Stories

The NSLI-Y program languages include Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), Indonesian, Hindi, Korean, Persian (Tajiki), Russian and Turkish. Listed below are all multimedia stories written, and shared by NSLI-Y students, alumni, partners, and supporters. These stories include all NSLI-Y program languages and are ordered chronologically from the most recent post.

Alumni and current students, join the conversation by submitting your own story.

Click on a language below to see stories and media related to a specific NSLI-Y program language:

Displaying Arabic stories from .

NSLI Y Interactive Twitter and FB

Global

NSLI-Y VSI Highlights: Artmaking and Creativity

This past summer, NSLI-Y students were able to immerse themselves in the artforms of their host countries all while practicing their target language.
image of nsli-y korean students smiling and posing together with a banner that has korean writing

Global

2022-2023 NSLI-Y Application Season Announcement

Applications for the NSLI-Y 2022-2023 summer and academic year programs are now open!
NSLI Y Interactive Twitter and FB

Global

NSLI-Y VSI Highlights: Cooking and Cultural Exchange

To ensure the safety of students, teachers, and staff amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic, the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) chose to make its summer program virtual for all countries except Korea. The NSLI-Y Virtual Summer Intensive (VSI) program of 2021 was a virtual alternative to NSLI-Y's standard summer programming that aimed to provide an intensive virtual language learning experience for NSLI-Y students. Despite the distance between program participants and staff, students were nonetheless able to learn about the cultures-- and specifically the cuisines-- of their respective host countries. Virtual calls quickly became cooking shows as students put their language skills to the test in cooking activities. Below are some highlights of food and cooking-related activities that students took part in this past summer:
Tania head shot

Arabic

From Tears to Turmeric: My NSLI-Y VSI Journey

Tania is from New York, NY and an alumna of the Arabic 2020 Virtual Summer Intensive program. With my fingers stained orange with turmeric, I lifted my computer and pointed the screen to a pot of boiling carrots, sweet potatoes and tofu. “Does this look okay, Ustatha Raja, should I add more water?” I asked.
Hattie Seten

Arabic

Arabic Alumna Awarded Prestigious Rhodes Scholarship

Hattie Seten, an alumna of the 2016-17 Arabic Academic Year program, was announced as one of just 32 American 2021 Rhodes Scholars. Next year, Hattie will join students from all over the world to study at the University of Oxford.
Sabine and her friend

Arabic

A Mutual Understanding Between Language Learners

Sabine is from Austin, TX and an alumna of the Arabic 2020 Virtual Summer Intensive program. Before beginning Arabic with NSLIY, I started volunteering as an English tutor for Raneem, a Palestinian refugee living in Jordan. I was excited to meet someone in Jordan...
Lara-Nour Walton

Arabic

Connections that Transcend Proximity

Lara-Nour is from Evanston, IL and an alumna of the Arabic 2020 Virtual Summer Intensive program. I could almost smell the mint tea through the screen. Steam billowed from the glass cup my teacher Soukayna was holding as she explained how to prepare the perfect Moroccan tea...
Mikaela and her fellow cohort members in the Sahara desert

Arabic

Mikaela (was) in Morocco: A NSLI-Y Arabic Reflection

Mikaela is from Bradenton, FL and an alumna of the Arabic 2019 Summer program in Rabat, Morocco. My NSLI-Y notification couldn’t have come at a better...
a picture of Xenia holding up her OPI score

Arabic

Morocco through Microsoft

Xenia is from Carlisle, PA and an alumna of the Arabic 2020 Virtual Summer Intensive program. I was recently in a meeting with the president of my college and ...