Persian Summer Camp
The camp is from July 6th - July 24th, 2009 and will be held each Monday - Friday from 9:00AM to 4:00PM on the San Diego State campus. This program is open to all students ages 7 - 18 regardless of Persian fluency or nationality.
The program was made possible through the generosity of the Startalk Program, administered by The National Foreign Language Center.
We are able to offer a unique language experience through this non-residential language and culture program which is open to interested and qualified students, ages 7-18. There are no fees for participation, although students' families must arrange for their transportation to SDSU.
The unique features of the program consists of low teacher-to-student ratios and opportunities to interact with nearby Persian communities for cultural enrichment.
Parent Testimonials for the 2008 Persian STARtalk program
Salam Khanoom Doctor Oliai
Thank you for your hard work. because of your constant attention Farsi Star-Talk became a success and my kids learned a lot and enjoyed it too. Omid and Sadegh told me that they learned about court vocabulary today in the class and before they all would talk in English. They were impressed by pronouncing " hay-at-e-mon-se-fe " (Jury) and " dad-gah-e-ras-mi ", Ghazi, and a few other words that they learned today. The fact that my kids like our method of teaching and the fact that a few words has bee added to their Farsi vocabulary shows that your way is effective and I congratulate you.
Thank You
Javad Rhezaii
This program was a great opportunity for Atoosa to practice her Farsi through various projects. Her enthusiasm to independently finish her homework project was very gratifying to us. The opportunity to be exposed to Iranian culture and literature, to practice writing and reading in Farsi was invaluable and very positive. She is building her cultural identity and expanding her knowledge of Iranian culture. i will definitely recommend this program to other parents."
Babakhani
This program was positive. I liked to see them spend time with their friends. They were able to practice their writing, speaking and enjored ar activities. They think positively about Iran and learned about Iran's rich culture. I will certainly recommend this progam to others.
Elmi
I think it was a good opportunity for the articipating children to learn and experience several aspects of the Persian culture and language. I feel that top three positive outcome of this program were:
- Introduction to another language
- Introduction to another culture
- Get to interact with children that have Persian background
We feel that the program was very beneficial since our daughter can now recognize and use a different alphabet, greet people in Persian, and most of all, gained a life experience with people from Persian culture. communications with teachers and staff were very .Thank you all! I would suggest to Keep having this type of program every year so other children experience this learning experience. For sure I will recommend this program to other parents
Marcia Ledezman Macias
Thank you very much for organizing and the hard work during the camp session. Atoosa definitely had a great time, learned and enjoyed attending the camp.
Khalil Emami
I feel this program as "The best". The way the program was designed kept my daughter interested at all times. She learned a lot in a short time. Leila"s teacher, Robab was wonderful. She is talking more in Farsi and that has made her grandparents so much happier.
By Naraghi family
"As a parent, I was very excited to enroll my son in this program; I believe it was a great opportunity for him to experience his heritage language and culture in a totally new environment and setting. I can characterize The Persian Startalk as a camp in which :
- The environment was very friendly and secure
- The program kept him interested all the way to end
- He progressed considerably well, keeping in mind that this was a very short and concentrated program
This program helped my child to speak more in Persian. He attended few years of Persian heritage school and became familiar with reading and writing. Attending the STARTAlK lit the new and different light on Faculties and staffs worked so hard and were great at communicating the important informations. I would highly recommend this program to other parents. I have already talked to many of my friends and neighbors about this program and they all seemed to like the idea of learning a language as a summer activity for their children, especially with all the artworks and extra activities that this program offered for its students. "
What are some suggestions you might have to improve this program? I think it is necessary to inform people long before the program so they can schedule their time accordingly. Also it is very important to make it very clear that this program has not been design just for Iranian-American but for every person that is interested to learn a new language.
Ahmadian family
Student Responses
We asked the students for feedback on the Persian Summer camp. These responses are presented in their unedited form, as submitted by the participants.
- I really enjoyed the field trips and being with my Persian friends.
- I liked the last week when my teacher gave me lots of homework.
- I could be with my friends while learning.
- Learning farsi.
- liked the way my teacher taught us.
- I got to be with persians and meet new people and i got to improve my farsi
- The activities and being with my freinds over the summer
- I was able to learn a lot and have fun at the same time. I also liked the friends that i made while I was in the program.
- I think that I am most appreciative of the resources students are provided with. Not only do students have a teacher who can effectively teach the students the taget language, but they provide helpful, comprenhendable worksheet packets, consisting of both grammar and vocabulary, persian films, persian music, and persian art. Students are not only exposed to reading, writing, and speaking persian, but they are also exposed to the persian culture with the use of a variety of provided resources.
- Learning to write and read and the great teachers we had. also that the fun feild trips we went to.
- My name is Amanda and this email is concerning the Summer 2008 Persian Camp provided by STARTALK. Firstly, I would like to think you so much for helping me break the language barrier of Persian and English. I had a wonderful and unforgettable time at SDSU learning how to communicate in written and verbal forms along with interesting cultural exposures. I cannot wait until I come back next summer for another year of camp.
By Mona
Graphics on this site created for STARTalk Project at SDSU/LARC, cannot be used without permission.