Welcome to NCOLCTL Online Teaching Course Portal

Empowering Minds, Enriching Cultures: Teaching and Embracing Less Commonly Taught Languages for Global Understanding.

The National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL) and the Language Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are pleased to present three online courses on teaching less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) at the postsecondary level. These courses were developed through a grant from the International Research and Studies Program of the U.S. Department of Education (co-PIs, Sally Magnan and Antonia Schleicher).

The three courses are designed primarily for new instructors of LCTLs at the postsecondary level. They are also useful for experienced instructors. Based on the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning, these courses can also be profitably used by college-level instructors of commonly taught languages.

This is the website of the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL). We are an organization that represents the less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) in the United States. More specifically, this website is designed to address the communication and information needs of the members of the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL), as well as those of other organizations, institutions, and individuals interested in the teaching and learning of the LCTLs in the United States. Approximately ninety-one percent of Americans who study foreign languages in our schools, colleges, and universities choose French, German, Italian, or Spanish; while only nine percent choose languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Yoruba, Russian, Swahili and other languages spoken by the overwhelming majority of people around the world.