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Since 1946 the Middle East Institute has been an important conduit of information between Middle Eastern nations and American policymakers, organizations and the public. We strive to increase knowledge of the Middle East among our own citizens and to promote understanding between the peoples of the Middle East and America. Today we play a vital and unique role in expanding the dialogue beyond Washington, DC, and actively with organizations in the Middle East. Our Department of Programs present programs with top regional experts and officials from the US and foreign governments. The George Camp Keiser Library has the largest English-language collection on the Middle East outside of the Library of Congress. We publish quarterly one of the most prestigious journals on the Middle East, The Middle East Journal. MEI's Department of Languages and Regional Studies offers courses in Arabic, Hebrew, Persian and Turkish and seminars highlighting the history, literature and culture of the Middle East.

The Online Language Environments (OLE) Board is a web based threaded discussion instructional tool that utilizes voice, video and text to replicate the functions of a language lab. OLE is used for, but not restricted to, oral practice, listening comprehension, speaking practice and reading and writing practice. The OLE Board can be used to supplement instruction in face-to-face classes as homework assignments, and can be used in entirely distance classes. CERCLL support provides assistance to improve the technological capabilities and establish the pedagogical strategies of the OLE Board, which has been successfully piloted in French, Arabic, various Indigenous languages and ESL. Specific deliverables for the OLE Board project include templates and pedagogical strategies with examples for Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Japanese, Chinese and Portuguese; online and print user and instructor documentation; lesson plans and use case scenarios; usability studies for further desired improvement; piloting of multi-institutional usage. We also provide for the protocols necessary to integrate the OLE Board for use with course management systems. The OLE Board is being developed as an open-source product that will be available to the wider language instruction community.

"Welcome to the STARTALK Resource Website, home to information on teaching and learning Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Persian, Turkish, Swahili and Urdu. The purpose of this site is to share information on implementing programs as well as to share resources on curriculum design, instructional materials, assessment tools, and useful links. Information on our site is particularly targeted toward parents and students, teachers, current and future program directors, an"

Opportunity for language instructors to participate in piloting new proficiency tests.

Listen online or podcast of NHK (from Japan) content in 17 languages.

"A program of United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program will offer intensive summer language institutes overseas in thirteen critical need foreign languages for summer 2010. The on-line application for CLS Program awards is now available, and the deadline to apply will be December 18, 2009. "