Scholar Aushima To Teach Hindi To Americans

Shimla : Heading abroad to teach Hindi to US citizens, some of whom are expected to be of Indian origin, is going to prove a challenging task for Aushima Thakur, form Hamirpur, who has just secured a 10 month Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Award handed out by the US government.

Aushima who is pursuing a doctorate in English literature from Punjab University is the second girl from Himachal to have been picked out for the foreign language teaching program.

A Fulbright award is something that I always longed for,” says Saroj Thakur, who teaches English to engineering students at NIT Hamirpur and is the mother to Aushima. “She has done us proud,” she Saroj. Her father KS Thakur is a deputy director with the state animal husbandry department.

The young scholar will work under the supervision of Professor Phillip from University of Chicago. He has a doctorate in Hindi and has done his research thesis on the Ramayana, informs Aushima.

Besides teaching Hindi to American students at Iowa University during her ten months stay in the US, she would also be attending workshops in Washington and Rodhe Islands. She would be serving as a native language and cultural informant and would get to do some courses for her own benefit. All the expenditure would be borne by Fulbright.

Aushima is a former student from the Hamirpur government college and did her masters in English from Punjab University Chandigarh. She already has some papers published at national and international level to her credit. Interests in other fields has made her take up courses in Intellectual Property Rights, Management, Teaching Methodology (CIEFL), Hyderabad.

Fulbright Foreign Language Teacher Award (FLTA) is sponsored by United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Established in 1946 to support educational exchange of students and scholars, there are over 150 participating countries in the Fulbright Program and for FLTA, this year, nine people have been selected throughout the country.

Ravinder Makhaik

As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.

Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.