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Location: Chandigarh, India
Dates of program: June 7 - August 20, 2012
Hosting institution: American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS)
Language offered: Punjabi
Levels offered: Beginning, intermediate, advanced

Program Structure

The CLS Punjabi Program in Chandigarh, India is flexible, learner oriented and tailored to the needs of the participants. The goals of the program are language acquisition and cultural immersion. Language classes cover the concepts of grammar, conversation, pronunciation, journal writing, and dictation that hone the four skills of language development – listening, speaking, reading and writing. The CLS Program works with students to set both short and long term learning goals, and the faculty works collectively and individually to help students achieve these goals throughout the summer institute.

In addition to formal evaluations such as tests and quizzes, student–teacher meetings are held every week to discuss student progress and language learning goals. Classes are held five days a week from 9am until 1pm. In the afternoons, students will have time to complete homework, in addition to participating in additional tutoring, cultural activities, and language partner activities. Weekly activities will supplement formal classroom instruction and will include local trips, guest lectures, monolingual guests, and music and dance performances. Each student works with his or her instructors to complete an independent project during the CLS institute. Students present their research and projects to the group during the final week of the program.

CLS Punjabi student with a peer tutor.

CLS participants live with host families to maximize language learning and the cultural immersion experience.

The American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) is the host of the CLS Punjabi Program in India. AIIS is a consortium of 64 American universities with South Asia Studies Centers and is recognized by the Government of India as an institution of higher learning and research. Chandigarh is located near the foothills of the Shivalik range of the Himalayas in North- West India.

Outcomes

In 2010, the CLS Program adopted the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) developed by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) as an additional measure of the effectiveness and quality of the institutes overseas. Before the program, students take a diagnostic OPI test; at the end of their 8-week course of study, they take an ACTFL-certified post-program OPI assessment. The scores on these tests give students a concrete, widely-recognized measure of their speaking skills. In addition, students’ writing and reading abilities are assessed throughout the program in a variety of ways.

Student Activities

2011 CLS participant Maxwell Izenberg completed an independent project in Punjabi on the factors associated with the prevalence of rising obesity in Chandigarh. Max also volunteered at the Punjab State AIDS Control. Max writes, “Both experiences helped me to prepare to use my Punjabi for my public health research interests and in my future career in public health.”

Simrun Bal describes her final project and the ways that she integrated her professional interests in her Punjabi coursework:

        “Since I am deeply interested in medicine and global health, for my final project, I studied the connection between poverty and health in Punjab. I focused on studying health disparities (as a result of socioeconomic differences), and different illnesses that are correlated with these socioeconomic differences in Punjab, such as water-borne diseases, etc. I also talked briefly about different systems in place in Punjab, and whether they represent "quality" health services, such as free dispensaries, private health clinics, etc. I also discussed how the cycle of poverty is related to health, especially in terms of the rural/urban disparity.
        In the Punjabi program, since I was in the intermediate level, the teachers also invited a guest speaker (a physician in Chandigarh) who came to speak to my class when one of our weekly topics was health, and I was able to ask the guest speaker questions that were helpful in my project and oral presentation. In our visit to a Punjabi village, one of the teachers also helped coordinate a visit to the local physician/clinic, so I was able to ask him questions as well and incorporate that into my project. I really enjoyed working on the project, since it was exactly why I wanted to study Punjabi!
        With my language partner, I visited one of the branch locations (in Chandigarh) of an organization called All-India Pingalwara Charitable Society, which offers a home for mentally- or physically-handicapped individuals, as well as other important services for the destitute. Since I hope to work with underserved populations as a doctor, it was very eye-opening to see the different services they offered, and how passionate they were about serving the poor.”

Alumni Highlights

CLS Punjabi students on a cultural excursion.

Brian Tilley was a participant in the 2007 CLS Punjabi Program. He is completing a PhD program in anthropology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. This fall, Brian is beginning his dissertation research, and has been awarded funding from the National Science Foundation and the American Institute for Pakistan Studies (AIPS). Last summer, Brian received a FLAS grant from the South Asian Summer Language Institute to study Pashto. In Summer 2009, he received a FLAS grant from the Middle East Center at the University of Pennsylvania to study Arabic. Brian’s language expertise is integral to his research.

Jyoti Gaur was a 2011 CLS participant in Chandigarh who is now working with the Clinton Foundation in New York on measuring the commitments through their Clinton Global Initiative.

Program Highlights

View videos, read highlights, and more on the CLS Blog!

Alumni Ambassadors

Jessica Ludd, '10	Jessica Sarrantonio, '11 (Hindi)	Behnaz Raufi, '09 (Urdu)	Tori Badgett, '11 (Urdu)	Travis Glynn, '11 (Urdu)