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HUMPHREY FELLOW SHARES ARMENIAN CULTURE WITH LOCAL CHILDREN
Cornell Chronicle, Ithaca, NY
Dec 6 2013
By Amanda Ward
Cornell faculty, visiting fellows, graduate students and Ithaca
community members are exposing Ithaca-area K-12 students to languages
and cultures in hopes of stimulating students' interest in studying
foreign languages - including Japanese, Vietnamese, Indonesian,
Mandarin, Korean, Macedonian, Burmese, Tagalog, Tibetan, Polish,
Turkish, Armenian and Swahili.
The volunteers work through Cornell's community outreach program
CERIS (Cornell Educational Resources for International Studies), a
collaboration of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and
Area Studies Programs. The program, which seeks to internationalize
U.S. students' education in community centers and schools in the
Ithaca area, includes language instruction classes and cultural
immersion activities in art, music, math, drawing and cooking.
The language teachers are for the most part native speakers of the
language they teach, and most have K-12 teaching experience. One
such teacher, Harutyun Gevorgyan, heads information and research
programs at the Armenian National Agrarian University, where he's
also a lecturer. This year, as a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow at Cornell,
Gevorgyan teaches Armenian to about 20 elementary school students at
the Greater Ithaca Activities Center.
"As a lecturer in Armenia, I became very interested in volunteering
for the CERIS language program to share my culture and language,"
Gevorgyan says. "I focus on engaging my students in reading, writing
and speaking Armenian vocabulary words, and I have also incorporated
cultural experience into the classroom.
"We have picture-drawing contests, and I give Armenian sweets as
prizes. I use games such as bingo to reinforce vocabulary, tell
Armenian fairytales, and teach how to cook Armenian desserts, such
as alani, which is made by stuffing peaches with walnuts, sugar
and butter."
As a Humphrey fellow, Gevorgyan looks for projects for future
collaboration between Cornell and his home institution. Gevorgyan
says he hopes he is expanding the worldview of his students beyond
Ithaca and inspiring them to explore cultures and languages. CERIS
is working to expand and internationalize the education that American
students are receiving.
The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program provides a year of
professional enrichment in the United States for experienced midcareer
professionals from developing countries. Fellows are selected based
on their potential for leadership and their commitment to public
service in either the public or private sector.
Amanda Ward is a graduate student assistant at the Mario Einaudi
Center for International Studies.
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2013/12/humphrey-fellow-shares-armenian-culture-children
Cornell Chronicle, Ithaca, NY
Dec 6 2013
By Amanda Ward
Cornell faculty, visiting fellows, graduate students and Ithaca
community members are exposing Ithaca-area K-12 students to languages
and cultures in hopes of stimulating students' interest in studying
foreign languages - including Japanese, Vietnamese, Indonesian,
Mandarin, Korean, Macedonian, Burmese, Tagalog, Tibetan, Polish,
Turkish, Armenian and Swahili.
The volunteers work through Cornell's community outreach program
CERIS (Cornell Educational Resources for International Studies), a
collaboration of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and
Area Studies Programs. The program, which seeks to internationalize
U.S. students' education in community centers and schools in the
Ithaca area, includes language instruction classes and cultural
immersion activities in art, music, math, drawing and cooking.
The language teachers are for the most part native speakers of the
language they teach, and most have K-12 teaching experience. One
such teacher, Harutyun Gevorgyan, heads information and research
programs at the Armenian National Agrarian University, where he's
also a lecturer. This year, as a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow at Cornell,
Gevorgyan teaches Armenian to about 20 elementary school students at
the Greater Ithaca Activities Center.
"As a lecturer in Armenia, I became very interested in volunteering
for the CERIS language program to share my culture and language,"
Gevorgyan says. "I focus on engaging my students in reading, writing
and speaking Armenian vocabulary words, and I have also incorporated
cultural experience into the classroom.
"We have picture-drawing contests, and I give Armenian sweets as
prizes. I use games such as bingo to reinforce vocabulary, tell
Armenian fairytales, and teach how to cook Armenian desserts, such
as alani, which is made by stuffing peaches with walnuts, sugar
and butter."
As a Humphrey fellow, Gevorgyan looks for projects for future
collaboration between Cornell and his home institution. Gevorgyan
says he hopes he is expanding the worldview of his students beyond
Ithaca and inspiring them to explore cultures and languages. CERIS
is working to expand and internationalize the education that American
students are receiving.
The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program provides a year of
professional enrichment in the United States for experienced midcareer
professionals from developing countries. Fellows are selected based
on their potential for leadership and their commitment to public
service in either the public or private sector.
Amanda Ward is a graduate student assistant at the Mario Einaudi
Center for International Studies.
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2013/12/humphrey-fellow-shares-armenian-culture-children