NASK 2017: details
Dates
In 2017 NASK meets again at William Peace University in Raleigh, North Carolina. The dates are from July 4th (arrival of students) to July 13th (departure). Classes will be held from July 5th to 12th.
Fees
The cost for the full NASK program (8 days) is USD $790 if you sign up before March 1st. Afterwards, the price will be USD $840.
Participants stay in two-person dorm rooms and receive meals in the university cafeteria. For a single room, add USD $225 for the full program. Local residents not needing housing have the option of course fee only with lunch (USD $420), or course fee only with no lunch (USD $360). After the 1st of March, the prices rise by USD $50.
Instructors
Each year we ask famous instructors and Esperantists from around the world to come teach at NASK, and we are pleased to have an outstanding team once again:
Katalin Kováts
Instructor, advanced course
Katalin was born in 1957 in Hungary. She now lives in the Netherlands with her Esperanto-speaking family.
Katalin has a doctorate in Philology from Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest as a teacher of Esperanto, Italian and Russian. Her studies concerned the propaedeutic value of Esperanto and she has led over 200 courses and training seminars throughout the world, including five in the United States at NASK. For 15 years she has regularly led courses during the UEA World Congresses. Katalin is an author (also under the name K. Smidéliusz) of several books and teaching aids. Among these the most popular is Poŝamiko. She created and leads online instructor training atRITE, and teaches Interlinguistics at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland. She is the creator and editor of the website edukado.net, where she helps train Esperanto teachers across the globe. For nine years she has also organized the CEFR exams for UEA. Her cultural, linguistic, and historical online game RISKO is currently very popular. A recent project just launched is EKPAROLU!, where post-beginners of Esperanto can chat and learn from experienced speakers for free.
Katalin plans to give her students at NASK lots to talk about in class, spurring them to creative work in and about Esperanto. In Katalin’s course students will also gain experience with modern teaching materials and methods, and no one will escape her (gentle) teasing for misuse of the accusative case. 🙂
Sylvain Lelarge
Instructor, intermediate course
Sylvain is a Frenchman through and through, but for 36 years he’s been living in the Netherlands. Professionally, he organizes and teaches week-long language courses in France for gourmet francophiles. He learned Esperanto more than 20 years ago and uses it daily with his wife Katalin and their 15 year old son Marteno. Multilingualism is completely natural in their French-Dutch-Hungarian family, whose shared language is Esperanto. In addition, each of the three family members is actively interested in other languages: Japanese, Swedish, Russian, Polish, German, Spanish, etc.
Sylvain and Katalin have led language courses for 15 years at the UEA World Congresses. Sylvain’s teaching method is very lively, and he knows how to create an open atmosphere with interesting opportunities for discussion. With Sylvain, students often have so much fun that they don’t notice the time pass.
Lee Miller
Co-instructor, post-beginner course
Lee has a Master’s degree from the department of Nursing at the University of Missouri-Columbia. After a 25-year career in nursing, he worked as a professional interpreter of American Sign Language for 15 years, specializing in graduate and post-graduate university courses. He is now retired, a full-time grandfather, and an active supporter and contributor in the Esperanto courses at Duolingo. He has been with NASK since 2000, at first as editor of the course newspaper and later as an instructor.
He is a life member of Esperanto-USA and UEA.
Lee’s teaching method supports active dialogue and communication between students and instructors. He encourages use of the language by working with individual students to develop their abilities and with small groups that need instruction outside the classroom.
Brian Harmon
Assistant instructor
Brian edits the course newspaper La NASKa Fasko and leads the extracurricular programs.
Room and board
Students will share four-person suites with a shared restroom and two bedrooms in an air-conditioned residence. A linen package will be provided to all guests which includes bed linens, blanket, pillow, towels, washcloths and soap. It is recommended that guests bring comfort items such as a small reading lamp, alarm clock, heavier blanket or quilt, if desired, and clothes hangers. The residence hall contains a comfortable lounge on each floor with television and upholstered seating, and two kitchens with refrigerator and microwave are available. The residence hall is also equipped with complimentary laundry facilities.
Complimentary access to the Internet is available via the University’s wireless guest network throughout campus. The dining hall is a pleasant one-minute walk from the residence hall and classroom building, and the caterer serves a variety of options from which to choose. Coin-operated vending machines located around campus offer a variety of snacks and beverages.
About William Peace University
Founded in 1857, the school was named Peace Institute in honor of William Peace, a Raleigh businessman and church elder who pledged money and land to help establish it.
The Civil War interrupted construction of the university Main Building when it was used by the Confederacy as a military hospital. During Reconstruction the Federal government used the building as the North Carolina headquarters for the Freedmen’s Bureau, which helped former slaves establish new lives.
Peace Institute opened in 1872 with programs for both children and young women. By the 1980s Peace College had become a junior college for women, and in 1996 it became a four-year college granting baccalaureate degrees. In 2011, the institution became coeducational and was renamed William Peace University.