Dora Johnson Awards

The Dora Johnson Awards are named in memory of a lifelong advocate who believed in both expanding access to K-12 Arabic education and in professionalizing the teaching of Arabic. Ms. Johnson advised and supported QFI beginning in 2009 as QFI was establishing a framework for supporting Arabic education in the United States. Her passion and commitment to supporting those who teach Arabic continues to make a difference for so many teachers and their students.

In honor of Ms. Johnson, QFI offers the Dora Johnson Awards on an annual basis to help increase the number of primary and secondary school Arabic teachers who may attend the annual ACTFL Convention and to engage with their peers from the QFI network. These awards provide funding to help participants cover ACTFL registration and attendance expenses.

How To Participate

Applicants must be Arabic Educators currently teaching at publicly funded primary or secondary schools and members of both ACTFL and the Arabic SIG, (if not, applicants must be committed to joining both). Preference will be given according to the following criteria, in descending order:

First-time attendees,
First-time presenters,
Previous ACTFL Attendees and/or previous Dora Johnson Award Recipients.

FUNDING

Grantees will be awarded funding to cover all registration costs for the 2021 ACTFL Convention, which will be hosted as a virtual conference, November 18 – 21, 2021.

Award funding will provide:

Registration for the core convention sessions November 19 – 21, as well as
Pre-Convention workshops on November 18
Membership registration with ACTFL and the ACTFL Arabic Special Interest Group (SIG)
Reimbursement to school for substitute teacher coverage during the dates of the convention.

GRANT CONDITIONS

Teachers selected to receive funding through the Dora Johnson Awards from QFI will be required to:

Commit to becoming members of both ACTFL and the Arabic Special Interest Group (SIG),
Commit to attending the virtual ACTFL Convention November 18-21, 2021,
Submit at least one classroom resource created as a result from ACTFL attendance.

APPLICATION DEADLINES
Applications open: Monday, September 27, 2021

Application deadline: Monday, October 25, 2021

Decisions announced: Monday, November 1, 2021

HOW TO APPLY

To apply for a Dora Johnson Award, you must register for an account on the QFI Application Management Portal at qfi.smapply.org. Please create a user account and profile. Upon completing your login credentials and user profile, you will be prompted to take an Eligibility Quiz. You will then be able to access the grant application.

CONTACT INFORMATION

If you have any questions regarding the Dora Johnson Awards, please contact us djawards@qfi.org