Sangam - Franklin Startalk
Hindi Language and Culture Program 2018

Introduction:

Hindi Sangam Foundation, in partnership with Franklin Township Board of Education, NJ, will conduct a three week intensive summer program from July 16 to August 2, 2018 (15 instructional days) at Franklin High School, Somerset, NJ 08873. We will recruit 40 Middle and High School students of rising six to ninth grades from a diverse Heritage and non-Heritage groups based in Central New Jersey.

Our overarching theme is, 'Storytelling', under which varieties of age and grade appropriate cultural, traditional and contemporary stories will be used to engage young learners in experiencing and exploring the world around them. Rich visuals based authentic material will engage learners in thinking, pairing and sharing ideas and performing activities and tasks in the three modes of communication leading to improve their speaking, reading and writing abilities.

The material will include various forms of story telling such as puppetry, street performances during festivals and events. We will develop two levels of curricula for Novice and Intermediate ranges of ACTFL proficiency guidelines under the overarching overarching theme, divided into three sub-themes, Personal and Family Stories, Cultural Stories about animals and birds, and contemporary stories about role models. The program goals and learning episodes will be outlined in the topic based Learning Plans built on the backward design principles of five Cs of the World Readiness Standards for 21st century learning. They will use multimedia tools for completing tasks.

Goals

By end of the units Novice level learners will be able to do basic tasks, such as, identifying characters and events and presenting in culturally appropriate manner. They will learn key words, phrases and expressions related with cultural and contemporary stories about people, places, animals and birds. They will exchange information with others, make comparisons with their US experiences. Intermediate students will explore ideas and construct their own meanings and purpose.

They will pair and share, compare and contrast information with their own experiences and ideas in USA. They will learn varieties of language functions and apply in real life situations. We have collaborated with The Ecole Mondiale World School, Mumbai, India, to allow our students converse with their Indian counterparts in culturally appropriate manner A day long field trip will connect students with the local community.

On the final day of the program Novice and Intermediate students will present their story at a 'Story Festival'. Formative, Summative and self assessment tools, exit cards and note taking will be used to collect learning evidences and stored in individual and Google Doc folders. A structured post-program follow up plan will be implemented to help students sustain and improve their skills.

Storytelling Novice and intermediate students will present their story at a 'Story Festival' on the final day of the program.