Course Description

In second year first semester Swahili, students continue to improve communicative competence by expanding basic sentence structures to more complex sentences and acquire a wider range of vocabulary for everyday life situations. By the end of the semester, students will be able to understand paragraph -length passages pertaining  to daily topics such as travel, life in rural and urban areas, occupations, likes and dislikes and life in East Africa. Students will be able to organize their thoughts in simple short essays and can sustain a conversation in familiar topics such as described above.  The aim of the course is to develop literacy in Swahili, Swahili that allows student to function (ie. ability to understand and be understood in meaningful linguistic and cultural exchanges) in Swahili speaking regions of Africa.

 Individualized study of Oromo at the elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels. Contact hours with language coach. Emphasis on communication and literacy.

As a Social Engagement course, AAAS 20 will wed scholarly inquiry and academic study to practical experience and personal involvement in the community. Students will be given the opportunity to study Africans, their languages, and their cultures from the ground up, not only through textbooks and data sets but also through personal relationships, cultural participation, and inquisitive explorations of local African heritage communities. You will be invited to develop skills such as video production, ethnographic research, creative writing, “social-portraiture,” GIS mapping, and/or linguistic study as you engage with Africans, their languages, and their cultures. By examining linguistic debates and cultural traditions and interrogating their import in the daily lives of Boston-area Africans, we hope to bridge the divide between grand theories and everyday practices, between intellectual debates and the lived experiences of individuals, between the American academy and the African world. Ultimately, this course aims to bring Africans themselves into the center of the academic study of Africa.

Here you will take various beginner's level tests in Nko, a Western African language, spoken primarily in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Côte d’Ivoire (the Mande Community of West Africa). At the end of of the tests you will have mastered reading and writing basic ideas in Nko and familiarize yourself of some cultural aspects of the Mande community. 

Bemba is  a major Bantu language of Zambia spoken by the Bemba people. Bemba  is a national (official) language and is used as a lingua franca in cities and in the Copperbelt Province and by about 18 related ethnic groups.

Here you will take various beginner's level tests in Swahili, an Eastern African language, spoken primarily in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Zanzibar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. At the end of of the tests you will have mastered reading and writing basic ideas in Swahili and familiarize yourself with some cultural aspects of the Swahili community. 

Second Semester Elementary Swahili

This is the second semester of introductory Swahili for beginners.

Tujifunze Kiswahili! Let's Learn Swahili.

Objectives:

​1. To build cultural awareness and communication ability in Swahili.

​2. To understand the basic structure and vocabulary of Swahili. 

3. To tell one's story in Swahili

Intermediate Swahili second semester

This is a beginning course in Gĩkũyũ (also known as Kikuyu) in which students will develop communicative ability in the language. The language is called Gĩgĩkũyũ by its speakers.
 

Swahili lessons, and quizzes