ASC Faculty and Students showcase their hardwork and are recognized at this year’s meeting of the African Language Teachers Association Meeting.

Our students and faculty did us proud with amazing conference presentations at the annual African Language Teacher’s Association meeting. A few students and faculty also attended some support those presenting and represent the ASC. Wolof and isiXhosa students wowed the ALTA participants! 

Wolof students Beth Woods (CAS’28) and Amanda McFarland (SPH’23) worked with Wolof Instructor Lamine Diallo and presented about the need to teach Ajami nationally, carrying on the tradition of BU being the trailblazer in the teaching and study of Ajami. 

Linguistics PhD Candidate Andre Batchelder-Schwab presented with ASC Isixhosa instructor Dr. Zoliswa Mali both to the wider ALTA community in English, and to the target language group session isiXhosa. Andre did a sterling job. The South African professors present were amazed at his proficiency, fluency, and near-native precision of isiXhosa articulation! 

ASC Swahili Instructor Judith Mmari gave a presentation on the first day of the conference to the Swahili Language Group! Our Mandinka instructor and PhD in Linguistics graduate student, Ousmane Cisse, also presented!

As a capstone to event, ASC Program Director Zoliswa Mali was recognized for her dedication to teaching and her African language pedagogy and research and was awarded with the ALTA Service Award.

Thank you to all of our instructors and students who attended the conference. We are so proud of all of your accomplishments and participation.