Courses

This course is a three-credit, non-intensive introduction to Persian for students who read and write Arabic with ease. Offered as an alternative to Intensive 1st Level Persian I (PERS 1011), this course is ideal for students seeking a similar level of proficiency with fewer credits, and counts equally towards the Persian minor. Conducted entirely in Persian with a heavy focus on communicative language skills, the class also introduces aspects of history, culture, and current events. Special reference will additionally be made to the many ways in which students’ knowledge of Arabic will facilitate the acquisition of Persian (through loanwords, expressions, certain grammatical structures, etc.), all while emphasizing those areas in which the two languages diverge, such as differences in pronunciation, separate writing conventions, and false cognates. Upon successful completion, students typically continue with Persian for Arabic Speakers II (PERS 1010). Together these two non-intensive courses bring students to the intermediate level in only half the number of credits as Intensive 1st Level Persian I and II. Taking advantage of students’ advanced literacy in Arabic script, the Persian for Arabic Speakers sequence is part of an innovative ongoing initiative at Georgetown to create alternative pathways towards proficiency for bilinguals seeking to learn a third language.

This course is the second part of a two-semester, non-intensive introduction to Persian for students who read and write Arabic with ease. Offered as an alternative to Intensive 1st Level Persian II (PERS 1012), this course is ideal for students seeking to cover a similar amount of content in fewer credits, and counts equally towards the Persian minor. Conducted entirely in Persian with a heavy focus on communicative language skills, the class centers around various aspects of history, culture, and current events. Special reference will be made to the many ways in which students’ knowledge of Arabic will facilitate the acquisition of Persian (through loanwords, expressions, certain grammatical structures, etc.), all while emphasizing those areas in which the two languages diverge, such as differences in pronunciation, separate writing conventions, and false cognates. Taking advantage of students’ advanced literacy in Arabic script, the non-intensive Persian for Arabic Speakers sequence is intended to bring students to the intermediate level in only half the number of credits as Intensive 1st Level Persian I and II.

This course introduces students to the basic structures of the Persian language.  All four language skills: speaking, listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and writing will be taught equally using the immersion method.  This method will help students achieve confidence communicating in the Persian language.  Aspects of Persian culture will be introduced on a regular basis.  At the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Have basic level conversation in Persian: 1st level 5 minutes, 2nd level 10 minutes.
2. Read texts of elementary level: 1st level 50- 100 2nd level 100-200 words.
3. Write short paragraphs with reasonable accuracy: 1st level 50- 100 2nd level 100-200 words.
4. Develop cultural awareness through readings, films, music, etc.

This course introduces students to the basic structures of the Persian language.  All four language skills: speaking, listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and writing will be taught equally using the immersion method.  This method will help students achieve confidence communicating in the Persian language.  Aspects of Persian culture will be introduced on a regular basis.  At the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Have basic level conversation in Persian: 1st level 5 minutes, 2nd level 10 minutes.
2. Read texts of elementary level: 1st level 50- 100 2nd level 100-200 words.
3. Write short paragraphs with reasonable accuracy: 1st level 50- 100 2nd level 100-200 words.
4. Develop cultural awareness through readings, films, music, etc.

Permission needed from Instructor. This intensive intermediate level I course is designed to continue developing the student’s communicative skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking). This course is conducted in the target language. Initially, it affords students a view of basic Persian, then an introduction to more complex syntactic grammatical forms. Aspects of Persian history, culture, and contemporary life are also introduced through readings, listening materials, videos and films, and through the use of language technologies (web tools). The students will also be given practice in reading aloud and giving oral presentations of materials taken from the web, media, and television broadcast. As a final project, students will write a composition of 200-350 words (Intermed. I), 400-500 words (Intermed.II).

Permission needed from Instructor. This intensive intermediate level I course is designed to continue developing the student’s communicative skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking). This course is conducted in the target language. Initially, it affords students a view of basic Persian, then an introduction to more complex syntactic grammatical forms. Aspects of Persian history, culture, and contemporary life are also introduced through readings, listening materials, videos and films, and through the use of language technologies (web tools). The students will also be given practice in reading aloud and giving oral presentations of materials taken from the web, media, and television broadcast. As a final project, students will write a composition of 200-350 words (Intermed. I), 400-500 words (Intermed.II).

Two years of Persian and permission of the instructor. This course is designed to enable the student to reach higher levels in the various language skills a stage where they use Persian in wider arrays of cultural, professional and social contexts. Students will prepare newspaper and journal articles, short stories, reports and presentations. Students will be expected to argue and debate extensively, paraphrase and summarize texts, and to express points of view in both speaking and writing. Emphasis will be placed on understanding nuances, idiomatic expressions, and rhetorical devices. By the end of the course, it is expected that students will be able to converse in a clear and concise participatory fashion and to carry out a wide variety of communicative tasks requiring diverse discourse strategies.

Two years of Persian and permission of the instructor. This course is designed to enable the student to reach higher levels in the various language skills a stage where they use Persian in wider arrays of cultural, professional and social contexts. Students will prepare newspaper and journal articles, short stories, reports and presentations. Students will be expected to argue and debate extensively, paraphrase and summarize texts, and to express points of view in both speaking and writing. Emphasis will be placed on understanding nuances, idiomatic expressions, and rhetorical devices. By the end of the course, it is expected that students will be able to converse in a clear and concise participatory fashion and to carry out a wide variety of communicative tasks requiring diverse discourse strategies.

Contemporary Iranian Literature is designed for high intermediate and advanced level students and will be taught in Persian Language. In this course we will explore recent Iranian literature, and particularly poetry through the works of several contemporary authors. We will learn the fundamental structures of Persian poetry/literature and assess expressions of Iranian culture through literature.

The course will survey Iranian cinema from different genres and periods through the past decades, while having a specific focus on the conceptual and artistic changes that appear in the Revolution 1979. Students will explore the aspects in which cinema is used to explore themes such as human relationships, traditions and religions, gender and sexuality, national identity, war and immigration. They also will learn to analyze films critically and become familiar with the very known and internationally admired Iranian filmmakers. The course will introduce various genres that have been practiced by Iranian filmmakers such as comedy, drama, documentary, and historical.

This course will take place entirely in Persian and will encourage students to explore new and emerging topics in the Persian-speaking world today. The focus will be on the student’s ability to verbally communicate. The expectation is of performance acceptable and at all times comprehensible to a native Persian speaker, and the goal is speaking as close to indistinguishable from a native Persian speaker. This course will work with multimedia sources to guide advanced conversation topics. This is the level required for proper preparation for the Oral Proficiency exam, which is required by SFS and MSFS.