Winter

"The first man on moon", "the first Thanksgiving," or "the first kiss"--our society is still fascinated and remembers the exact moment something happened for the first time. The history of the Ancient Near East, especially the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), is quite rich of such "firsts in history." From the moment, writing is discovered there is an abundance of textual record, covering the first documents about politics, law, and economics. The first private documents allow us a glimpse into what living and dying were like more than 5,000 years ago. This course will explore what the cultural conditions of those innovations were, how innovations transform societies, and why it matters to study ancient civilizations. By discovering primary sources (in English translation), the fascination of reading those texts for the "first" time will be experienced. Visits at the Oriental Institute Museum will link textual record and object-based inquiry.

Arabic Through Debate

Taking debate as its central fulcrum, the course will develop all 4 language skills. Its language goals are served through preparing students to debate a number of issues of public interest.
Why “debate”?
a) Because debating, arguing, making claims, supporting claims with evidence, are all authentic activities that we all practice on a daily basis; debating is a relevant real-life skill;
b) Because the debate process pulls practitioners into all 4 language skills: debaters must read on the proposition topic, they must prepare their arguments in writing, they must clearly speak to an audience, and they must listen carefully to their team mates and to the arguments of the opposing team. In the process, they will be immersed in Arab culture (targeted expressions and historical references, of-the-moment issues, etc.)

Course Objectives
a) Expanding student vocabulary and structures into the abstract, analytic realm, i.e., placing them solidly in the advanced ACTFL levels (see the descriptions of the ACTFL standards and levels here: https://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/public/ACTFLProficiencyG…
b) Improving student speech techniques: pronunciation, intonation/voice modulation, pausing, emphasis, gesturing, visual communication;
c) Improving listening and writing skills and expanding them to include topics of general and academic interest;
d) Through a thoughtful selection of debate propositions, exposing students to some salient social, cultural, and political themes of importance to the Arab public.
e) Sharpening the logical argumentative skills of students.

This is a course for the advanced student of Arabic, focusing on improving listening comprehension and instilling an awareness of the social associations accompanying different speech styles. Through intensive exposure to a variety of authentic oral texts (talk shows, songs, soap operas, films, news shows, ads, comedy skits, etc.), students will delve into current social and political issues, as well as become sensitive to code switching between MSA and colloquial (all the major dialects). Through these texts, we will examine the themes of diglossia and code-switching; gendered discourse; urban-rural differences; class differences; youth language. A heavily aural course, class activities will involve student presentations (group and solo), discussion groups, and a final oral presentation project.

This course provides an introduction to the background and development of the first urbanized civilizations in the Near East in the period from 9000 to 2200 BC. In the first half of the course we will examine the archaeological evidence for the "Neolithic Revolution" - the first domestication of plants and animals and the earliest Neolithic village communities in the "fertile crescent" - the Levant, Anatolia, Mesopotamia and western Iran. The second half of the course will focus on the "Urban Revolution" - the economic and social transformations which took place during the development from, village based communities to the emergence of the urbanized civilizations of the Sumerians and neighboring groups in Mesopotamia during the fourth and third millennia BC.

As part of a three-quarter sequence, this second quarter we finish the grammar and start reading Hittite texts, introducing the student to the various genres that Hittite literature has to offer. We will continue the introduction of important tools of the field and students will acquire further routine in reading cuneiform.

Selected monumental inscriptions from the Old Aramaic period (c. 1000-600 BCE) are read with special attention to the dialectal differences among various subgroups of texts.

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 second quarter focuses on verb inflection and verbal sequences and includes written translation to and from Hebrew, oral exercises, and grammatical analysis of forms.

The main objective is to teach students a broad range of skills necessary to read scholarly articles and primary materials in students’ fields of study, written in Modern Hebrew.

Due to the fact that the background of each student is different as far as his or hers past experience with Hebrew, a grammar survey is going to be the first step.

The goal of this course is for the students to achieve high comprehension level. (Please note: This course does not intend to teach official rules and forms of translation). By the end of the course, students should feel confident in their ability to read any given Hebrew text, fiction and non-fiction.

The course aims to consolidate and broadens all four skills in order to help with the transition from easy Hebrew to regular Hebrew.

This sequence deepens and expands the students' knowledge of modern Persian at all levels of reading, writing and speaking. Grammar will be taught at a higher level and a wider vocabulary will enable the students to read stories, articles and poetry and be introduced to examples of classical literature towards the end of the sequence. Introducing the Iranian culture will be continued. Class meets three hours a week with the instructor and (with enough students) two hours with a native informant who conducts grammatical drills and Persian conversation.