TURK 101:
Introduction to Turkish
Language and Culture
Ders Yılı/ Dönem
2005 – 2006, WINTER
Dersin Hocası:
Hale IŞIK
E-posta:
hisik@mercyhurst.edu
Web Sitesi:
http://blackboard.mercyhurst.edu
Ders Günü/Saati/Yeri:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 12.30-1.50 pm (ZURN 313)
Ofis Günü/Saati/Yeri:
Monday and Wednesday, 2.00-3.00 pm
Preston 210 (Phone: 824-2354)
Ders Tanımı:
The course is designed for students who are interested in learning about other cultures and
languages, and who have no previous knowledge of Turkish language. This course mainly
introduces the student to Turkish language, through the development of the basic skills: listening,
speaking, reading and writing. Also included is an examination of Turkish culture through an
exploration of its historical roots and its most significant social, literary and artistic trends. The
ultimate goal of the course is that students will gain awareness and appreciation of and insight
into the Turkish culture.
Dersin Amaçları:
By the end of this course, the students will

be able to comprehend simple sentences in Turkish;

be able to speak beginner level Turkish, producing sentences for introducing themselves,
carrying on meaningful conversation, shopping or asking for assistance, etc;

have and use a basic Turkish vocabulary range and will be able to conjugate for case,
person, and present tense;

be familiar with the general social, psychological and political underpinnings of what it
means to be ‘Turkish’ in history and in this age;

have acquired competency in major events in Turkish history and culture; and the current
issues in Turkey; and be able to do research and converse on these topics;

have developed and used language learning strategies that will help not only with
improving their Turkish, but with learning other languages too.
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Ders Materyalleri:
You will have a course pack available for you on Week 2 at the College Bookstore which will
contain 1 and 2 below:
1. Hitit Yabancılar İçin Türkçe 1 (including the workbook and the mini-dictionary) Ankara:
TÖMER, 2002.
2. Visual materials and extracts from Who are the Turks? and several other books on Turkish
history and culture (Excerpts provided in course pack)
3. All materials used during course hours and additional study materials will be posted on
Blackboard regularly.
You may make use of the following for self-study purposes:
4. The official Website of Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism:
http://www.kulturturizm.gov.tr
5. Online Turkish-English Dictionary: http://www.seslisozluk.com/index.php
Ölçme ve Değerlendirme:
Final Exam (W+O)
30%
Midterm
20%
Term Paper
15%
Presentation(+Paper)
15%
Quizzes*
10%
Attendance and participation 5%
Cultural Experience
5%
* Quizzes are announced but pls. note that there may
also be pop-quizzes anytime!
90-100 A
85-89 B +
80-84 B
75-79 C +
70-74 C
65-69 D +
60-64 D
59 and below F
Dersin Gerekleri:
 Academic honesty:
As members of the Mercyhurst academic community, students and faculty recognize that any kind of
academic misconduct is in direct conflict with the Mission of the College. Students are advised to
read carefully the statement on academic honesty in the student handbook and college catalog. It is
the policy of the Department of World Languages and Cultures and of the Division of Humanities to
report all willful acts of academic misconduct to the Office of Academic Affairs. Students should be
aware that a single act of academic misconduct may result in failure of the course-regardless of grades
earned in other course assignments, and that repeated acts of academic misconduct may be grounds
for dismissal from the College. Students in this course should be particularly aware that it is
considered an act of academic misconduct to use any kind of translation technology (i.e.:
programs/websites that propose to translate entire phrases and sentences from one language to
another) on assignments that must be written in Turkish.
Any type of plagiarism, not providing/citing true resources in papers and cheating will lead to the loss
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of grades, which ultimately means failing the course.
Attendance and participation (5%):
All students are expected to attend each class and to focus on the course in class (not on things
extraneous to the course).
Students will be allowed 4 absences for ANY reason, including sports and other school or personal
events. Such excuses (illness, family problems, etc) are to be e-mailed to the instructor, but it is
completely at her disposal to accept them or not. After the 4 absences, each absence will result in a
1% reduction of the final grade.
Please note that no make-up exams or quizzes will be given, and no late assignments or papers will be
accepted unless the instructor has granted prior approval. Late assignments will also result in a 1%
reduction of your final grade for this course.
Absolutely no cell phones (or other communication device) are to be used in class, as these are highly
disruptive. This includes silently checking your messages or sending text messages! If you are in an
emergency situation when you feel you must be in contact with someone, please speak to me ahead of
class time. If you violate this policy, you will counted as absent for that day without notice. No
exceptions.
Term paper (15%):
In groups of two, you are expected to produce a term paper on one of the following topics (guidelines
will be provided during the course):
1. An Ancient Civilization in Anatolia,
2. Facts Turkish Formulaic Expressions (idioms, proverb, curses, etc.) reveal about Turkish
Culture,
3. Understanding of Islam in Turkey,
4. A historical account of Women’s Rights in Turkey,
5. A historical overview of the Turkish National Education System.
Your finalized paper will be an 8 to 10 page-long paper on the topic. Please use 1.5 line spacing; 12
Times Roman font; if you add a title page, do not number it; you are welcome to insert pictures but
they do not count as written space. Please remember that plagiarism is a serious offence and will
result in an F grade. Indicate your sources at the end of the paper according to APA Conventions.
Make sure your library book references outweigh your websites. Papers only with web resources will
receive an F. Use websites cautiously since much may be inaccurate or opinionated. Do NOT only
look into sources from Hammermill Library and limit yourself to them. Through inter-library loans
you may ask books to be brought to our college library from other universities such as Penn State, U
Penn. or Buffalo University.
Term paper submission date is Feb. 13, 2006. Papers handed in after due date will not be accepted.
Paper + Presentations (15%)
Presentations are also pair work and will start taking place as of Week 3 (two every Friday). Both
members of the group will present some portion of the paper in front of the whole class. You are
expected to write a paper and create a 30 minute PowerPoint presentation of the paper for the class
on one of the suggested topics below. You may only narrow down your topic through consulting your
instructor. The PowerPoint presentation is required to have high audio and visual appeal. A mere
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listing of facts/paragraphs pasted from the paper on slides is NOT a successful presentation!
You are also expected to prepare a quiz that covers major important points/details of you
presentation to be given out at the end of your presentation. You should prepare at least 10 to 15
questions with a mixture of question types and make copies for the whole class. After each
presentation session there will be a 5 minute discussion session where ideas an questions can be
exchanged among class members.
Remember that it is always a good idea to start preparing early on. Please note that NOT handing in
an outline of your paper and presentation at least one week in advance will result in a 20% reduction
from your individual presentation grade. You will find the topic list on your instructor’s door as of
Week 2 for you to put your names in. Only two names may appear next to each topic. Note that the
topics will be distributed on a FCFS basis.
Turkish History: Past and present
 Highlights of the Ottoman Empire
 The Independence War and the Foundation of the Republic
 ATATURK: His Life, Reforms, and Principles
Turkish Arts
 Turkish (traditional vs. modern) Dance and Music
 Literature: (i.e. Dede Korkut and Nasreddin Hoca (hodja)
 Philosophy: (i.e. Mevlana: Mysticism, Sufism and Yunus Emre)
Life style
 Turkish Culinary Culture
 Major Religious and National Holidays (Bayramlar)
 Sports in Turkey (traditional or modern)
 Urban vs. Rural Life in Turkey
Tourism
 İstanbul: history and the city
 Pamukkale and Kapadokya
 If you want to enrich your presentation with a simple Turkish dish, a sample of the Turkish belly
dance or any other such creative coloring, you are welcome to (and will definitely get BONUS points
for doing so!). Don’t forget to consult your instructor beforehand. KOLAY GELSİN! (May your work
be easy)
Final EXAM (30%):
There will be two sections to contribute to your Final Exam grade:
a) Written Section: You will be responsible for ALL topics covered throughout the semester. The
questions will cover language sessions and culture topics as well as term paper topics, and cultural
experiences. The exact date will be announced by your instructor.
b) Oral Section: In the oral exam the student will have to show their knowledge of Turkish vocabulary
with correct pronunciation, read before the instructor a short text in Turkish and answer a couple of
comprehension questions about the same text, and answer short questions about self/environment in
Turkish. The student may also be asked to conjugate verbs and translate words or short sentences
from and to Turkish. This will take place in your instructor’s office and/or a classroom at a predesignated time.
Cultural Experience(5%):
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Later to be announced by your instructor. Options may vary from writing a Turkish film review,or
writing about a visit to a Turkish restaurant, to answering a list of questions about Turkish culture.
Muhtemel Ders Programı:

Mondays and Wednesdays are Language days, and Fridays are culture days.
1. Hafta
Language (M-W)
--No class on Monday--
Nov 29
Dec 2
2. Hafta
Dec 5
Dec 7
Dec 9
3. Hafta
Dec 12
Dec 14
4. Hafta
5. Hafta
6. Hafta
Jan 4
Jan 6
7. Hafta
Jan 9
Jan 11
Jan 13
8. Hafta
Jan 16
Jan 18
Jan 20
9. Hafta
Jan 23
Jan 25
Jan 27
10. Hafta
Jan 30
Feb 1
Feb 3
Introduction, Course Outline, pre-test,
Turkey facts (flash presentation)
11. Hafta
Feb 6
Feb 8
Feb 10
12 Hafta
Feb 13
Feb 15
Feb 17
greetings/partings, the alphabet, classroom
language.
QUIZ 1
basic question words, singular/plural nouns,
breakfast culture/vocabulary
CHRISTMAS
Culture (Friday)
LECTURE
(Turkish Language, Who are the Turks?
Flag and National anthem)
LECTURE
(Ancient Civilizations,
Religion in Turkey)
--No class on Friday-BREAK
--No class on Monday-describing people and things: basic adjectives,
occupations; days, months, seasons
QUIZ 2
numbers, colors, yes/no questions, countries
and nationalities,
Presentation 1 & 2
present continuous tense (conjugations of
verbs, making questions, giving answers)
Presentation 3&4
QUIZ 3
present continuous tense (contd.)
case markers, family members, ,
Presentation 5 & 6
MIDTERM
expressions of quantity/measurement, more
adjectives/comparatives, talking about the
weather, more on suffixes
Presentation 7 & 8
QUIZ 4
prepositional suffixes (datives and locatives),
asking for and giving directions
Presentation 9 & 10
possessives (if time permits)
LECTURE
(Marriage customs, birth/death traditions,
belief systems, family life, education
system)
Presentation 11 & 12
>Revision
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Feb 20-22
FINAL EXAM (Written + Oral)
While learning Turkish,
Date to be announced.

Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. It is impossible to learn a
language without making them and being corrected.

Use what you learn as soon as you have a chance.

Review previous lessons frequently, and make your own
vocabulary report book which will help you control your
learning.

Participate in choral repetition. It may seem mechanical, but it
helps building the skills needed for individual production.

Open your mind to the different and to the new. Not only
Turkish, but every language has its own mentality, and
comparing it to English will not help. Also try to avoid any
prejudices and misconceptions.

Do not let any interruption break the continuity of your
involvement with the Turkish language.

Remember this may lead to an interesting career opportunity
one day…

Enjoy yourself!
İYİ ŞANSLAR (Good Luck)
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