Nilu Gupta received her M.A. degree in Hindi from Delhi University. In 2021, in recognition of her long-standing work in the spread of Hindi and Indian culture in the U.S., The Honorable President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, conferred upon Ms. Gupta The Pravasi Bhartiya Samman, the highest Indian award for a non-resident Indian, constituted by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, Government of India, to honor exceptional and meritorious contributions. She has been the recipient of several awards and recognitions at the local community, city, and state level. In 2022, The Honorable President of the United States, Joe Biden, also conferred on Ms. Gupta the award for Exemplary Community Service.

Ms. Gupta has taught Hindi across different continents. In the late 1980s to the 2000s, she traveled extensively with her late husband, who was in the business of exports from India, and was stationed in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. Her love for Hindi led her to run local grassroots Hindi classes, at a time when there was virtually no infrastructure or support apparatus. In early 2000, she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. with her husband to be close to her children. Upon arriving in the Bay area, California, she began teaching Hindi at the Bay Area Indian Community Center (ICC).

In 2006, seeing the India expat community and cross-border exchange between Indian and American personnel grow, Ms. Gupta petitioned the De Anza College (www.deanza.edu) of Cupertino, California, one of the largest community colleges, to begin offering Hindi as an accredited foreign language. At the time there was no precedent or awareness of Hindi at local schools and colleges. However, Ms. Gupta persisted in her resolve and was able to successfully convince the Board of Trustees of De Anza to greenlight the initiative. Ms. Gupta constructed the curriculum for a three-quarters (15 college credits) Hindi course (recognized as meeting the language requirements for incoming freshman students across colleges in the United States), and has since been teaching it as the professor of Hindi Language. Over the years, Ms. Gupta has enhanced the course with several innovative methods of teaching, including understanding of grammar, making it easy for both native and non-native speakers to learn. Her students love her methods and class, a sentiment reflected in their consistent rating of 5-Star.

Ms. Gupta has published 4 books on teaching Hindi. Several schools including Chinmaya Mission, Jain Pathshala, and more are using her books in their classrooms.

She is the founder of 2 not-for-profit organizations: 1) UPMAGlobal.org and 2) Vishwa Hindi Jyoti. Both organizations are in service of promoting Hindi and Indian Culture in the Bay Area, organizing recurring events such as Kavi Sammelan, Festival celebrations, community discussions, plays, and more. She is also a state member of the California Language Teachers Association (CLTA).

Publications; Vijayi Vishwa Tiranga Pyara’ book compiled 45 countries of the world.
Hindi story book ‘ Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah’ Pettit book ‘ Jiwan phoolon ki Daali’ Haiku Sangrah ‘ Gagan Ujiyara’ and many more books written and published.
guptanilu@fhda.edu
nilugupta@yahoo.com

Darshan Krishna received her Master’s Degree in Hindi from the University of Delhi and worked as a lecturer at two of its constituent colleges, Indraprastha College and Lady Shri Ram College. She later worked in Canberra, Australia as a researcher at the Institute of Advanced Studies and as a part-time lecturer in the Department of Public Education, The School of General Studies, and The Australian National University. In the United States, she taught Hindi to a number of Foreign Service Officers and World Bank officials for several years.

In 1973, Mrs. Krishna, with her husband Dr. Raj Krishna, founded The India School in Washington DC to promote the study of Hindi as well as other Indian languages, arts, and culture. The India School was the first institution of its kind in the United States and became a premier institution of instruction, over the years teaching thousands of students. She developed the course materials and both supervised and carried out the teaching of Hindi and other subjects. The school also prepared students for the Hindi proficiency Certificate and Diploma examinations given by the Central Hindi Directorate of India. She started a Hindi/Urdu Club for interested students to socialize, converse, and improve their Hindi.

As Founder/President of the India School she planned and presented, in conjunction with the Capital Children’s Museum of Washington DC, a Festival of Arts and Crafts of India for Children. The exhibit was visited by thousands of American children. The Washington Post called it “a young traveler’s passageway to India” in a very complimentary review. She organized numerous performances by India School students at venues such the Smithsonian and the Kennedy Center. She also organized several programs presenting Indian classical dance and music by internationally renowned Indian artists such as Ali Akbar Khan, Zakir Hussain, Sitara Devi, Uma Sharma, and Rajan and Sajan Mishra.

The Association of Indians in America honored her as a community leader in the field of Education. The Government of Montgomery County, Maryland awarded her a certificate in recognition of and appreciation for outstanding service to the community.

Ashok Ojha is a New Jersey-based journalist and teacher, where he manages two non-profit organizations, Yuva Hindi Sansthan and Hindi Sangam Foundation, both dedicated to promotion of Hindi language in the U.S. and beyond. Well-versed in national standards and best practices in curriculum instruction appropriate for U.S. Schools, Ashok is a K-12 certified teacher for social studies.

He worked as a full-time Hindi journalist, script writer, and documentary producer in India prior to his immigration to the United States in 1996, where he was enrolled in the International Affairs program at New York University. He continued to report on current affairs for publications and journals in the U.S. and India. In January 2017, he produced and directed a series of short videos on Citizenship and Social Justice’ for a New York University project.

As the coordinator of the International Hindi Conference, U.S., he collaborated with scholars from a number of leading universities, including New York University (NYU), Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), to organize three International Hindi Conferences in the U.S. at NYU (2014), Rutgers (2015), the Consulate General of India, New York (2016). He is collaborating with the Consulate General of India, New York for holding the Fifth International Hindi Conference, September 21-23, 2018 (http://www.hindiconferenceamericas.com). The conference will be hosted by the Consulate General of India, New York.

Since 2010, Ashok has been awarded U.S. government funding for directing STARTALK Hindi Programs. Trained as a Hindi teacher at the 2009 UPenn STARTALK Teacher Program, he directed the STARTALK program for Kean University students (2010, 2011) followed by YHS STARTALK Hindi programs at Bensalem (2012), Hatfield (2013), and Harleysville, PA (2014-17). He has been awarded three STARTALK grants to direct the Sangam-Franklin STARTALK Hindi Program since 2016. This program is held at Franklin High School in collaboration with Franklin Township School District, New Jersey. In 2018, Ashok directed two summer programs in Pennsylvania and New Jersey-YHS STARTALK Hindi Program, June 18-July 6, at Pennbrook Middle School, North Wales, PA; and Sangam-Franklin STARTALK Hindi Program, July 16-August 2, at Franklin High School.

Ashok taught English as a foreign language in Yongan, Fujian, China in 2012. He has earned two bachelor degrees—one from NYU (2001), U.S., and from Magadh University, Bodh Gaya, India (1971).

Bhavya Singh is an instructional technology specialist, Hindi/Urdu language educator, and resourceful lifelong learner who values teamwork, collaboration, and cross-functional engagements to deliver target objectives in instructional design and language education for virtual and blended learning. She is also a Hindi/Urdu language professional development facilitator for the California Language Teacher Association.

https://wp.nyu.edu/virtualhindi/bhavya-singh/

Mamta Tripathi is the co-founder, principal, and lead instructor at Hindi Language Academy. Applying 21st century pedagogy and the World Readiness Standards for Hindi learning is her passion, which led her to conceive and co-found Hindi Language Academy in 2019. After her first formal training in Hindi learning and teaching with STARTALK in 2008, she started the very first Hindi language program in her township, which runs as Montgomery Hindi School, NJ.

A native speaker of Hindi with an ACTFL Superior level rating, Mamta has been teaching Hindi in community-based programs and has also taught in about a dozen STARTALK Hindi language immersion programs since 2008. She is ACTFL-trained in conducting Oral Proficiency Interviews. She has also co-authored four Hindi books for beginner level students with Educators Society for Heritage of India. She currently leads a specialized program for high school students to prepare them for the State Seal of Biliteracy and the Global Seal of Biliteracy in Hindi. In order to develop a robust professional learning community at Hindi Language Academy, she regularly mentors the emerging Hindi teachers in effective and research-based language teaching pedagogy. She takes a keen interest in maximizing student engagement by infusing learning experiences with age-appropriate EdTech tools and learning activities.

Mamta is a reflective practitioner and strongly believes that leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. In order to keep her pedagogy and leadership skills current, she actively participates in professional development training and workshops.

She has a Master's degree in Hindi Pedagogy from Kean University, United States, and a Master's degree in Biochemistry from Lucknow University, India.

Mamta has a deep interest in the science and technology embedded in India’s rich culture and heritage, which is reflected in her curricula and lesson plans. She has been residing in New Jersey with her family since 1996. When she is free, she may be found listening to Hindi podcasts and reading poetry and stories. She also loves to go on nature walks, hikes, and to the beach.