The Yale Center for International and Area Studies — YCIAS — will host a high-spirited celebration tonight honoring 169 New Haven-area students who participated in the High School Cooperative Language Program — HSCLP — at Yale this year. The event begins at 6:45 p.m. in the auditorium of Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave.
Groups of students will present poetry readings, recitations, and skits in their newly-acquired languages. The students of Russian will sing Russian folk songs and Brian Flaherty, a junior at Derby High School, will declaim a speech by Lenin.
In addition, Teja Arboleda, a television producer/director, writer, actor/comedian, public speaker, and visual artist, will perform his fast-paced ethno-comedy, which offers a highly entertaining perspective on multiculturalism and diversity. Mr. Arboleda has presented his hilarious one-man show, “Ethnic Man!” to schools and universities since 1993 to rave reviews. It is based on Mr. Arboleda’s personal history growing up in Germany, Japan, and the United States with a father who is a combination of Phillipine, Japanese, African-American, and Native American; and a mother whose background combines German and Danish ancestry.
The HSCLP is one of the major outreach efforts of YCIAS, which in 1996-97 provided language instruction and cultural exposure to students from 21 area school districts in 11 languages including Arabic, Chinese, Irish Gaelic, German, Modern Greek, Japanese, KiSwahili, Polish, Portuguese, and Russian. Students met on campus once a week for after-school courses. Brian Carter, coordinator of the YCIAS Program in International Educational Resources, organized the language program. Courses were taught by Yale graduate students. This year the New Haven Public Schools sent the largest contingent — 34 participants.
For a second year, the HSCLP was supported by a Connecticut State Department of Education Interdistrict Cooperative Grant to a new Southern CT Language and Culture Exposure Program — SCLCEP, which provides funding for the public school student participants. The SCLCEP, a joint effort of the YCIAS and the Branford and New Haven Public Schools, is directed by Marylou Radovich of Branford High School.
For further information, please contact Brian Carter, PIER/REES at 203/432-3424
