English for Heritage Language Speakers Program at Georgetown University

The 2009 program was launched on January 5 with 28 scholars. On the first day, the new class was welcomed by Georgetown University center directors, and EHLS faculty and staff. This was followed by a week filled with orientation activities, highlighted by an overnight retreat at the Seton Center in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland. Ice-breaker activities and stress management exercises were used to build a supportive learning community among this year's scholars.

In 2009, the EHLS class is composed of 18 men and 10 women, whose native languages are Chinese, Arabic, Farsi, and Dari. Native countries are Afghanistan, Algeria, China, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Singapore, Sudan, and Taiwan. Professional areas of interest include law, education, political science, banking and finance, real estate, computer science, engineering, international relations, translation, and linguistics.

The scholars have participated in class projects and activities such as:
• Individual open source analysis projects on topics provided by eight federal government agencies;
• Field trips to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Security Agency, and the Boren Forum; and
• Sessions with recruiters from the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the National Ground Intelligence Center.

The 2009 class graduates August 21, 2009