The Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute (SEASSI) offers intensive language and culture instruction from Beginning to Advanced level (enrollment numbers permitting) for Burmese, Filipino, Indonesian, Hmong, Khmer, Javanese, Lao, Thai and Vietnamese. The program is open to both non-native and native speakers of these languages. The following announcement concerns a special focus on Heritage learners, available for five of the above languages.

SEASSI offers university-level instruction in Filipino, Hmong, Khmer, Lao and Vietnamese language and culture at multiple levels. Instruction is specifically geared toward native-speakers of those languages who wish to learn to read or write and/or improve their formal speaking skills. If you already possess basic or intermediate-level reading and writing skills in your language, there are several higher level classes available at SEASSI in all of these five languages. If you cannot speak or understand the language of your parents/grandparents at all, SEASSI also offers beginning level classes, for which no previous knowledge of the language is required.

To see examples of Filipino, Hmong, Khmer, Lao and Vietnamese teaching materials used at SEASSI, student work, photos, and videos of classroom activities and student projects, visit our newly updated and redesigned website: http://www.seassi.wisc.edu/heritage/index.html.

SEASSI will take place at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from June 16 to August 8, 2008. SEASSI is an intensive language program where students have an opportunity to study only Southeast Asian languages, five days a week, for two months. Students receive one year (2 full semesters) of foreign language credit for the program.

Several types of financial aid are available for SEASSI students, including the Heritage Fellowship. It’s not too early to think about applying for next summer! To read more about applying for the program and receiving financial aid (including important application deadlines), see: http://www.seassi.wisc.edu.