Zahra Karimi; Instructor & Founder of Neela Academy
The Idea of Establishing:
Neela Academy
Zahra Karimi as the founder of “Neela Academy” says: this is the result of my struggling with the issue of both learning and teaching English and Persian language as a foreign language and as a second one. Reflecting on my past years in my home country, Iran, I remember how passionately I loved to learn the English language. However, I did not like the English classes held with the formal schooling, because the system was not devised for sharing everyday life and concerns in the language: it was rather learning about the language than learning the language.
Growing up in the mid-1990s, I was among the generations who were being taught English based on the grammar-translation method which treated background knowledge as an isolated product of meaning. This denied the knowledge and social forms out of which we as learners could make relevant to their lives and experiences. It was painful for me to memorize the vocabulary, grammar rules, and structure without being able to use them meaningfully in my life.
Totally discouraged with the teaching methods I had experienced through my weekly 2-hour English classes and then my undergraduate studies, I decided to start my education for doctoral studies to explore how I could make English language learning a joyful journey for students rather than making them frustrated, obsessed with structural points, and disappointed with learning a new language.
On the other hand, living in the U.S. opened my eyes to a new concern hidden in me which was caring about my home language and culture. On some Iranian occasions, I got to know some families who strived to preserve their Iranian identity, language, and culture for their children living in the U.S through using the Persian language and practicing their cultural traditions. I got more concerned when I discovered that most of their children as the second generation were not able to fully communicate either in written form or orally. My passion to take care of my own language and culture burst into an idea to establish a language learning academy through which we will be able to teach the Persian language to learners either as a foreign language or as a second one.
Our Team
Zahra Karimi
Founder of Neela Academy
Ph.D. Language, Reading, and Culture
University of Arizona
She has received her Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in Language, Reading, and Culture. She has worked on English language education, Persian language education. Her research interests include bilingualism, biculturalism, heritage language education, immigration and education, second language education as well as ELL teacher preparation.
Mary Carol Combs
Educational Counselor
Ph.D. Language, Reading, and Culture
University of Arizona
She is the Professor in the Department of “Teaching, Learning, and Sociocultural Studies”, the University of Arizona. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in bilingual and ESL education, sheltered content instruction and ESL methods, Indigenous language revitalization, and language policy and planning. Her research interests include bilingual education policy and law, sociocultural theory, indigenous language revitalization and development, immigration and education, sheltered instruction, and ELL teacher preparation.
Shahrokh Jafari
Art Counselor
Master of Art
Tehran Art University
His inspiration was to do some photography projects such as social photography, portrayal, and cityscape. For him, filmmaking was a bridge between photography and cinema while his cooperation in the fields such as social documentary series was of utmost paid attention. On the other hand, he has had a contribution by doing scenography and TV set design that had made the audiences get familiar with his conceptual ideas.
Following his interest, he established the Iranian Cultural Center in the State of Arizona in which he supervised cultural and educational events such as Language courses and art interpretation sessions.
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Who Are We
Get to Know Us
Our Challenges and Experiences for Teaching a New Language
Our Vision
Funds of Knowledge
In Neela Academy, we aim to apply an integrated instruction for teaching Persian and English through an eclectic language teaching method whose approach, design, and procedure are taken from effective teaching methods especially from Sociocultural Theory, and the approach Funds of Knowledge. This approach is to develop proficiency of students in their new language through using different strategies to make the input comprehensible and help students learn that language meaningfully and deeply.
Step by Step
Through the courses that will be offered in this academy, we are going to take your hand and teach you a new language through step-by-step instruction so you can enter the new world along with all its linguistic, cultural, and social newness.
Opportunities
In the new century in the global village, people must be able to speak a new language. Neelacademy helps you learn English language by increasing your language proficiency. If you can express yourself properly and express what you want to say, you can take full advantage of the opportunity that life offers. Good language proficiency enables you to act independently and freely and be a communicator to people in a world that is new to you.
We’ll be your companion
Our challenges and experiences of dealing with teaching and learning a new language will be a rich source to inspire you in your new language learning journey.
Language learners reviews
What our language learners have talked about us
We are so happy that we have been able to make a difference in the learning journey of our language learners. Your opinions and our experiences will be integrated to make us develop better and more useful teaching methods.
"I had enrolled my son in Persian language class. The interesting method along with different group activities made him get more interested in learning the Persian language. He is still attending those classes."
"There have been two years that my 7-year-old daughter has been learning Persian in your classes. I know that it is hard for her to learn her mother language and sometimes she was not even interested in learning that language. But something good has happened throughout her learning time that has kept her in this class. Running the studio classes has made my daughter more interested as she loves working on her project. I just wanted to thank you about it."
