In addition to servicing the Center for African Studies as both a Title VI grant –supported National Resource Center (NRC) and Foreign Language & Area Study (FLAS) Fellowship center, the PAL administered the Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad (GPA) Yoruba for three cycles consecutively (2005-2007; 2008-2011; and 2013-2016) during which a total of 111 students (average of 13 students per year) from various universities in the US participated in a 8-week advanced language and cultural immersion summer program in Nigeria.
PAL has hosted the African Flagship Languages Initiative (AFLI) Domestic Intensive Summer (DIS) program since 2011. AFLI-DIS program prepares Boren fellows and scholars for their overseas fall programs. Successful running of the AFLI program has seen the number of languages offered from two (Swahili and Yoruba) in summer 2011 to five in 2012 (with addition of Akan, Wolof, and Zulu), to six in 2013 (with addition of Hausa, but dropped since then), to seven in 2014 (with addition of French + basic Wolof) and to eight in summer 2015 (with the addition of Portuguese). In addition to preparing Boren fellows and scholars for their overseas fall component, UF-AFLI has also been serving Summer FLAS Fellows. By summer 2017, a total of about 265 students from various universities in the US had studied African languages through the UF-AFLI DIS program out of which 51 were summer FLAS fellows, 200 Boren fellows and scholars, and about 14 other funded sources. Over 35 instructors from various universities in the US had participated in teaching at AFLI – some of them twice or thrice.
UF Program in African Languages works cooperatively/collaboratively with other programs within the university and beyond, including participation in the ACAL, ALTA, GPA projects, and other summer language programs as well as study abroad programs. For example:
South-Eastern African Languages & Literature Forum (SEALLF)
UF-PAL is one the founding members of the SEALLF and has hosted its two annual conferences (2012 & 2013). Both 2014 & 2015 SEALLF Annual Conferences were hosted at the University of Georgia, Athens (October 10-12 and October 9-12 respectively) at which UF-PAL was well represented. The Winston-Salem State University in conjunction with University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill hosted the 2016 SEALLF conference (September 30 – October 2), the 2017 SEALLF 8th Conference was hosted by the UNC-Chapel Hill (September 29-October 1) and this year’s SEALLF 9th Conference will be hosted by the Norfolk State University (Department of English & Foreign Languages) – (October 5-6) focusing on “Celebrating Chinua Achebe & African Languages, Literatures, Arts and Cultures beyond the Continent: The 60th Anniversary of Things Fall Apart”.
African Language Teachers Association (ALTA)
UF-PAL has continued to be an active partner of ALTA. With tremendous support from CAS and LLC, PAL has always been well represented at the ALTA’s annual conferences by faculty and instructors who make interesting and exciting presentations.
African Language Outreach Program
African languages constitute one of the major components of the UF CAS’ outreach program. Under the coordination of the Outreach director, language instructors have opportunities to visit K-12 classrooms in the area and talk to students about African languages and cultures. The Jambo: An African Language (Swahili) Summer Institute for High School Students at the UF ran successfully for 10 summers (2006-2016). In summer 2017, in collaboration with the Outreach program and Santa Fe College, UF-PAL successfully switched to a four-week College For Kids program – a new summer program for middle school students in Alachua County – Around Africa in Eight Days – introducing them to the basics of Africa’s cultural, natural, and linguistic landscapes.