Intermediate Persian Syllabus
Each day’s lesson is a combination of grammar, reading, listening, conversation, drills and exercises. Reading includes various types of materials, from standard and media texts to modern and classical literature, poetry and prose. As a requirement of an intensive course, students are highly recommended to prepare ahead for each coming lesson—review the grammar, read the material(s) for the following lesson and do the homework: composition, listening to the audios, watching the videos and some exercises to optimize their contribution in the class and speed up their pace of learning.
Persian Language Semester Program
from Aug 18, 2024 to Dec 06, 2024
16 weeks
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Persian Language Summer School
from Jun 23, 2024 to Aug 30, 2024
10 weeks (or 4-9 weeks)
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Persian Language Winter School
from Nov 05, 2023 to Dec 29, 2023
8 weeks (or 4-7 weeks)
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Week 1 - Political Persian
In the following week we are going to study the different aspects of modern political Persian, including the peculiar stylistic, lexical and idiomatic aspects, that characterize the speech of Iranian politicians and journalists. After the completion of the week, students will be able to read, interpret and translate average political texts that appear in Iranian media. Attention will be given to the development of listening skills by using different authentic recordings of native speakers.
Week 2 - Cultural Persian
This week will focus on Cultural Persian. Students will concentrate on learning about Iranian Arts, Cinema, Archaeology and Architecture.
Week 3 - Colloquial Persian
People use Persian to write academic books and order coffee. But do they use the same language while doing this? The answer is “No!''. In Iran (and basically everywhere else), we have two versions of Persian: literary and vernacular. You can easily find examples of literary Persian in books and in newspapers. But when you go out to the streets in Tehran, few will speak the same Persian found in books. The language they speak is called “mohāvere”, i.e. “vernacular” based on the dialect of Tehran.
Week 4 - Persian literature
Persian literature
Week 5 - Economic Persian
Economics is the moving force of the state, and studying the characteristics and peculiarities of the language of economics is as important for the student of Persian as the language of politics. It is important to note that most of the political and social debates in Iran are held around the current economic situation in that country. In week 5, we will start studying the different aspects of the modern Iranian economy and its political aspects. This will be done through the lense of modern Persian economic texts, audio and video recordings. During the learning process attention will be paid to the stylistic, lexical and idiomatic aspects of economic Persian. After completing the week, students will be able to read, interpret and translate standard economic texts that appear in Iranian media. Special attention will be given to the development of listening skills by using various video recordings of native speakers.
Week 6 - Legal Persian (The Constitution)
An important role in the modern Islamic Republic of Iran is played by the Iranian Constitution which was written down and accepted in 1979 and amended for the last time in 1989. Studying the constitution, the vocabulary and the legal terminology contained in it is a significant, one might say crucial step for understanding the system and nature of the modern Islamic Republic of Iran. Overall, the Constitution contains 177 articles, which are on topics such as the state flag, language and religion, as well as the structure of the government, the responsibilities of the president and the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, the legislature, the judiciary, the executive, etc. During the following week, major parts of the constitution are going to be read, explained, commented on, and studied in detail. This will help students to acquire a solid knowledge in the legal, political and also ideological terminology of modern Persan which is focal for understanding the modern Iranian state.