Nowruz

Nowruz is the Persian New Year and marks the first day of spring, March 21st. It is also the celebration of the first day of the new year to more than 300 million people all around the world. According to the United Nations, this day has been celebrated for over 3,000 years in the Balkans, the Black Sea Basin, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East and other regions.

A common set up for Nowruz in Iran

As the winter season dwindles down, millions of people look forward to Nowruz as they see it as the renewal of nature and the coming of a new year. In preparation for this celebration, people buy new clothes, families clean their whole house, including washing the carpets, curtains and cleaning the windows. People also take the time to prepare their gardens and plant seeds and trees. In Afghanistan, it's a tradition to plant trees in your yards around this time. Additionally, on the day of celebration, men and women go to the biggest religious sites in the province where a religious banner is raised. If this banner is raised without too much hassle and it is straight-up, people believe that a year full of good produce and peace is ahead. If it's the reverse, people see it as a bad omen. Regardless, this day promotes values of solidarity between families and their friends and neighbourhoods. 

Putting Up the Banner

Given the landlocked country that Afghanistan is, people don’t have access to much seafood. However, during this celebration, families get to eat fish at least once a year. In addition to fish, people prepare a dish called haft-sin (which literally translates to 7 S’). This dish is exactly what the name says because it is made of 7 fruits that start with S. This dish is prepared days in advance as it needs to soak all the fruit together for days for it to be ready. Just like the celebration, this dish too originates from the Persian culture. Additionally, families prepare traditional Afghan food where they get to eat with their relatives as they travel from one house to another. It’s very common for cousins to meet at one house and start going to a number of houses together where they will eat more food. 

People gather around the sofa (white clothe) to eat together

In addition to eating food and going to each other’s houses, people continue this celebration in one form or the other for about two-three more weeks. Most of the celebration that continues consists of people going to picnics with their families on weekends. These picnics are usually held at parks filled with greenery, at top of the mountains where tulips grow or by streams of water in suburban parts of the country. When my family went for a picnic as part of Nowruz, my dad would bring a lamb which we would kabob in a fire pit. Mostly, people bring their own prepared meals where they get to eat it together outside. Additionally, during these picnics, the kids walk around to pick tulips. During this season, Afghanistan’s mountains and lands are full of red tulips, which is also the national flower of the country. 

Tulips

Source: 

https://www.un.org/en/observances/international-nowruz-day

https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/20/world/what-is-nowruz-trnd/index.html

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/reference/holidays/nowruz-ancient-festival-celebration-springtime-new-year/

Oral Cultural of Storytelling

The oral culture of storytelling is a tradition that goes back thousands of years. While both Iran and Afghanistan have this tradition embedded in their culture, I will mainly share Afghanistan's. 

Traditional Afghan storytelling is one that each Afghan child grows up hearing. These are stories of ancient heroic tales, legends, travel accounts, and myths that introduce children to a whole world of imagination. Usually, these stories are told late in the night where people, mostly close relatives gather at one another’s houses and share such stories around a tray of cups filled with tea. These stories are mostly told by the elders in the house as they are able to recall tales from their own lives and accounts of things that happened before most of the young people were born. For example, after my family had dinner, we would all gather in the living room where both my mother and father would tell us stories of legends such as Rustam and Sohrab.  Rustam is born into a royal family and is a legendary hero who is super strong as a child. When he is older, he has his own family and a son. However, Rustam soon has to go to war to fight his enemy.  He doesn’t know that his son Sohrab is part of the enemy’s army so he ends up killing him accidentally. It’s not until later that he finds out that he killed his son which causes Rustam to go into years of turmoil and agony. I am sharing a very brief summary here, in reality, this story can go as long as two hours to be fully told. Usually, the storytellers describe what the characters are wearing, who their families are, where they live, what their strengths and weaknesses are...etc. The details in this kind of storytelling paint a beautiful picture of the story in your mind. Additionally, these stories not only have a form of learning component and fun to it, but they are also an introduction to cultural values and politics. The reason for this is because most of those myths and legends are influenced by actual people who did exist. The wars that are described in these stories are legendary wars of the country where outsiders tried to take over. Overall, it's fascinating. While these stories can be told at any time, the winter season is the best season for storytelling. Days are too short and it's way too cold to get much work done. As a result, families spend more time together, sitting under the sandali (pictured below), eating dry fruit and sweets, drinking tea and telling stories. (Sandali is a table that we use during winter to keep warm. This table is covered with layers of blankets and in the middle of the table (underneath), there is a bowl of charcoals laid. This bowl produces heat and keeps your legs and your body warm. You don't put your head under as it will kill you though to monoxide.)

My own deep appreciation for this tradition encouraged me to do a project in the United States with illiterate refugee women. Working with refugees from countries like Afghanistan has taught me that refugees, specifically, women continue to face challenges in rebuilding their lives. They feel isolated and incapable of contributing to their new society when in actuality, they are remarkable women filled with rare and powerful experiences that give them the potential to positively contribute to their new communities. The main issue that prevents them from tapping into this potential is that these women are illiterate. This issue causes them to internalize the thought of themselves being worthless to their communities. I wanted to combat this mindset and use the culture of oral storytelling to provide them with the opportunity to feel welcomed, empowered, competent, and valuable regardless of their literary skill. Chai wa Dastan (Tea and Tale) is the initiative that I came up with to allow women to share stories of perseverance, strengths, struggles and hopes verbally in their native language. Most of these women are familiar with the culture of storytelling so instead of focusing on titles and heroes, we would share our own stories of who we are. (Unfortunately, this project as part of the Davis Projects for Peace got cancelled for the summer of 2020 due to COVID-19. I hope to resume this once again after things turn back into normal). 

Sources to check out : https://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/journalism-oral-culture-homers-odyssey-tolo-tv

http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=10003

In order to write this reflection paper, I revisited my learning plan along with the notes that I took during the semester. In my learning plan, I had five major goals that I wanted to accomplish. My first goal was to write discussion posts analyzing and reflecting on the readings. The second goal was to get accustomed to type in Persian using the keyboard on the computer. The third goal was to become comfortable when reading text that is written in the Iranian Persian dialect. The fourth goal was to converse and deliver presentations in Persian in a formal manner. My last goal was to expand my knowledge on the history of Dari and Farsi by exploring and engaging in cultural activities such as listening to Persian songs, watching videos and reading poetry. Looking back at these goals, I am proud to say that I have accomplished all of them. I have significantly improved in my writing analytical reflections about the readings. I feel comfortable reading both in Persian and Dari dialects and I have a better knowledge of some aspects of my culture than I did before. And most importantly, I am proud to say that I am able to type in Persian now using the computer keyboard. When I started this goal, I did not even know where the letters were and what keys to press to get to those letters. However, today I am able to call that from memory. 

This past semester has taught me that I love languages and exploring its cultural component. I have really enjoyed diving deeper into the Iranian culture by listening to their music, watching interviews of their former royal leaders, and reading their poetry. I have realized that I really enjoy reading poetry and want to spend more time reading poems in Persian. While most of my lessons have been great, however, at times it was difficult to read news articles from Afghanistan. The news from Afghanistan is usually full of sad realities of life that can be emotionally and mentally stressful. So I tried to balance how much I read from Iranian news stations and how much I read from the Afghan news stations. But in regards to reading in both dialects, I did not have much difficulty. The most difficulty I came across during my language class was learning to type in Persian. It required me to spend about 2-3 hours outside of class to practice my typing so I can memorize the keyboard and type freely. However, it all paid off because now I have acquired a new skill. Given this, I will continue with my language lessons by writing poems in Dari and Farsi and typing it on the computer. Additionally, I will read news and articles on Dari on things that interest me along with what I see on the news. Lastly, I will practice my speaking via conversing with Zari in Dari whenever we speak again. 

The strategies that were most useful to me during this semester were reading articles, writing discussion posts, typing reflections posts, listening to music and watching videos. I found news agencies such as BBC Persia and native news stations very helpful in finding information to read and interact with. In class, I really enjoyed reading the article about how our brain handles languages and what parts of our brains are used for production and comprehension of speech. It was fascinating to see the different parts of our body to interact and work together to produce a sound. Another reading that I really enjoyed was about figuring foreigners out in which an important phase stood out to me that said something similar to “when in a new country, eat like the native people, dress like them, talk like them...etc”. This basically showed that if you want to learn a language, then it's better to dive in it fully so you can learn like a native. 

Going forward, what I would like to learn more about is the relationship between power dynamics and languages/dialects. One of our discussion posts was about what we would do if we had an approved grant for a project dedicated to linguistics. I wrote that I would explore the power dynamic between the dialects spoken in Afghanistan and the status of those communities that speak it. I think it would be fascinating research that would show the relationship between how a dialect or language may become as one of the major languages spoken and how this power dynamic can contribute to causing languages/dialects go extinct. Overall, this has been a wonderful semester, and I am grateful to both my language instructors for doing their best so I can have a productive semester.

This was the last week of our Persian lessons as we decided to use the next week to complete my presentations for the class. During this week, we revisited our learning plan and discussed where we started in regards to our language lessons. I remembered how during the first week, the main task that I worked on was my reading and comprehension. Zari had tested my reading level through reading news articles and posts out loud both in Dari and Farsi. We covered all the lessons that we had this far and discussed my improvements and progress over the semester. 

What I hoped to accomplish this week was to gain a better understanding of how my language partner saw my progress over the summer and what lessons I can take to move forward with practising my language. Zari and I went over our goals for this semester and discussed specific lessons in relation to those goals. Our first goal was to write discussion posts analyzing and reflecting on the readings. I realized that this was an ongoing part of our lesson in which every week I had an assignment that required me to write a short reflection in Persian. The second goal was to get accustomed to type in Persian using the keyboard and the computer. As of today, I stand at a great place with this goal as I am able to type at a faster pace and recall the keyboard letters in Persian from memory. The third goal was to become comfortable when reading text that is written in the Iranian Persian dialect. This was an easier goal to accomplish as with more practice in reading both dialects, it was easily solved. The fourth goal was to converse and deliver presentations in Persian in a formal manner. While we have not had any formal presentations, I am doing my short presentations in half Persian and half English. Our last goal was to expand our knowledge on the history of Dari and Farsi by exploring and engaging in cultural activities such as listening to Persian songs, watching videos and reading poetry. This goal too was accomplished as I have researched and wrote about different aspects of the culture and used similar tools for our lessons.

Then we covered the strategies that we used during this past semester. Those strategies were reading articles, writing discussion posts, typing reflections posts, listening to music and watching videos. We used articles both published by foreign news agencies such as BBC Persia but also Tolo News and Iranian news stations. The videos and interviews that we watched were on Youtube, Instagram and Facebook.  After our discussion, I found out that reading in both the Persian and Dari dialects have become easier for me. I feel confident when reading in these two dialects from where I started in the beginning. I also feel happier about diving into my own culture and paying attention to our dance movements and how they are a reflection of the words in the lyrics. I am most proud of my ability to type in Persian now. I was a bit concerned at the beginning when I made this a goal but I am glad that it all worked out in a timely manner. 

Overall, I am grateful to Zari and the Global Studios for this semester. It was fun and full of a learning semester. I find myself at a better place in regards to my language skills in Persian and will continue to read and type in Persian. Hopefully, I can develop a typing game in the future that would help others improve their typing in Persian.

Afghanistan has over a hundred-year long history in journalism, but the route of journalism is still unstable and unclear. This cultural post provides a brief overview of the history behind journalism in the past and how it has weaved itself into the Afghan culture today.  

It was in 1873 when the arrival of the first printing press (Lithography printing) publications started, a response against the idea of British Colonialism in Afghanistan. However, it was forced to shut down soon after as it wrote in opposition to the monarch and the conservative religious leaders. Decades later, King Mohammad Zaher Shah declared that while "every Afghan has the right to express his thoughts in speech, in writing, in pictures, and by other means" it has to be" by the provisions of the law." What this accordance with the law meant was that without prior screening by state authorities, nothing could be published. At the same time, the King made sure to forbade any "matter implying defamation of the principles of Islam or was defamatory to the King."

King Mohammad Zaher Shah

In 1973, after Mohammad Daud led a coup d'etat that ended the country's monarchical system, the media and journalism fell into the control of Soviet influence during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet regime used the Afghan media for their purpose. However, just like other colonists powers, the Soviets too did not last too long as other groups such as the Mujahideen and the Taliban became in power. Until the Taliban regime, other groups did allow some form of media to operate; however, the press became very limited under the Taliban Regime as they saw it against the culture. They even banned having television or radio because of being "morally corrupt". During this era, the Taliban destroyed television sets and radios. They also punished those who were caught listening to music. 

Russian Invasion of Afghanistan

Upon the fall of the Taliban regime, in early 2002, a relatively free diverse media emerged. The new government held a national jirga (gathering) and declared a committee to develop law for media and start operating television stations. This was the start of a new wave of journalism in Afghanistan that would weave itself into the Afghan society more potent than ever before. Journalism became popular across the country and its social position rose considerably. 

The Taliban Regime

This populism did not stop the fundamentalist from attacking journalists. To this day, journalists live amidst challenges such as working within the culture, getting their work censored by those in power and having to abide within the religious framework. The other major obstacle in the way of journalists is a lack of security. According to Reporters Without Borders, Afghanistan is ranked second-worst place for journalisms to be. The reality is that at least about 10 reporters are killed every year. National security cannot assure the safety and protection of those dedicated in this line of work. Additionally, working in the red zones such as Kandahar, Helmand and the northern provinces makes it impossible for journalists to be protected as they become the number one target of terrorist organizations.

Journalism Today

Despite these difficulties, journalism has made its way into the Afghan culture, encouraging people to become journalists, including the women. In the past ten years, it has become easier for women to find jobs with media outlets. Most of the current television stations have female reporters and anchors. Given the rise in popularity to serve as journalists, the number of journalism students is also rising. Today, there is an estimate of 500+ students currently in the faculty of Journalism at Kabul University. What was considered as a stain on the Afghan culture, now journalism has become an essential part of the Afghan society; acquiring a better reputation in the Afghan community.

Female Journalists

Sources:

https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~azizi22m/classweb/afgmedia/history.html

http://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-2007-03-21-voa56-66770772/564215.html

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2016/02/targeting-free-journalism-afghanistan-160201102215331.html

https://www.ifex.org/afghanistan/2016/03/22/reporting_perils/

http://www.afghanistan-today.org/en/articles/54/338/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mo-scarpelli/post_5411_b_3785729.html

During the past few weeks, the main task that I worked on was differentiating between formal and informal use of language. My language partner (Zari) assigned a few homework and lessons from the grammar book called Intermediate Persian: A Grammar and Workbook by Saeed Yousef.  The second task that I completed was working on my typing in Persian. I spent most of my time analyzing the difference between the use of formal and informal written and spoken Persian then took the time to practice my typing on the keyboard. 

What I hoped to accomplish this week was to improve my understanding of when to use formal language and when not to. As a native speaker, it’s very easy to find yourself speaking informally in a professional setting especially if all your practising is in an informal manner. So Zari and I took the time to understand and remember when it is necessary to use formal vocabulary. While in some languages, the difference between formality and informality may not be a big deal in language, in Afghanistan and Iran, it is a big sign of respect and etiquette. So regardless of where I live, it’s important to not lose a track of this topic. Here is an example of what I mean in regards to formal and informal use of language in Persian.

Understanding such differentiations can be very helpful when meeting new people, people who are older than you or when you are speaking in a formal setting. For example, if you saw an elder person, it would be disrespectful to say خودت  [khodat] or [khode tu] were referring to them as “you”. Instead, you should use شما [shuma]. While this rule is flexible for non-native Farsi/Dari speakers, it can be frowned upon if spoken by those from the culture. If you do end up using an informal word when it is necessary to use formal, one may reply saying “am I your child that you are speaking to me that way?” While this may sound funny, it actually is something to take in consideration. Certain formality rules also apply to when speaking to your parents. This again has to do with respect. 

After the completion of the tasks in the grammar book, I spent about 2 hours typing in Persian. I tried typing all the keyboard letters from memory. This exercise was for me to just focus on my typing and try memorizing the keyboard in Farsi. I have noticed that I am getting better in recalling where certain letters are at. I am still challenged by my fingers wanting to type the Dari phrases in English but it has been a great process. 

At the end of the week, my community partner and I narrowed some of our goals for the remainder of the year. We decided that we will work mostly on speaking and typing for the rest of the classes.  We have come a long way from where I first started especially in regards to my typing and am set for the rest of the classes. The upcoming homework that I have been assigned is writing about a topic of interest on the computer. The strategies that we used during this week were mainly through the grammar book and typing in Persian. I will continue to work on my typing so I can (hopefully) memorize where all the letters are by May. 

During the past few weeks, the main tasks that I worked on were writing, reading and speaking. Zari assigned a few songs to listen and watch. The second task that I completed was translating those songs from Persian to English. Then we spent most of our time discussing why literal translation of one language into another would not depict the real meaning behind something in its native language. The three songs that I watched were of Aryana Sayeed, Siavash Ghomeishi and Jamal Mubarez. The third task that I completed was reading poetry in Farsi. 

What I hoped to accomplish during the past few weeks was to critically analyze translation from one language to another. One of the major ways that I did this form of analysis was reading Persian poems and then trying to convey a similar meaning in English. The second way that I approached this task was to closely listen to Persian (Farsi/Dari) songs and try to translate it to English. The approach that I took into translating these items was by imagining that I would have to tell what this song says to a non-native Persian speaker. I have attached below one of the poems that were sung by Siavash Ghomeishi. What I learned from this experience was that it doesn’t make sense to translate word to word but rather one has to translate in a way that (sometimes) it requires summarizing or using other phrases to convey the true meaning of a song or a poem. For example, take a look at the stanza below which is taken from a Persian poem. If I were to translate word to word, it would not make much sense, however, to show what that would sound like, I am going to do that here. 

So when you read the word to word translation in English of the poem, it sounds a bit awkward and lacks the actual meaning that the poem conveys in Persian. So there are two things that need to be done in order to truly understand the meaning and value behind this poem. One is to summarize the poem in a way that brings the true meaning of what it says in the native language. Second, for those interested in Persian poetry, you have to dive into this aspect of the culture to understand the history behind Persian poetry and why certain types of words are used. Words like fountain, mirrors, fantasy and clear have many meanings that are beyond the common meaning in English. Persian poetry is truly an art. 

In a similar manner, I listened to the song by Aryana Sayeed (link below) and went through a similar process as the poem. All these were great exercises of the use of language in Persian. At the end of the week, Zari and I discussed the importance of these songs and poems in the native countries and how it plays a role in everyday life. I think once a non-native speaker starts understanding what songs mean in another language, that is one of the highest levels of proficiency in learning a language that can be achieved. It shows that you know what words mean, you can listen, understand and interpret it into your own language.

Overall, we are on a great path with our learning goals. The strategies that we used during this week were mainly through listening, writing and speaking. We used videos, poetry and songs for our lessons. These items can be found on Persian poetry websites and the youtube channel.  For homework, I spent a couple of hours listening to more songs and took the time to reflect on what I heard. 

Here is a funny example of what literal translation can do. 

Link to Aryana Sayeed's Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-ZQ1PFTaCA

This journal entry is a catch up of the entry that was supposed to be uploaded for the latter part of January.  During the third week of January, some unfortunate incidents related to racism took place that caused an uneasy feeling among many students of color and international students. Due to my involvement in leading an open-mic discussion to bring attention to the weight of those actions and give students a platform to share their concerns with the university, I was not able to attend one of the scheduled language classes.  However, my language partner and I were able to reschedule another time to meet for class.

My language partner took the time to hear about the incidents on campus and the activism that students showed in response. Our conversation was in Dari/Farsi. Upon hearing the background story behind everything, Zari and I discussed the root of such issues and why some people may engage in certain racist actions. Additionally, we connected this conversation to the ongoing injustices that are taking place in countries like Afghanistan and Iran. Minority groups in Afghanistan too become the target of hate crimes due to their religion, identity or physical appearance.  Additionally, immigrants, especially those who are from Afghanistan get treated very poorly by the Iranian government. During the time that my family were refugees in Iran, they recall seeing a sign on the entrance of a park that said “No Dog or Afghan Allowed”. We discussed how experiences like this shape the people that we are and how we will go about standing up to racism and discrimination. This is similar to my experience and why I saw the need to speak up. I shared with Zari that most students who did speak during the Open-Mic were international students who came from countries that are associated with stereotypes. For example, my own country of Afghanistan is associated with terrorism and 9/11. While most Afghan people are not responsible for any of these acts, we have been criticized so much that we have started internalizing the feeling of being the enemy or “other”. 

Additionally, we discussed the pressure on immigrants to learn the language or the dialect of the host country in order not to be the target of discrimination. I am a big fan of people diving into the society of a host country to learn the language and the culture of that country, however, when the pressure is put on through racism, it’s never a great feeling for immigrants. The example that Zari shared was about the Afghan refugees living in Iran who are forced to speak in the Farsi dialect or they will get poor treatment for the government and most of the people. She said that sometimes even Afghan refugees get called names and curse words for speaking their own dialect. This reminded me of how different our dialects are seen in our native cultures compared to outsiders. While in the eyes of the world both Iran and Afghanistan speak Farsi, there is a great divide among these two groups. Afghan people would not agree with speaking the Farsi dialect while the Iranian would claim that they speak the “original” way of Persian. 

Overall, the strategies that we used during this week were mainly through conversation in addressing tough situations related to one’s identity and even language. I hope to get back into the learning plan next week.

During the past two weeks, the main tasks that I worked on were speaking in Persian. My language partner was flexible with our learning plan during these two past weeks as the distress coronavirus in the world has increased. My last journal was about the spread of this virus in Iran and the struggles that it was causing on people of this nation, including the closing of schools and worship sites. Most of our time was spent discussing and analyzing the increase of this virus in Iran and around the world.  At this point, there were only identified cases of the virus in the state of Washington in the US. We not only looked at news provided by Afghan and Persian channels but also looked at news from American channels like the New York Times to compare the language that was used to talk about this virus. 

What we hoped to accomplish this week was to analyze the impact of a global issue that started in one country but how it rapidly spread around the world. What I learned from this lesson is that our world is more connected than we think. Be it via travelling abroad, forced migration or economic imports/exports, there was a great potential for this virus to spread around the world. At this point, this virus is not only impacting people in China or Iran but a great spread has also been seen in Italy and Spain. The second major thing that we discussed was the unpreparedness of countries to handle such situations. Most countries including Iran spend a lot of money and resources in developing nuclear weapons, however, at a time like this, those things are meaningless. Some governments and political institutions continue to call this virus a scam but from what we have seen in China and Iran, I think the rest of the world should be concerned about this virus. The third thing that I discussed with my language partner was how the news about this virus was being communicated to people. We questioned if at a moment like this, is it rational to use a kind of language that hides the truth from people for the sake of not causing them panic? Given Iran’s approach to this which I discussed in my last journal, I don’t think it is wise to hide the truth from the people and manipulation should not be used to persuade people to stay calm. Language can be a great tool to send awareness to people but at the same time, it can be used to persuade people to do the wrong things.

Since this virus has reached Iran, this topic has made its way into our learning plan. The reason for this is that it continues to impact the social, economical and political issues that we are analyzing and reading on the news about Iran and Afghanistan. Regardless, my community partner and I continue to work on some of the goals that we had set during the first week. Last few weeks, I took the time to type on my computer in Persian, this week because it was more discussion-based, I took notes in my notebook. Similar to the last weeks, the strategies that we used during this week were mainly through watching videos, listening and speaking. I watched videos on BBC Persian, New York Times and Tolo News.

Picture Credit: The Atlantic 

My Learning Plan

Where are you now?  What can you do? What do you know?

Use the Levels of Competence document and the LinguaFolio® checklists to assess your current abilities in your language.  For more information, see the SDLAP Wiki.

Interpersonal Communication

Advanced: Expanding 1: I have little difficulty understanding and speaking in Dari, however, there is room for improvement when it comes to speaking Farsi. 

Interpretive Listening

Advanced: Expanding 2: I have little difficulty understanding people who speak Persian (Farsi/Dari)

Interpretive Reading

Advanced: Expanding 2: For the most part I can understand almost everything that I read. I do have some difficulty interpreting Persian poems.

Presentational Speaking

Advanced: Expanding 1: I am pretty comfortable speaking in Persian but it has been years since I have given presentations in this language. 

Presentational Writing

Advanced: Expanding 1: I feel pretty comfortable writing in Persian, however, I am not able to type as comfortably on the computer. 

What is your ultimate goal?  What is your goal for this semester?
What do you want to be able to do with this language at the end of this semester and in the future?

My ultimate goal is to become comfortable delivering presentations and converse in formal Dari. My goals for the semester will help me with this ultimate goal because they are steps building towards achieving this main goal. I would like to be more comfortable with speaking about what I read. For example, I am able to read news articles and completely understand what I am reading. However, I struggle at times to transfer that information to another person through “formal” Dari. The way that Afghans daily converse is different than how we speak formally about a topic. So I would like to be able to grow in this area. Secondly, I would like to get better at typing in Persian. I am able to write via pen and notebook, however, I am not able to type as fast as I can in English. Lastly, I would like to learn more about the cultural aspect of Iran and Afghanistan. There are a lot of interesting and fascinating things that are happening in these two countries. So I am interested in keeping up with it. 

What tasks will you complete and what activities will you do this semester to meet your goals?  How will you document and evaluate your progress?

Novice learners should consult the ‘Language Tasks’ page of the SDLAP Wiki and incorporate the required tasks in their learning.  Be as specific as possible when planning activities, e.g., “I will watch YouTube videos to learn how to talk about the family.” or “I will consult a grammar text to learn about possessives.”  Make sure you include some tasks that are relevant to your interests, e.g., “I will learn to understand soccer commentary.” or “I will learn to talk about the stock market.” Culture and language are, of course, inseparable.  It is expected that all your language will be culturally appropriate and that every task will contribute to your cultural competence.

My language level in Persian is advanced. This is due to Dari being my native language. However, there are areas that I want to improve. For my language plan, there is a lot of emphasis on conversation, critical analysis of topics at hand and being able to type in Persian. The plant outlined below mentions the steps that I will be taking to make sure I grow in these areas of my language learning. I will be using many different tools to work on my language. Some of these tools include academic papers, news, youtube videos, and documentaries and poetry. 

During the past two weeks, the main tasks that I worked on were reading and speaking in Persian. Due to the distress caused by the spread of coronavirus in the world, my language partner (Zari) and I read and watched the news about it. Recently, this virus was spread in Iran causing tens of deaths and infecting hundreds of people. The spread of this virus has had a significant impact on schools and sites of worship. We spent most of our time discussing and analyzing the impact of this virus on Iranian people, society and culture. Most of this news was recorded by BBC Persia. Furthermore, we discussed the danger of such a virus spreading to countries in Afghanistan where sanitation is one of the poorest in the world. The second task that we completed was completing some grammar workshops from the book called, Intermediate Persian: A Grammar and a Workbook.

What we hoped to accomplish this week was to analyze the intersection of the rise of complex issues such as this virus and society. What I learned from the news was that there are hundreds of Iranians and other people who travel from Iran daily. I think this news by itself is a form of awareness to people who are not from Iran and see this country isolated or very strict about traveling. The second major thing that I gained more knowledge on was the distrust between the people and the Iranian government. When the virus was first spread in Iran, the political officials declared it as a scam by the enemies and said that it was not a major problem. When people heard this news, they did not take the precautions that were needed to stop the spread of this virus which lead to tens of people dying. However, once the Iranian people saw the contradictory news between what the government officials and what this virus was doing, it created distrust among the people. It was interesting to see the way language that was used by the government officials in comparison to people who were speaking about this virus. The language used by the government officials was one that was very proper but also in a way that minimized the harm associated with this virus. On the other hand, common people were more panicked and straightforward on how they felt about the spread of this virus in their country. Furthermore, the spread of this virus has caused the Iranian government to cancel Friday prayers and stop people from attending religious shrines. 

The past two weeks have been a bit of a different kind of studying with my language partner because we spent most of our time reading and listening to the news. Regardless, my community partner and I continue to work on some of the goals that we had set during the first week such as getting accustomed to typing in Persian. While we focused most of our time on listening and conversing, I also took the time to type some short reflections about what we learned. Additionally, I started using the grammar workbook to reinforce and consolidate my knowledge of certain grammatical points. We continue to work on the two dialects of Faris and Dari. 

Similar to the last weeks, the strategies that we used during this week were mainly through watching videos, listening, writing and speaking. I watched videos on BBC Persian along with printing Persian articles from this new agency. Every time I watch or read the news in Persian, I continue to take notes of certain words that I may not be familiar with or if there are any questions that I have about the usage of grammar. 

Afghan Star is a musical talent program in Afghanistan that started in 2005. It is similar to the American Idol in which contestants who are singers, compete for a cash prize and record deal. This program is open to all ethnic groups, genders, and languages across Afghanistan. Every year a group of 3-4 judges travels to the most popular cities in Afghanistan where they hold auditions and select the best contestants. The program broadcasts on Tolo Channel, one of the prominent TV stations in Afghanistan. 

Since its inception in 2005, Afghan Star has served as a vehicle for social and cultural change in Afghanistan, gaining attention from all around the world. For the longest time Afghanistan has been associated with violence, war and extremism, however, this show serves as a reminder of hope, growth, and development in the region. In 1996, the Taliban had outlawed singing, however, after the fall of the Taliban, this show opened the door for people to follow their passion for music once again. 

Competing in this program is not without struggles because there are people who are against women’s participation in the show. The documentary called “Afghan Star: In Afghanistan, You Risk Your Life to Sing” demonstrates the ongoing struggle between societal norms and modernity. At one point, this documentary shows the moment where a female contestant, Setara, lets her headscarf slip while singing. This incident caused an uproar in the nation, leading to people saying that “Setara should be killed”. 

Regardless, over time this program has brought the Afghan nation together and has normalized musicianship in society after decades of censorship. Additionally, Afghan Star continues to serve as a platform for national identity. Usually, discrimination is a big part of Afghan society due to ethnic division and tension. However, Afghan Star provides the forum for people to come together as Afghan, nothing more and nothing less. It’s through this show that folk songs, classical songs and new styles like rap and rock are introduced to people. In 2018, it was the first time that a woman won the competition by getting the majority of the votes. Her success was an affirmation that Afghanistan is on the path to a better future for all, especially for women and minority groups. 

Today, millions of Afghans both in and outside the country tune in to watch this show and vote for the contestants. I have been away from my country, Afghanistan, for about 5 years now. However, during the Afghan Star season, I watch the show on Friday nights and even participate in voting for the contestants. A few of my favorite Afghan singers are the production of this program whom I got to watch compete, grow and develop into successful artists. The reason that I wanted to write about this program is that it’s a perfect example of a cultural identity that brings people together regardless of gender, ethnicity, and language. Additionally, I use this program as part of my language plan to stay in touch with the Afghan culture through music.

Here is one of my favorite artist who is a rapper, Jamal Mubarez. The woman is a prominent artist in Afghanistan. Her name is Ariana Sayeed. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB-6mXLPxo4&index=14&list=LLSFx3Zy6PQPv8Td0l93nsYQ

Sources

Rainer, Peter. “Review: Afghan Star”. The Christian Science Monitor. 2009. https://search.proquest.com/docview/405564047?pq-origsite=summon&accountid=14731&selectids=10000008,1006323

Osborne, Charli. "Afghan Star: In Afghanistan, You Risk Your Life To Sing." Library Journal, vol. 135, no. 6, 1 Apr. 2010. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A223749154/LitRC?u=vic_uor&sid=LitRC&xid=f89ad9ae. ;

During the third-fourth week, the main tasks that I worked on were listening, writing, reading and verbal communication of those tasks. My language partner (Zari) assigned a few video/audio interviews and songs to listen to and write reflections on. The second task that I completed with Zari was sharing my reflections on what I had watched and heard during the interviews and the songs. I spend most of the time discussing and analyzing the interviews and the songs where I also got the opportunity to share my perspective on the topics. The two interviews that I watched were of Shazada Reza Pahlavi (the exiled prince of Iran) and the songs were of Siavash Ghomeishi (an Iranian pop artist). The third task that I completed was reading cultural articles on the first fashion show held on the streets of Afghanistan and the Afghan documentary winning the British Bafta award. 

What I hoped to accomplish this week was to comprehend complex issues that are mentioned in interviews or news agencies. One of the major things that I wanted to accomplish this week was to see my level of comprehension of the political issues and if I had the ability to write an analytical reflection paper on it. The second thing that I wanted to accomplish was to carry a conversation about my analysis of the topic with Zari. The third task that I wanted to accomplish was to take a break from world issues and focus on some cultural aspects of the Persian language. I was able to accomplish this goal by listening to 4 songs of the renowned Siavashi Ghomeish and discuss the meanings of those songs with Zari. Furthermore, I was able to read the articles in Dari out loud and discuss its significance with Zari.

At the end of the week, my community partner and I narrowed discussed some of the goals that we had set during the first week and how we would continue to work on those goals. We are on a great path with our first goal of wanting to write discussion posts in Persian. However, we are continuing to build on our second goal of getting accustomed to typing in Persian. The upcoming homework that I have been assigned is writing my reflection paper on the computer. This is a great way of working on my typing and getting closer to my goal of being able to type on Persian comfortably. Also, we continue to work on the two dialects of Faris and Dari as there are great differences when reading articles in these two languages. 

The strategies that we used during this week were mainly through watching videos, listening, writing and speaking. I watched two interviews by Shahzada Pahlavi on his view of the current regime of Iran.  We found these videos on youtube, but the interviews were conducted by the BBC and some other news agencies. As I was watching the videos, I took notes in Persian. Sometimes I had to playback the video because of not understanding certain words. However, as I listened to it again, I realized that Iranian Farsi has borrowed some words from Egnlish and the way they are pronounced in Farsi is not something I was familiar with. For example, one of the words I didn’t understand the first time I heard was “Potancial” but when I listened to the interview again, Shazada Phalavi meant “potential”.  It’s very interesting. Soon I realized that there are also words in Dari that have been borrowed from English. For example, the word for workshop is “warkshop” in Dari. The second resource that we used was Ghomeshi’s webpage which had his songs and its lyrics in Persian. For homework, I spend a couple of hours listening to more interviews, writing about them and hearing songs in Persian. While watching these videos, I paid attention to how different the Persian dialect is from Dari. Again, I found out that I found it easier to understand the Afghan Persian dialect compared to the Iranian Persian dialect. However, I will continue to speak in both of these dialects and continue to build my vocabulary and understanding of both dialects. 

During the first week, the main task that I worked on was my reading and comprehension of what I read in Persian. My language partner (Zari) tested my reading level through reading news articles and posts out loud both in Dari and Farsi. The second task that I completed with Zari was speaking about what I read. We spend an hour discussing and analyzing the readings where I also got the opportunity to share my perspective on the topics. 

What I hoped to accomplish this week was to gain a better understanding of what resources, activities, and learning tools my language partner and I should use going forward. One of the major things that I wanted to figure out was whether I should continue with the Iranian dialect of Persian or the Afghan dialect. 

My community partner and I narrowed down our goals for this semester to the following tasks. The first goal is to write discussion posts analyzing and reflecting on the readings. The second goal is to get accustomed to type in Persian using the keyboard and the computer. The third goal is to become comfortable when reading text that is written in the Iranian Persian dialect. The fourth goal is to converse and deliver presentations in Persian in a formal manner. Lastly, through this course, we hope to expand our knowledge on the history of Dari and Farsi by exploring and engaging in cultural activities such as listening to Persian songs, watching videos and reading poetry. 

The strategies that we used during the first week was mainly through reading and conversing. I read a few articles and discussion posts on the death of Qasim Suleimani, the Iranian general who was killed by the US. We used articles both published by foreign news agencies such as BBC Persia but also Tolo News and Iranian news stations. We also watched interviews conducted in Persian related to this topic. Some of the other resources that we used were Persian posts on Instagram where I read the comments of those who had written in response to the post.  For homework, I spend a couple of hours reading in Persian and writing short reflections on what I read. Furthermore, I spend about two hours watching the Afghan Star singing competition which demonstrates a cultural aspect of learning the language. While watching these videos, I paid attention to how people interact with each other and how sentence phrases break certain rules when sang in a song. 

I found out that reading out loud was a very effective strategy. I learned that I found it easier to read the Afghan Persian dialect compared to the Iranian Persian dialect. As similar as Dari and Farsi are to each other, the way words are structured makes a difference in how you pronounce those words. When reading in the Iranian Persian dialect, I understood what I was reading but it was much slower than when I was reading in Dari. I found myself more comfortable wanting to read news articles in Dari and discussing them in Dari rather than Farsi. My language partner and I decided that going forward, we will use both dialects so I can become comfortable with both. Also, watching videos in the language helped me to be mindful of the way words are pronounced in these two different dialects. Furthermore, paying attention to the words in the songs that were sung on the Afghan Star, I realized that if certain phrases were taken out of those songs, they would not make much sense. This is an area that I will continue to pay attention to going forward. 

Overall, during this first week, I realized that I am more comfortable with the Afghan Persian dialect and find it uncomfortable speaking int the Iranian Perian dialect. I hope that by the end of the semester, I will feel more comfortable to speak in both of these dialects. I will continue to build on the Persian language by engaging in more complex reading materials such as poems and historical artifacts. I will also continue to work on my Farsi dialect by listening to more videos and audios in Iranian Persian.

At a very young age, I was required to learn how to read Arabic. Learning how to read Arabic was not to speak the language but rather to read and rehearse verses from the Quran. I would spend at least three hours each day going to the masjid where I was thought by a sheikh Quranic suras (verse). The sheikh would read a phrase out loud, and I would repeat after him. Once we got to the bottom of the verse, I had to take about 30 minutes repeating what I had just learned out loud. At the end of the class, I was asked to read the sura out loud to the sheikh. He would correct the phrases that I would say wrong. My homework for the next day was to have the whole verse memorized by heart. So once, I got home, I would take an hour or so to memorize the verse by repeating it to myself out loud. I would continue repeating the verse before sleep and the first thing when I woke up. What I enjoyed about this method of teaching was the requirement for repetition. As much as I disliked memorizing the verses at that time, it made me a better learner. Today, I find it easy to remember information without too much effort. What I disliked about this method of teaching was that I was not taught to learn the meaning of the verses. To this day, I can read and write Arabic, but I find it challenging to understand the language. The interesting part is that I still remember those Quranic verses that I had learned when I was young.

On the other hand, when I started learning English, I was put in an environment where everyone spoke English but for me. I knew the basic greetings in English, but that was about it. I was about 12 years old when I started going to an international school where the primary language was English. I did not speak to my teacher or classmates for about two months. I found it intimidating to speak in another language. During those two first months, I learned how to write by copying other people's homework. I tried reading books but found it too difficult due to having the reading level of an American 1st grader when I was actually in 5th grade. However, after those two months, I committed myself to start conversing in English. While my grammar and sentences were out of order and awkward, hearing myself gave me the confidence that I needed to keep working on my speaking ability. In two years, I was able to bring up my reading level and do well academically. What I enjoyed the most about this experience was the pressure to speak English because other languages were not allowed to be expressed at the school. I think being surrounded by native and fluent English speakers helped me to pick up on phrases and learn the language quickly. What I did not like about this experience was learning grammar. Every time the topic was on grammar, I would get super stressed and would not enjoy the language at all.

Based on the Fire model, I am an evaluative learner. I excel when I am required to share a personal story or experience in class. I also like hearing other people's thoughts and opinions about the matter being discussed. I always find myself learning from other people and enjoy small group discussions. Based on the surveys I took, my learning style is visual. I like imagining what a word means and then memorizing it. When I don't know how to spell a word, I usually find myself closing my eyes and tracing the letters with my finger. I also really like to see what I am learning. Just by hearing information, I don't do an excellent job of storing that information. I have to spend some time alone to visualize and repeat that information.

The kinds of language learning activities that suit my learning style include seeing images, hearing the words, understanding its meaning and repeating what I learn. As much as I enjoy collaborative work, I need to take time alone to excel in what I am learning because I take a lot of time memorizing new information. However, to be successful in retaining information, it would help to know its meaning. I also don't enjoy sitting in one place for a long time and need to incorporate some body movement within my learning experience. The movements can be as simple as tracing the letters in the air or taking a walk to reflect on what I have learned.

I think I can expand my learning activities by keeping a journal solely dedicated to the language I am learning. In this journal, I can reflect on the language that I am learning by taking the time to write down about my day. I can also spend some time reading news articles in my language and discuss the topic with my instructor. I think having the opportunity to explain to another individual about what I read would help me to retain the information better and longer. Furthermore, learning how to type in that language on the computer would also help me memorize words, learn the grammar and be able to write short discussion reflections. Lastly, reading poetry in that language would also be fun and helpful because I love poetry.