U.S. Department of State (PAU-PD) Grant for Adult American English and Culture Conversation Course

The Public Diplomacy Section of the Palestinian Affairs Unit (PAU-PD) of the U.S. Department of State, in fulfillment of its mission to build lasting connections between Palestinians and Americans, announces an open competition for organizations to submit applications to develop and implement an English language conversation course for adults built around discussion of U.S. culture, society, history and current events, as well as other foundational English skills, targeting an age range of approximately 30-45 years old. There is flexibility in the number of hours of instruction for this course, but the program must be able to provide demonstrated improvement in the level of English for participants.

Proposed projects should advance the goals and objectives of this funding opportunity and the PAU-PD mission specifically to advance peace and the development of a prosperous, stable, and transparent Palestinian society, economy and system of governance through substantive engagement with American people, institutions, ideas and ideals in order to improve American-Palestinian relations and create greater opportunities for mutually beneficial partnership and cooperation.  

This course should be designed to target adults with a functional conversational capacity in English. The aim is to improve their English to a more professional or higher conversational level and develop confidence in their language abilities. While this course can include things like writing emails for a professional context or have modules focused on English for business, this course should not aim to focus directly on English learning for a work environment. This course should also not target specific industries or professionals. The aim of this course is to reach an audience who are interested in developing their English language proficiency and are at a stage in life where they may lack traditional educational opportunities.

Additionally, this course must include a strong component to facilitate sharing and discussion of American culture, society, history, and/or current events. Ideally, this will include instruction that incorporates modules with a focus on current events in the United States and encourage debate and discussion of important events in American history.