ABOUT US
Akkhor Bangla School (Akkhor, Inc.) is a community initiative run by the volunteer service of the Bengali speaking Americans in Wisconsin. In 2015, Akkhor was started with 37 students for teaching Bangla language for the children of immigrant families from Bangladesh (and India) to foster and cultivate the language and culture of their origin as children's summer activity program, located at the New Berlin Library, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We have a committed and vibrant team consisting of professionals from a mixed background as university faculty, doctor, engineer, anthropologist, IT and business professional, Ph.D. researcher, parent and community leader of Bangladeshi origin, and Bangla language and literature enthusiasts. Recently, we have begun connecting and collaborating with faculty members of Asian Language Studies in a couple of US universities, including the University of Texas, Austin, and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
We have been registered as a non-profit organization and operate the school as a tuition-free institution. However, we do accept donations from the community and elsewhere for our expenditure and maintain a tax return.
We are currently enrolling for this June-August session and have turned into an online school as its recognized globally now
We have been registered as a non-profit organization and operate the school as a tuition-free institution. However, we do accept donations from the community and elsewhere for our expenditure and maintain a tax return.
We are currently enrolling for this June-August session and have turned into an online school as its recognized globally now
MISSION & VISION
As a community, we desire to keep our children's life connected with their roots as they continue their journey toward infinite possibilities that lay ahead of them. Learning Bangla is an effective means, we believe, for knowing and being who they are. We have faced a lack of interest in learning Bangla as a second language and lack of awareness of the value of it when navigating life in America. So, we are eager to make the children and their families aware and understand how much weight it carries even in the American context. We are also making this learning meaningful in their real life in terms of career, professional life as well as their need to keep a connection with their heritage
We are developing and updating our curriculum from fundamental to intermediate Bangla as a foreign language as we are growing and expanding. We are continuously integrating new teaching materials for the unique needs of the children growing up in the English speaking environment. The existing materials we have mostly developed in Bangladesh for their elementary school and have some limitations in reflecting the images, artifacts, symbols, and social relations they experience and relating their real-life situation
From that realization, we are putting our effort into developing contextualized and customized materials for all the Bangladeshi children across the world
We are developing and updating our curriculum from fundamental to intermediate Bangla as a foreign language as we are growing and expanding. We are continuously integrating new teaching materials for the unique needs of the children growing up in the English speaking environment. The existing materials we have mostly developed in Bangladesh for their elementary school and have some limitations in reflecting the images, artifacts, symbols, and social relations they experience and relating their real-life situation
From that realization, we are putting our effort into developing contextualized and customized materials for all the Bangladeshi children across the world
The dynamic Akkhor executive team members are working hard to achieve akkhor's objective and goal
MEET OUR TEAM
Maruf Alam, MS, MBA, PMP
Founder/Executive Director
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Dr. Lopa Kabir, MD, MBA
Vice President/Program Director
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SM Hayder Ali
Ast. Program Director/Treasurer
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Sayema Khatun
Principal
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Dr. Shiba Kar, PhD
Vice - Principal
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OUR ACTIVITIES
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Bangladeshi-American families and community organizers lead this school as a language learning center every year through the June-August summer session.
We have developed a curriculum for teaching basic Bangla through our team research, long, vibrant discussions and debates, and many trials and errors for the last five years. We have combined both workbooks, digital contents, and videos in the class and made those available on our website and YouTube Channel. We also produce and stage Bangla children play each year to celebrate the international mother's language day on 21 February to make language learning a fun activity and even promote and showcase Bangla music, dance, recitation and story-telling activities and stage cultural shows at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee auditorium. |
"Some glimpses of our activities"
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