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Kiswahili and Isizulu are offered in the Department of African American and African Studies. At the elementary level, 101-102, students will be introduced to the conversation form of language using the oral approach to language learning aimed at developing communicative skills at the threshold level. Students will learn how to carry out basic oral communication in specific conversational situations such as greetings, introductions, exchanging personal information (family, birthdays, schooling, recreation, daily chores, etc.) basic questions patterns and answers, time frames, and counting systems.

At the intermediate level, 103-104, students will continue to develop oral proficiency in communicative environment, particularly in listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills. Students will also be introduced to reading based on the target language culture and literature.

For students taking Swahili, there is an eight-week intensive Swahili Language and Culture Program based at the University of Dar es Salaam Tanzania, East Africa. For full details concerning this program, please refer to the relevant section under Kiswahili below. Students wanting to do advanced Kiswahili and Zulu can also enroll in the national Intensive Group Projects Abroad (GPA) language programs sponsored by Fulbright-Hayes and the Department of Education.

As part of the cultural component, students taking the Southern African languages of Shona and Isizulu will be eligible for the Southern African Study Abroad Program (AFAM & AST 485) at the end of the Spring Quarter that will take students to many interesting cultural, historical and ecological sites in the Southern African region, including the famous Victoria falls, one of the seven wonders of the world.

All African languages can be taken to fulfill the GEC foreign language requirement, and students taking African languages are eligible for FLAS (African language and Area Studies) fellowships through the Center for African Studies.

For more details about the language program, contact Dr. Mphande.