SWAHILI 111-1/2/3 (Formerly AAL 121 - 1/2/3) Swahili I
Overview of Class:
This is the beginner's Swahili class, and is open to undergraduate and graduate students. There
are three courses in sequence from Fall to Spring. The course presents the essentials of modern
Standard Swahili grammar while proficiency in the language is developed. The expectation is
that by the end of the first year, a diligent student will be able to acquire ACTFL "novice mid" to
"novice high" oral proficiency, along with basic literacy skills (see Foreign Language Annals
Vol. 33, No.1, p. 12-18 for ACTFL descriptors). The course is organized on the national standard
first-year text, Swahili: A Foundation for Speaking, Reading, and Writing, by Thomas
Hinnebusch and Sarah Mirza. A significant amount of work for the course involves accessing the
class's dedicated Blackboard web site and interacting with multimedia resources there. Students
will perform some course assignments, take some tests, interact with digital audio and video
files, and create a personal Web page within the Swahili I Blackboard site.
Registration Requirements:
None for 121-1; appropriate Swahili study background for further quarters. Course may be taken
P/N if not used to satisfy WCAS or School of Communication language proficiency
requirements.
Evaluation Method:
The course is designed and taught with an "ideal student" in mind who wishes both to study
college-level Modern Standard Swahili as an academic subject, and to acquire a solid foundation
of oral interactive and literacy skills for advanced academic work in the language, likely
eventually involving field research. However, practically speaking, a significant number of
enrollees in Fall Swahili I are taking the course as an elective and will not continue study beyond
that quarter. Then, most students who continue with the Winter and Spring quarters are primarily
if not solely interested in satisfying college/school foreign language requirements. Such motives
need not conflict with the design and goals of the course. The pedagogical philosophy behind
language proficiency requirements (both English and foreign language) should be sufficient to
make any experience of Swahili I, for however many quarters, enjoyable and profitable. Making
maximum use of resources and group learning opportunities ordinarily results in solid, practical
language acquistion. Evaluation is based on regular, periodic writing assignments and tests of
both oral interactive and writing skills: the current levels are constantly being assessed, and then
feedback is offered based on these assessments. There is a written midterm and final
examination, both of which contain an audio comprehension component.
Class Materials (Required)
Thomas Hinnebusch & Sarah Mirza, Swahili, A Foundation for Speaking, Reading and Writing,
University Press of America, 1990 revised edition. $30.00 ISBN: 0761809724
SWAHILI 121-1/2/3 (Formerly AAL 122 - 1/2/3) Swahili II
Overview of Class:
This is the second-year Swahili course, and is open to undergraduate and graduate students who
have completed first-year Swahili or its equivalent. There are three courses in sequence from Fall
to Spring. All three use a Web-based "electronic textbook" created by and served from the
University of Wisconsin-Madison; it is based on the popular modern Tanzanian novel by
Euphrase Kezilahabi, entitled Rosa Mistika. The Fall quarter focuses on the first two chapters of
the original novel, the accompanying e-textbook material, and roughly a chapter each week from
the required printed textbook, Tusome Kiswahili by Muaka & Muaka. Similarly, Winter quarter
work involves close reading of chapters three and four of the original novel, e-textbook work
corresponding to those chapters, and grammar review focus on Swahili compound verb
structures; work with Tusome Kiswahili will be completed by the end of this quarter. In Spring,
chapters five through (concluding) thirteen of Rosa Mistika are surveyed through their
summaries in the e-textbook, along with accompanying study material; grammar review is
devoted to the Swahili verb extension system, including but not limited to its coverage in the
four e-textbook units where it is examined. Spring material from the original novel is confined to
limited excerpting necessary for comprehension and completion of accompanying exercises. As
far as is feasible, Swahili is the language of instruction. Upon completion of the Spring course, a
diligent student may expect to achieve an ACTFL rating of "intermediate mid" to "intermediate
high" (see Foreign Language Annals Vol. 33, No. 1, p. 13-18 for detailed explanations of those
descriptors).The Web-based e-textbook contains certain exercises, drills, and essay question
projects, to be supplemented by exercises from Tusome Kiswahili. All assignments from the
electronic and print sources are routinely recast for local use and administration via the course’s
dedicated Blackboard site.
Registration Requirements:
AAL 121-3 or equivalent for entry into 122-1; appropriate Swahili study background for further
quarters. Course may be taken P/N if not used to satisfy WCAS or School of Communication
B.A. language proficiency requirements. Successful completion of the Fall AAL 122-1 quartercourse currently constitutes satisfaction of the School of Communication’s RTVF department’s
foreign language proficiency requirement for a B.S. in Communication.
Class Materials (Required):
Leonard Muaka & Angaluki Muaka, Tusome Kiswahili, National African Language Resource
Center (NALRC) Press, UW-Madison, 2006. $30.00 ISBN: 978-1-59703-010-6
Richard Lepine* (lepine@northwestern.edu)
WCAS African & Asian Languages
1880 Campus Drive
4-404 Kresge Centennial Hall
Evanston, IL 60208-2209
847-491-2765
Richard Lepine (B.A. Texas-Austin; M.A., Ph.D, African Languages and Literature,
Wisconsin-Madison) has been teaching Swahili language and verbal arts since 1981, first at
Wisconsin, then in the Program of African & Asian Languages (PAAL) at Northwestern
beginning in AY 1986. His field research in Kenya and Tanzania (including Zanzibar) has been
concerned with the modern Swahili-language publishing industry and popular culture,
particularly prose fiction in the language. He also teaches in the Program in Comparative
Literary Studies at Northwestern, most recently offering a course yearly on African oral
performance arts and film. He was the director of PAAL from 1992-2005; he also served as
Master of the International Studies Residential College (ISRC) from 1999-2004, and continues
as a Fellow; he has been a Weinberg College freshman advisor for over fifteen years.
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