VCU news

By Mike Porter

To the casual observer, the parade moving through VCU’s Monroe Park Campus was a confusing mix of colors and costumes, strange speech and unusual songs. Heads turned and drivers slowed down to get a look as the crowd of noisy marchers made its way under the hot July sun.

What the onlookers didn’t realize was that the crazy collection of costumed marchers represented an elite group of Virginia high school juniors and seniors who excel in foreign languages. They were selected from hundreds of applicants to take part in the 25th annual Virginia Governor's Foreign Language Academies, hosted for the seventh year by VCU.

“The students are among the best and brightest foreign language high school students in Virginia,” said coordinator Paul Dvorak, Ph.D., professor of German in the School of World Studies. “They are nominated by their teachers and principals, must submit an essay and undergo a rigorous selection process to get here.”

The parade was part of an opening ceremony for the Olympic-style competition that followed at the Cary Street Field. The flashy show put on by the 346 student marchers was to demonstrate their “country’s” attributes while psyching out their competitors.

“I think the students were even more excited for the Olympic competition this year because of the national pride shown by fans at the World Cup,” Dvorak said.     

By the day of the parade and competition on July 6, the participants had already spent more than a week together, immersed in the language, history and culture of another country. Participants quickly formed a powerful bond.

The longtime academies offered in French, German, Spanish, Latin, Japanese and Russian were recently joined by Virginia STARTALK Chinese Academy in 2008 and the Virginia STARTALK Arabic Academy last year.

STARTALK is a national initiative announced by former President George W. Bush in 2006 to expand and improve the teaching and learning of strategically important world languages that are not taught widely in the United States.  
 
Wafa Hassan, Ed.D., outreach coordinator for the Arabic Language Flagship Program at Michigan State University and a consultant for STARTALK, visited VCU to evaluate the Chinese and Arabic programs. Hassan said the Virginia Governor’s Foreign Language Academies offered a positive learning environment for students.

“This program is fortunate to have all of these language academies in one site,” Hassan said. “The interaction provided here is wonderful and really helps the students learn another country’s language and culture.”

Some former students have returned to the academy as resident assistants or teachers. There were 75 staff members this year and each academy included native speakers on the teaching staff.

Though the students came together for special events, such as the Olympics, their time was largely spent in an individual academy and each academy’s daily schedule was unique. Students attended classes in the morning. Afternoon activities included art, dance, music, crafts, sports, creative projects and cooking ethnic foods. In the evenings, they went to movies and dances.  

Their cooking and crafting skills paid off on July 13 when the academies came together for an international market in the VCU Student Commons.

Student merchants sold ethnic food and crafts and offered services such as nail painting at a French beauty salon. The results were often comical, such as when a merchant who spoke only Latin tried to sell something to a customer who spoke only Japanese.

Those participating in the French, German or Spanish academies signed an oath promising to speak entirely in those languages for the duration of the academy. And no coaxing by an English-speaker was going to cause them to break that oath.

So it was only through interpreters that they would share their thoughts about the experience.

Dvorak translated the comments from two students taking part in the German academy.

“We’ve learned so much vocabulary in such a short time,” said Caitlin Murray of Leesburg.

Anna Gortva of Manassas said that speaking only in German for three weeks was a challenge that would prove to be worthwhile.

“Communicating like this is difficult but that’s part of the international experience. If we were actually in another country, we’d have to deal with that,” said Gortva.

Spanish academy participants Firas Nasr of Fairfax and Katie Goricle of Loudoun County said through their interpreter Katie Nelson, a Spanish teacher at Richmond’s Thomas Jefferson High School, that they have shared experiences here they will remember for the rest of their lives.

“It’s something you can’t even describe,” said Nasr. “It’s not just a school. It’s a family.  The relationship you form with your teachers and friends will last for your whole life.”

Some of the participants are considering careers in which they can use their second language. Most said it will help them later in life.  

“I’m going to study Spanish in college and I plan to travel to Spanish-speaking countries,” Goricle said. “So I know I’ll use Spanish in the future.”

This year’s academies ran from June 26 to July 18. The students concluded their time at VCU by performing skits in their second language. And then it was time to say goodbye. Or au revoir. Or auf wiedersehen. Or sayonara.

In any language, the 2010 Virginia Governor’s Foreign Language Academies offered an experience the students wouldn’t soon forget.