(from Penn News Today 8/18/15 issue)
July 13-31, 27 college and high-school students participated in the University of Pennsylvania’s Hindi-Urdu Startalk program. Offered through the South Asia Center, the program was led by six faculty members, and included two advanced Hindi-Urdu students from Penn and Princeton, who worked as co-instructors. Participants spent three weeks in an intensive language environment studying Hindi-Urdu six-hours a day and taking part in cultural workshops. The Penn Hindi-Urdu Startalk program was organized and directed by Hindi-Urdu lecturer, Joshua Pien. It was free to all participants and was funded through a generous grant from the Startalk program, a federal program that promotes the teaching and learning of 11 critical languages.