Autumn

Acquisition of the ability to read Hebrew and Transjordanian inscriptions of the pre-exilic period

The beginner's course is the first of three sequential courses offered to students at the university. The course aims to introduce students to reading, writing, and speaking Modern Hebrew.

The purpose of this three-quarter sequence is to enable the student to acquire a knowledge of the vocabulary and grammar of Classical Hebrew sufficient to read prose texts with the occasional assistance of a dictionary. The first quarter focuses on the inflection of nouns and adjectives and begins the inflection of verbs. It includes written translation to and from Hebrew, oral exercises, and grammatical analysis of forms.

Second quarter reading course of ME texts

This course and its sequel EGPT 10102 provide an introduction to the hieroglyphic writing system, vocabulary and grammar of Middle Egyptian, the 'classic' phase of the Egyptian language developed during the Middle Kingdom (circa 2025-1773 BCE) and used until the disappearance of hieroglyphs over two thousand years later.

This course aims to enable students to reach a reasonable level of proficiency in the Armenian language.

This three-quarter sequence focuses on the acquisition of basic speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills in modern formal and spoken Armenian.

This course immerses the student in Arabic through the genre of film, specifically, Egyptian film, a potent and pervasive medium since Arabs started making films in the 1920s, but more pervasive with the advent of television in the early 1960s. Proceeding chronologically, we examine the Egyptian film through distinct stages, from the early musicals and romantic comedies of the forties and fifties, to the slew of post-1952 films offering new notions of the nation, of citizens, of womanhood, to the films of the 1970s with their commentary on the new capitalist society Sadat espoused, to the nuanced realism and focus on individual angst of the 1980s and 90s, to the gritty realism of the pre and post Arab Spring period.

First quarter of Classical High Intermediate Arabic

High Intermediate Arabic, the modern track, provides students with a full academic year to activate the language and grammar studied in the first two years, while expanding their cultural and literary knowledge of the Arab world. This three-quarter sequence is taught in Arabic and focuses on all four language skills. The purpose of this sequence is conceived of functionally (what can students do) rather than with an eye to finishing a given textbook. It will have reached its objective if each student leaves with a clearly improved ability to produce oral and written Arabic in a variety of contexts (personal and professional correspondence, description, prescription, comparison narration, argumentation, etc.), to listen and understand spoken MSA, and to read a variety of texts (short stories, a novel, media writing, poetry, social media, opinion pieces, etc.) and a deepened understanding of the diversity of the Arab experience. An important component of the course is taking the learning outside the classroom: through visits to an Arab neighborhood, interviews of Arabs in Chicago, producing a play.