UCLA Course Teaches High School Students Language of Their Parents, Grandparents

Classes in Russian, Persian and Hindi are being offered to these high school students to learn the language of their families. This country needs more bilingual citizens, this is a good plan all around. - - Donna Poisl

By Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, Los Angeles

Second- and third-generation immigrants tend to lose the language and culture of their ancestors. The University of California Los Angeles hosts summer classes for high school students intended to break that pattern.

Heritage Language program director Olga Kagan says the youngsters are regenerating cultural roots that assimilation almost severed.

"These kids are either first generation born here, or a few of them are 1.5 generation, which means they came here early."

Graduate student Larisa Karkafi, born and raised in Ukraine, leads Russian "heritage language" learners through a story about a World War II orphanage. They laugh when a student misses the subtle difference between the Russian words for "salted meat" and "elephant meat."
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