Course:Intermediate Tamil ( Semesters: a & B)

Course:Intermediate Tamil ( Semesters: a & B)

1

Sankaran Radhakrishnan

SASLI 2007

SYLABUS

June – August 2007

(Pages 1-5)

Course:Intermediate Tamil ( Semesters: A & B)

Instructor:

Instructor Office Hours:

Meeting time and place:

Instructor Contact Information:

Office Hours:M-F 1-2 by appointment

Objective/Goals:

Written  Spoken and Spoken/written

Development of:

Communicative competence skill

Vocabulary development

Comprehension skills (reading and listening comprehension)

Translation skill

Literary appreciation skill

More Cultural understanding

Preparation of a dictionary

Paraphrasing

Oration

Presentations: project

Structure/Schedule:

Variety of methods will be adopted through pre-tests (scores are not counted for final grading; just to know your level) and other class activities to find out the learners proficiency. Following the pre-tests, a thorough revision of Basic level will be done in two days. Variety of class activities and home assignments will be given to the learners to bridge any gap if any found between first level and entry level of Intermediate course.

SALSI 2007 Intermediate Tamil course meets four hours a day, five days a week. Usually, one hour will be devoted to the lesson introduction (text lessons), one hour to detailed explanation of the materials (language, cultures, and other relevant details) in the lesson, and one hour to reading passages, and conversation and one hour in lab; all towards proficiency.

In the “Intermediate Tamil” book, authored by S. Radhakrishnan, variety of passages on language and cultural aspects of Tamil heritage are found. These passages are designed to inculcate interest among the learners for further learning and understanding of Tamil culture and heritage.

The beginners through Introductory Tamil learned the basic skills of language learning, graded structures, and a quite handsome amount of vocabulary. Through the Introductory Tamil the learners are motivated to think more about the functional use of Tamil for their future aims and goals. Hence the “Intermediate

Tamil” book aims to reinforce already learned and explains the complex structures of Tamil in detail and their use; thus helps the learners to develop higher order skills for effective language use for their varied academic and professional purposes. The major focus of the “Intermediate Tamil” is vocabulary development, translation practice, and development of literary appreciation skill, increased cultural understanding and much more.

Each lesson is structure free and includes a glossary, grammatical notes, exercises, assignments, and cultural/historical notes. Sample conjugation lists of strong and weak verbs are given in the beginning. Following the verb conjugation, “Tamil Conversion Rules”’ are provided with examples, exercises and tests to work and practice for easy understanding of the written and spoken dichotomy that persists in Tamil. The lessons in “Intermediate Tamil” are on different interesting topics, like festivals, short stories, letter writing, stories, modern poems, Tamil etiquette, temple festival, literary personalities, and few reading comprehension passages. At the end, a translation part is included for translation. This will help the learners to evaluate their understanding of the basic Tamil structures. At the end, an exhaustive list of useful culturally significant vocabulary on 28 different topics is provided for the learners to work with it for vocabulary development and cultural understanding.

The absence of an immersion environment for any second language learning always poses challenges to the learners. The learner’s difficulty in understanding the use of advanced language and its structures and the curiosity to know more about the culture is always found among learners.

Hence, other than the core materials, number of interesting lessons, reading, listening, comprehension, composition, newspaper materials will be used in the class. Audio cassettes on different topics about Tamil culture, language, games, historically important places, etc., are used to improve listening and comprehension skills. Tamil movies, slides, transparencies, videos on culture, art, architecture, etc. will also be used.

Activities (Lecture and discussion hours):

Dictation (5-6 minutes)

Revision/clarification of previous day activities (4-5 minutes)

Lesson/poems/songs introduction & explanation of all structures and practice, vocabularies, cultures

Pictorial learning

Reading the lesson/practice song by individual learner

Listening audio materials on culture and discussion

Listening and practicing reading for normal native speed –all 18 lessons (audio)*

*each lesson is given three times to listen and repeat and read faster (clips from movie titles)

Mass media Tamil (radio and newspaper using Web)

Homework assignment(s) for the following day

A variety of graded composition, reading comprehension, and translation passages will be distributed and discussed. Written and spoken differences in Tamil will also be focused through number of examples, exercises, and tests. Written  Spoken work should be done in four days and the exercises part should be submitted everyday (first four days). Pictorial learning is another component of the course. Tamil films, drama and videos on cultural aspects of the languages will also be shown in Lab hours either in the lab or in the classroom. Students are required to comprehend and bring a short write up about the films and videos (guidelines will be given in the class for this).

In the second quarter of the program, literary pieces and poems from modern to old and short stories, novels, journal Tamil will also be introduced. Conversation in Tamil form part of the course.

Newspaper readings and Radio news (BBC) will be added to the course to understand mass media Tamil. Modern poems, movie and folksongs will also be introduced as part of the program.

Class Materials:

Required Text Books: Intermediate Tamil

Dictionary:A Tamil Dictionary (checkout from the Library)

Other:Poems andSongs/Video materials

Web:Mass Media Tamil:

Tamil News Paper (Print)

BBC Daily News (Audio)

Recommended Text Books:-

Materials to be provided:Pictorial Learning materials

Handouts, class notes and all other relevant materials required for the course

Audio:Develop Reading skills

Read Faster

On Cultures

Learn Songs

Video:Video clips

Silent movie

Movies

Grading:Percentage

Quizzes/Project presentation/dictionary 30

Attendance & Class Participation15

Homework25

Final30

TOTAL100

STUDENTS WIIL BE GRADED AFTER THE FIRST FOUR WEEKS (Semester A) AND AGAIN AT THE END OF THE EIGHT WEEKS Semester

Attendance Policy:

Students are expected to attend every class. Class attendance is mandatory for all classes. Absences are excused only with a signed medical excuse or by prior arrangement with the Instructor. Attendance will be taken starting 18 June 2007.

Absence from the classes will affect final grade.

Requirements/Homework/Submissions for Semesters A&B:

From Print materials:

Written Spoken Exercises and Tests found in the book (1)-Semester A

Verb Conjugation (1)-Semester A

All Exercises and other activities given in “Intermediate Tamil” (18)-Semesters A &B

Two dictionaries (one for each Semester) (2)-Semesters A&B

Translation (1)-Semester B

From Lab (Audio and Video):

Two Presentations- Projects (one for each Semester) from Audio Culture materials (2)-Semesters A&B

Comprehension of Video (movies) materials-Semester B

Please see that you submit on time. Late homework will not be accepted if accepted, late submission will leads to reduction in grade (1% of the final for each late submission per day).

Semester A:

You will be assessed for the following:

Quizzes/Project presentation/dictionary 30

Attendance & Class Participation:15

Homework:25

Final:30

TOTAL100

Semester B:

Quizzes/Project presentation/dictionary 30

Attendance & Class Participation:15

Homework:25

Final:30

TOTAL100

Distribution of points for each activity will be given in the class.

Quizzes and Exams for Semester A & B:

There will be 3Quizzes (2 Written and 1 Oral) and 2 Exams during the semesters (Quiz-1 on 24the June; Exam-1 on 7th July for Semester A and Oral test on 15th July; Quiz-2 on 22nd July; and Exam-2 on 08th Aug. for Semester B; the dates are almost final but subject to change)

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