New England Malayalee Association (NEMA) will be offering Malayalam language classes for the second consecutive year, with the first class set for Sunday, October 9, from 2pm to 3.15 pm, at Burlington Library Hall on 22 Sears Street in Burlington, Mass.
NEMA, which is a registered, non-profit organization in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, strives to promote an appreciation for the culture of Kerala, including its language, literature and art forms. NEMA began offering the classes in October 2010, as a recognition of the need for a comprehensive Malayalam language program for children in the New England area. Although there are over 500 families of Kerala origin in the region, classes in Malayalam language were not offered until last year. Chinmaya Mission Boston offers a number of Indian language classes in its Bala Vihar program; however, Malayalam is not one of them. NEMA’s classes are in response to feedback it has received from the community over the years identifying the need for a structured way of inculcating the language in their kids, who are more comfortable communicating in English all the time. The Malayalam language program received a tremendous response from the community in its first year in 2010, with about 40 students in its roster when classes ended in May 2011.
NEMA plans to continue classes through the winter, and per the current schedule, classes will be held twice a month. Parents may enroll more than one child for the lessons. During each session that will last for a little more than one hour, instructors will use techniques such as story-telling based on Kerala’s folklore and classics, in order to keep kids engaged. The goal of the program is to help children make progress in reading, writing, and speaking the Malayalam language.
Details about the program are available on the NEMA website.
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