The Georgian Association of America has been supporting the establishment of a Georgian Language and Culture Program for the Georgian-American community of the Washington, DC area. The program provides weekend instruction to the community's children between 3-12 years of age to help them maintain their language skills and increase awareness of Georgian history and culture. Building on the success and experience of the Washington, DC Program, the Association wishes to support other Georgian-American communities interested starting their own programs and to share the successful experiences of Washington, DC's Georgian community.
The Georgian Association of America is offering modest grants (up to $2,000 per grant, maximum 2 grants per year) to local Georgian-American community organizations seeking to preserve and promote Georgian language and culture among their children. Grants provide start-up funding - primarily to pay the rent for the first couple of month, or/and to compensate teacher to help interested communities to establish their own language and culture programs. In addition, the Association will provide technical support and materials to help local teachers create a curriculum and establish part-time/weekend Georgian language and culture classes.
In order to qualify for funding, recipient communities will be expected to provide a plan describing how they will start and maintain their programs, including such information as identification of a public space for holding classes, number and age range of anticipated students, as well as a scheme for financing the program. The Georgian Association of America is prepared to advise communities in preparing their plans, as needed. In addition, communities should identify at least one teacher candidate who will undertake the following tasks:
- Provide basic, intermediate, and/or advanced conversational language instruction to children that incorporates Georgian history, culture, and art;
- Evaluate children's language level and provide academic counseling to parents;
- Plan and prepare weekly curriculum for children of different age groups and language abilities;
- Research and locate teaching resources and materials;
- Interact with families in person and in writing on an on-going basis;
- When possible, engage in sharing of experience with other Georgian community teachers.
Qualifications/Experience:
- Native Georgian speaker;
- Experience tutoring/teaching, particularly general knowledge of and strong interest in young children, child development and/or education;
- The ideal candidate will have at least three years experience teaching children;
- College equivalent degree in Georgian Language/Philology, Education, or related field of study;
- A strong passion for teaching Georgian language, history, culture, and art;
- Extensive experience preparing and presenting language instruction is a plus;
- Must be a nurturing and caring person, who genuinely enjoys working with young children;
- Energetic, enthusiastic, and able to plan and work independently;
- Detail-oriented and able to produce high-quality work.
To Georgian communities around the USA:
Please, submit your Language Program plans, CV of the teacher and cover letter to the Georgian Association no later than April 1, 2012 to
georgianassociation@gmail.com. Please, specify "Georgian Language School" in the subject line of your e-mail.
Ia Meurmishvili
Executive Director
Georgian Association in the United States
The Georgian Association is a nonpartisan nationwide membership organization of Georgian-Americans and friends of Georgia that advocates for Georgia and Georgian issues in the U.S. it is the oldest organization in the us representing the Georgian-American community.
