Babylon Language Institute of Alaska (BLIA):
Japanese citizen in komono
The Babylon Language Institute of Alaska, LLC is a first-class language immersion camp in Anchorage, Alaska. Children learn language rapidly through immersion opportunities. The BLIA language camps are designed to create a total immersion environment where children learn through fun, play-oriented activities (games, sports, art, skits, cooking, song, dance to name a few). Our goal is for the students to speak, hear and participate in 32 hrs/wk in their target language — and we want it to be fun!
The overarching theme at BLIA is global citizenship. Through camp activities and community service projects, students will gain an understanding that they are part of a global nation. They will understand that they are a part of a family, a school, a community, a state, a nation and a world. The goal is to move students beyond the walls of school and camp and into using the target language in our local community and in future endeavors.
We will create an environment filled with love, patience, kindness and fun. Our staff are qualified in pedagogy and lead teachers are native or fluent speakers. We offer several immersion camps including the following languages: Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish. We hope to continue adding additional languages!
As the founder of the Rilke Schule and a language teacher now for 49 years, I am interested to find out more about the immersion camps. Who is running them, what is the curriculum and who are the counselors? I think it is a terrific idea!
Babylon Language Institute of Alaska (BLIA) was recently created by two Anchorage-based parents (Cassie Smith and Shari Showalter) to offer language immersion camps for students to expand their language skills in a camp setting when school is not in session. The camp will be open to K-6 students who are interested in learning a language and about different cultures; camp is open to all students – immersion and non-immersion students.
During summer, when students lose language skills, the camp offers children the opportunity to speak, see, hear, and experience their target language and culture intensely. Activities at the camp are created to excite children about becoming multilingual through play, song, dance, food and art.
The overarching theme at BLIA is global citizenship. Through camp activities and community service projects, students will gain an understanding that they are part of a global nation. They will understand that they are a part of a family, a school, a community, a state, a nation and a world. The goal is to move students beyond the walls of school and camp and into using the target language in our local community and in future endeavors. We feel that learning about other cultures through language development from an early age is a fantastic way to journey to global citizenship.
In addition to creating emerging global citizens, BLIA is focusing on additional instructional goals: a) increasing students’ comprehension and conversational language skills in a more informal setting; b) increasing the awareness of language learning by hosting multiple language groups in the same camp; c) building a sense of community through collaborative activities; and d) establishing service learning opportunities (we have partnered with non-profits around Anchorage to fulfill this goal.) Language and cultural experiences create a unique perspective fostering empathy and understanding, ultimately creating better communication between people. Understanding other cultures creates global citizens — the ultimate goal of educational institutions.
Students will communicate through speech, writing, song, dance, art and food. We are creating a nurturing immersion experience by speaking almost exclusively in the target language. In creating this environment, the language groups will bond as a camp community through the need for and the use of language. An effective curriculum will weave experiences and activities together. By the end of each camp week, students will be able to make a presentation (e.g. sing songs, recite or read poetry, perform a dance) to an audience at our World Celebration, which is a culminating event to bring all language groups together to share pieces of the target cultures with one another. More advanced students will create their own poetry, songs, skits, etc. and will orally present a summary of their work. We will also have displays sharing additional art and food projects.
By creating an immersion environment, for many students outside of the classroom for the first time, we are making the target language more “real.” Thus, making learning an authentic language experience helping students see how they might actually use language skills in the future.
For our December camp most counselors are coming from the immersion programs and all are native speakers. We also have a handful of junior high and high school students who will be “interns” assisting lead counselors. In the future, we are looking to hire University students as well as any individual who is native or fluent in a target language, has high energy and wants to have fun!
If you would like to learn more about BLIA, we would enjoy the opportunity to meet and share our visions with you. This is a new endeavor for us and for the community, and we are open to all ideas and would welcome and input.
Thank you for your interest in BLIA!
Cassie Smith and Shari Showalter