Swahili Words of the Day

Swahili and Zulu “words of the day”

Objective: Students will be exposed to and gain an appreciation for both the Swahili and Zulu as languages spoken in many parts of Africa.

Time: 5-10 minuets daily

Materials: Microsoft excel, email, Zulu words and Swahili words

Procedures:

1. Greet each student as they arrive with "Jambo "(jahm-bow), or with "Karibu,' (kah-ree-boo), meaning hello or welcome. "Does anyone know what I was saying to you as you came into the room?" (Let the children guess.) "The language I was speaking was Swahili. Jambo means hello, and karibu means welcome."

2. "Imagine if every state in the United States had its own language. We would have a lot of languages, but not as many as on the African continent." Explain that over 800 languages are spoken in Africa and Swahili is spoken in many parts of central and eastern Africa. Zulu is the common language spoken in South Africa.

3. Inform the students that we will be creating a Zulu/Swahili words dictionary using Microsoft Excel.

4. Instruct the students on how to create a spreadsheet. It should look like the following: My Swahili words

Swahili word Translation Zulu word Translation

5. Give them 2-4 words to add to their spreadsheet, including jambo.

6. Have them save the file as . They should save this in their folder under projects.

7. Tell them each week you will send them an email with 1 Swahili word and 1 Zulu word (send with agenda). They are to open their desktop folder, open the spreadsheet, add the words, and then save the file in their folder) 8. Take time to pronounce the words with the students (you may have to go online for pronunciations). Encourage the students to use the words from their dictionaries to communicate in class and with friends. Also, encourage them to add words they find or ask their pen pals about.

9. At the end of the year, add this file to the students graduation CD and be sure to send it to the Webmaster for to be added to the website.

By Jodi Kriebaum (adapted from Jambo Means Hello:

AN INTRODUCTION TO SWAHILI by Jane Jurinak-Harris)