African American Linguists (AAL)

Promoting World Languages in the African-American Community


Meet us at ACTFL in New Orleans, LA in 2018!

2017 ACTFL Special Interest Group for Educators of African-American Students, Nashville, TN

AATG Honors Dr. Reginald Bess

Dr. Reginald Bess of South Carolina State University was honored at the 2016 ACTFL Convention by the American Association of Teachers of German's Goethe-Institut for his impeccable service and career as a world language educator.

Dr. Reginald Bess (left), Dr. Krishauna Hines-Gaither (right)

 

The ACTFL Special Interest Group for Educators of African-American Students honored past chair, Dr. Cassandra Glynn of Concordia College, for her dedicated service to the SIG.  


Euphemia Gayle Lewis (l), Cassandra Glynn (r) at 2016 ACTFL Convention in Boston, MA.
(Glynn's recent publication) Glynn, C., Wesely, P., Wassell, B. (2014). Words and actions: Teaching languages through the lens of social justice. Alexandria: The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages

Vision of AAL

The vision of AAL is to promote a bilingual society within the African-American community in order to prepare marketable citizens for a global economy. 

Mission of AAL

To accomplish the vision of AAL, our mission is to provide the following:

  1. Scholarship fund to support African-American language learners. Please click here to donate now. No amount is too small. Click here to read testimonials of past scholarship recipients. 
  2. Network for world language educators who are connected through AAL and through related professional organizations.
  3. Web maintenance of culturally significant information with a pedagogical emphasis on African-American language learners.

 

Welcome to AAL

African-American Linguists* (AAL) offers a network for those who work, study, or have an affinity for the field of world languages. AAL allows us to coalesce, share our successes, learn from our challenges and pave the road for those who will come behind us. African-American language learners and speakers have the challenge of promoting world languages while being underrepresented in our field. 

 

The founders, Tamari Jenkins & Krishauna Hines-Gaither,envision AAL to be a network of excellence that provides advocacy and resources to aid African-American linguists*. AAL is open to educators, professionals, missionaries, clergy, public service workers, students, and all others {of any race or ethnicity} who share our vision. AAL encourages its network friends to be advocates within their communities. We hope to be able to count on the support of all AAL friends and we are open to any ideas and suggestions. You are AAL!

 

*Note: For our purposes, "linguist" does not exclusively refer to one who specializes in linguistics, but rather it refers to anyone who is skilled or has an affinity for world languages.

RECENT AAL PRESS & PUBLICATIONS

CONTACT US

Insights from AAL Network Friends

Headquarters

Mailing Address:

  • Attn: Tamari Jenkins/African American Linguists (or AAL); Chaffey College; Language Arts 107; 5885 Haven Ave.; Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91737
  • Last Updated: 06/25/18
  • All information on this website can be reproduced without permission requested if it is properly credited to African-American Linguists along with the website address listed www.weboaal.com.

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