ecco Italia. The cultural institutes also provide guided tours of exhibits and offer students and teachers free tickets to the Italian theater. The institute library contains over 30,000 books, and the audiovisual department distributes films, newspapers, and magazines. Medals and books are also awarded as prizes for Italian language students. In cooperation with the American Association of Teachers of Italian (AATI), the University of Perugia has developed a new course for teachers of Italian. The institutes have put together a brochure providing information about Italy and have published other brochures on schools for foreigners in Italy and on academic programs in Italy sponsored by American universities and colleges. They also publish the journal Lettere dall'Italia.
Lisa Svoboda of Canada explained that the Canadian consulates in the United States actively promote the study of Canada at all levels to help develop a better understanding of bilateral and Canadian foreign policy issues. The government makes available moneys for a series of grants for individual teachers, such as the Faculty Enrichment Grant and the Faculty Research Grant Programmes. The consulates also have a program of book donations and provide American universities with subscriptions to Canadian learned journals. They collaborate closely with several institutions and organizations, including the Association of Canadian Studies in the United States (ACSUS), a network of several thousand Canadianists in the United States; the State University of New York, Plattsburgh, which maintains the Canadian Institute for Language and Culture; the Graduate School of the City University of New York, which has recently developed an institute for francophone studies; and the Quebec government houses. The SUNY Plattsburgh center sponsors summer programs for high school teachers (Canada is included in the New York state school curriculum at several levels), as well as summer seminars on Quebec for higher academics in the United States. The consulates also sponsor lecture tours for Canadian authors and playwrights.
Jan Hesseling of the Netherlands mentioned that approximately 25 million people in the world speak Dutch as a native language. In the United States, twenty-three universities teach Dutch to a few hundred students, and only one secondary school (a Washington, DC, international school) offers courses in the language. The Dutch government makes available funds to teachers for the acquisition of books and helps finance the Fulbright exchange program. The American Association for the Advancement of Netherlandic Studies sponsors conferences and publishes a semiannual newsletter. A few United States universities, such as the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, have a writers-in-residence program for Dutch authors.
Jean Goyer, representing the Association des Universités Partiellement ou Entièrement de Langue Française (AUPELF), with offices in Africa, Paris, the Caribbean, and Montreal, presented information on this international organization of French-language universities and departments. The North American office of AUPELF provides support outside the French-speaking world and the United States and Canada for French and francophone programs. AUPELF especially promotes the multilateral dimension of French and francophone literatures. The organization helps fund conferences, such as the annual meeting of the International Council on Francophone Studies, and publishes books, newsletters, and the magazine Universités. It provides a few scholarships in translation and maintains a data base on French-language departments and francophone universities worldwide.
Farouk Hassan Abdel Fattah of the Egyptian Cultural Bureau mentioned that the Arabic language is taught at 136 institutions of higher education in the United States but not at the school level, although it is now an official language of the United Nations. The cultural office in Washington collaborates closely with the American Association of Teachers of Arabic (AATA) and offers beginning-level courses in the Arabic language. The office hopes to develop intermediate- and advanced-level language courses soon. Films with subtitles are distributed through the cultural office. In Paris, the Arab Institute for the study of the Arabic language and its literatures was dedicated in 1987 for scholars, teachers, and researchers worldwide.
Marna Feldt of the Swedish Information Service circulates a list of institutions where Swedish is taught, including over 100 academic and adult education venues in the United States. Her office arranges teachers' conferences, sends out lecturers, and distributes language teaching aids, as well as other documentation materials on Sweden. Five series of newsletters and the magazine Swedish Book Review keep teachers informed of various aspects of Swedish life. Films, videocassettes, slides, and exhibits are provided on loan. Books and materials are given to faculty members, students, and libraries. The Swedish Information Service works closely with the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study, contributing to prizes and providing scholarships for study and research in Sweden.
Masami Kinefuchi of Japan stated that the Japan Information Center analyzes press attitudes toward Japan and tries to counter misperceptions and stereotypes. The center has a wide range of informative pamphlets, books, and other materials on Japanese society, culture, politics, and economy. The center also provides free display materials and hosts films, lectures, and other cultural activities. Films, videos, photographs, and slides are lent free of charge to groups and schools, and speakers are available on several Japan-related topics. The center administers the Monbusho scholarship and has a listing of other grants and scholarship for those wishing to pursue studies in Japan. The center also helps promote the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program (JET), which allows foreigners to work for a local Japanese government or to teach their languages for a year. In 1987, six hundred exchange-program participants came from the United States; in 1988, nine hundred are expected. The center also works closely with the Japan Foundation and the Japan Society in New York to promote Japanese culture.
Antoni Cornella of Spain explained that his office was originally created several years ago to assist Spanish residents in the United States by offering their children after-school classes in Spanish language and culture. At present, the Spanish government is trying to implement more bilingual and bicultural education in the United States from the early grades through at least the twelfth year. Special cooperative programs are already in place in California and New York, and the consulates in Los Angeles and New York City provide information and assistance to the school boards. Preliminary discussions for cooperative efforts have been engaged in Florida. Spain is also developing courses on the Spanish language similar to those offered by the Alliance Française and the Goethe House, and the gathering of new educational materials is under way. In addition, Spanish authorities favor the teaching of Basque and Catalán in the United States.
Andrée Tremblay of Quebec mentioned that her government maintains several government houses in the United States and around the world and administers through them a wide range of cultural and educational programs. Among these are the Quebec Research Grants program, which makes available $1,000 to $3,000 for university-level research, and a share-cost program that provides up to $500 for book purchases. The government houses also establish lecture circuits for Quebec authors. The offices work closely with several American foreign language teaching associations, including the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF), the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), and the American Council for Quebec Studies (ACQS), in providing funding for lectures and conferences. They also distribute a wide selection of educational and cultural brochures, publications, films, and videos. Each summer, the Quebec Government House in New York awards fifteen AATF members grants that cover living expenses and the cost of a six week session of French-immersion classes in Quebec; similar awards are available to teachers in New York state. The Quebec government has begun a program of student exchanges on the university level and provides French teachers for Louisiana schools.
Claude Kieffer of the French Cultural Services discussed the broad scope of his work in promoting French in the United States, in-service training for teachers of French, and cooperative educational projects. The French government has already established close working relations with the AATF ACTFL, and the Council of Chief State School Officers. Over the past two years the Cultural Services has invited some seventy supervisors to the Sèvres Institute to participate in seminars on pedagogical techniques and materials for teaching French. The Cultural Services arranges exchanges between French and American educators and stresses continuing education for teachers of French as a foreign language. Three- and four-week summer scholarships for stays in France are available to upgrade language proficiency and teaching skills in French and business French. There were 180 scholarships in 1988. Scholarship recipients pledge to organize workshops for their American colleagues upon their return. In 1986 the French government launched a program known as Français 2001, which aims at associating local French and American geographical regions. In 1988, by means of a cosponsored competition with the AATF, the French government hosted fourteen groups of three high school students and their teachers for a two-week stay. The Cultural Services offices are also instrumental in promoting video programs and magazines, such as France-Panorama —which became available in January 1988—and Apostrophes. Similar video programs will satisfy the specific needs of high school teachers. At present, an American committee on the French Revolution is making preparations for the celebration of the bicentennial of the French Revolution in 1989; numerous multidisciplinary educational projects will take place in this framework. In addition, the New York office is planning to establish a multimedia resource center for teachers.
At the conclusion of the meeting, MLA representatives expressed the hope that this initial gathering would generate future sessions, with invited speakers and representatives from other countries. Several participants mentioned to MLA staff members that they found the meeting highly informative and useful, as this was the first time that they had had the opportunity to discuss their activities with other diplomatic representatives.
© 1988 by the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages. All Rights Reserved.
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