Winter

Taking debate as its central fulcrum, the course will develop all four language skills: debaters must read on the proposition topic, prepare their arguments in writing, speak clearly to an audience, and 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 In the process, they will be immersed in Arab culture (targeted expressions and historical references, of-the-moment issues, etc.).

Colloquial Egyptian Arabic Language and Culture I

Arabic for STEM is an advanced Arabic course that aims to develop students’ ability to communicate about science, technology, engineering, and math in Arabic. Over the course of the term, students build towards two parallel goals: (1) to be able to provide science and math tutoring in Arabic at the elementary or high school level, and (2) for STEM majors, to be able to discuss their studies in Arabic, or, for non-STEM majors, to be able to discuss current technical topics of interest in Arabic. Students work towards these goals by studying a series of modules, for example: mathematics & statistics, chemistry & climate change, physics & space exploration, and data & artificial intelligence.

The second quarter of Intermediate Arabic

Colloquial Levantine Arabic is a proficiency-based course designed to develop the linguistic skills necessary for personal day-to-day life. The course focuses on spoken rather than Standard written Arabic, and will therefore target primarily the oral/aural skills. Through the knowledge of Modern Standard Arabic and the introduction of colloquial vocabulary, expressions, and grammar, the course will build the students’ competence in spoken Arabic. Students will also be introduced to the Levantine culture.

This sequence concentrates on the acquisition of speaking, reading, and aural skills in modern formal Arabic.

This course is the second quarter of the annual introductory sequence to the Babylonian language and the Cuneiform script. Students will further explore the grammar of Babylonian in its Old Babylonian dialect (19th-16th c. BCE) and read ancient inscriptions (especially the Laws of Hammu-rabi) in the Old Babylonian monumental script. They will also be introduced to the Old Babylonian cursive used in letters and the documents of everyday life.

This course introduces the student to the grammar and writing system of the Hieroglyphic Luwian language of the first millennium BC (1000 to 700). Once the grammar is discussed, older and younger texts of that period are read, including the Karatepe Bilingual.

For most of the duration of the New Kingdom (1550-1069 BC), the ancient Egyptians were able to establish a vast empire and becoming one of the key powers within the Near East. This course will investigate in detail the development of Egyptian foreign policies and military expansion which affected parts of the Near East and Nubia. We will examine and discuss topics such as ideology, imperial identity, political struggle and motivation for conquest and control of wider regions surrounding the Egyptian state as well as the relationship with other powers and their perspective on Egyptian rulers as for example described in the Amarna letters.