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The CU Center for Asian Studies, in collaboration with the department of Asian Languages and Civilizations () and the Anderson Language Technology Center (), has successfully concluded its second Hindi-Urdu STARTALK language program. Our program titled “STARTALK: Hindi in the Rockies” was an intensive, three-week, non-residential program that ran from June 10 to June 28, 2013 at the University of Colorado Boulder. The curriculum was designed as an intensive introduction to Hindi and Urdu, and to learn the diverse and shared culture and history of India and Pakistan.  Fifteen students attended the program from local schools, grades 9 through 12. These schools included Fairview High, Niwot High, Rocky Mountain High, Peak to Peak Charter School, East High School, Thunder Ridge Middle School, Platt Middle School, and George Washington High School.

Our program was generously funded by STARTALK, which is sponsored by the National Security Language Initiative (NSLI). According to STARTALK’s team of reviewers led by Dr. Gabriela Ilieva of New York University (NYU), CAS’s Hindi-Urdu program “is an exemplary program that prepares students for real-life communication. It focuses on learning language related to topics about everyday life through communicative activities embedding culture and based on geography as content.” Our program received a near perfect score from the external reviewers.

Our core instructional team included Peter Knapczyk, instructor of Hindi in the department of Asian Languages and Civilizations at CU; Kusum Knapczyk, a former STARTALK fellow and an instructor of Hindi in the department of Asian Languages and Civilization at CU; Shahnaz Hassan, lecturer at the South Asia Institute, UT-Austin; Indira Walia, a Colorado secondary school teacher; and Edwige Simon of ALTEC. A team of consultants included Laura Brueck, assistant professor of Hindi in the department of Asian Languages and Civilizations at CU; and Mark Knowles, the director of ALTEC. Two graduate students, Elizabeth Lewis and Patricia Helfenbein, and an undergraduate assistant, Marieta Bialek, provided support for our instructional team. Anna Cook, a graduate student at ALTEC, provided professional graphic design services for publicity materials. Tim Oakes, the director of CAS, was the P.I. on the program. Joanne Sakaguchi of CAS provided administrative support, and Kunga Lama, outreach coordinator at CAS, directed the program.

In the words of one student’s parent, “Our daughter attended the 3 week STARTALK program.  She enjoyed every day of the program ... The mix of teaching with field trips, practice, food, dance and other cultural nuances made it a very enjoyable learning experience for her.  She also initiated speaking Hindi with us at home and was quite insistent we speak to her in her ancestral native language.  In a very short period of time, she was able to write Hindi and pick up the script---the foundation was laid by her Nana --- grandfather 5 years ago.  Thanks to the hard work of the teachers both Hindi and Urdu, my daughter began learning more of the language and about a rich civilization.  Teaching a language the right way makes a difference.”

Another parent wrote, “I'd like to thank you for making this program such a valuable experience for my daughter. Not only is she learning a lot but she's also enjoying it immensely.”

We were very fortunate this year to have a group of extremely motivated and hardworking students. Going into our second year of running the STARTALK program at CU, we were able to tailor our curriculum to the needs of our students, and we were very pleased with the outcome of the program.  For example, this year, we created one curriculum for beginners and another for novice-high level students. Placing students into two groups allowed for more individualized instruction, and greater interaction between instructors and students. It also helped our instructors to shape lessons according to the specific needs of each student.

By the end of three-week program, students had achieved the target proficiency-goals for their respective levels. The beginner level students achieved novice-high fluency, allowing them to speak simple sentences about themselves and their daily lives and ask questions about others. For instance, they were able to order a meal, tell time, ask directions, purchase items in stores, talk about family, etc.

The novice-high level students achieved intermediate-low to intermediate-high proficiency, allowing them to progress beyond highly structured language, and begin to negotiate a wider range of social situations and topics, such as conversations about their background and interests.

During the final week we organized three sessions for which a group of native speakers from the community were invited to participate as conversation partners. All students were comfortable engaging with the conversation partners about a range of topics in the curriculum. The conversation partners and program evaluators both commented that they were very impressed with our students’ achievement. We look forward to running the STARTALK: Hindi in the Rockies program again next year and continuing to provide a quality program for students of Hindi-Urdu in the Colorado Front Range area.

The Hindi-Urdu program in the Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations offers Hindi-Urdu language courses, as well as courses taught in English about South Asian culture and literature.

The Hindi-Urdu course sequence fulfills language requirements for many majors, including the Major in Asian Studies offered by the Center for Asian Studies, and the Major in International Affairs.

Courses in Hindi-Urdu are also a major component of the Certificate in South Asian Languages and Civilizations, which can be pursued in addition to most majors. For more information about these offerings, please visit our website: