Centre for Culture and International Languages

Research Opportunities

In order to enhance the student’s understanding of India, its culture and languages, CCIL will partner with both institutions and student cohorts to arrange for a ‘Cultural Immersion Program’ that has a distinct research focus. Under the innovatively designed program, a student cohort will travel to specific destinations with in India not only to study a particular language – it’s nuances , grammar, pragmatics, phonology, morphology, syntax, dialects etc. but more importantly to contextualize it with in its cultural setting. The visit, under the supervised guidance of an expert, will be to a location where the language is predominantly spoken or is the medium of communication. For illustrative purposes, if the student cohort evinces interest in ‘Punjabi culture and language’, then the cohort will undertake a visit to Amritsar. Prior to the visit, during and post visit, the instructions and research will cover Punjabi culture, history, social values and roles, politics, aesthetics etc. through site visits, readings, lectures, interactions and regional films. Likewise, if the culture & language is Urdu, then the place of visit will be Lucknow and so on.

Educational programs

1. Program Title : Customized English program

Under the program, CCIL invites English instructors from all leading institutions across the globe to offer Faculty – led customized programs for specific groups that wish to improve their English skills for personal, academic or professional reasons. These educational programs shall be custom designed to meet student’s s needs. Customized programs can be offered throughout the year.

2. Program Title: Teaching English as a Foreign language (TEFL)

This course is designed to prepare you to be an English Instructor in a variety of settings around the world. The program covers the advances in learning theory, teaching methodology and practiced applications in the classroom. It includes hands-on training, micro – teaching, class observations and practice teaching.

Note: However, should students be interested to prepare for the Cambridge CAE course, arrangements can be made, subject to advance information.

3. Program Title :Learn an Indian Language

Under the program, a participant or a student cohort will be enabled to learn one Indian language. The under-mentioned Indian languages will be available for study, with proficiency levels both in spoken and written, ranging from Introductory to Intermediate.

• Bengali
• Gujarati
• Hindi
• Sanskrit
• Urdu
• Punjabi
• Marathi
• Tamil
• Telugu
• Kannada
• Malayalam

In addition, instruction can also be arranged in other Indian languages as well, depending upon the need / requirements from the sponsoring educational institutions and /or the student cohorts .

4. Program title : Learn one Indian language while teaching one foreign language

Under this innovatively & uniquely crafted program, qualified/certified, experienced and proficient language instructors of any one of the under-mentioned foreign languages can participate in the program. The instructor can, on a reciprocal basis, teach one foreign language and learn one Indian language of their choice.

The list of foreign languages cover:

• Japanese
• French
• Chinese
• German
• Spanish
• Russian
• Italian

The Foreign language instructor will need to conduct a predetermined number of hours of instruction in one foreign language and earn credits, which will then be converted to credits for learning an Indian language. The number of hours of instruction will be in accordance with the level of proficiency requirement for the course viz Introductory to Intermediate.

The participant in this program will need to only pay for the accommodation, food and other in-campus expenses, if any. Tuition fee shall be fully exempt for all foreign language instructors. Participating foreign language instructors may also recommend the names of other suitable instructors for this program . In all such cases, identical principles shall apply.

What you can do 

• Partnership Opportunities: Considering the wide landscape of opportunities, there are several ways to engage with the Centre for Culture and International Languages. You can either join the existing projects, networks and initiatives and educational programs or create your own with a view to participate in them.

• Student opportunities: You can participate in all the International outreach programs and initiatives that are listed under ‘Student Opportunities’.