Note: For a longer version see the e-mail I sent with my cultural project.After reviewing the videotype of my monologue with Chelsea, several thoughts pop up. First off, overall, I am fairly satisfied with how I sounded and with what I was able to say. I chose to speak in Farsi, rather than Dari, because I am still more comfortable with it. I felt as if I sounded somewhat fluent, but at the same time I am disappointed in how much I was able to say, and how quickly I could say things without having to think about them.One of my strengths is that I feel comfortable speaking the language, and do not get embarrassed if I mess up or forget something. This was key in learning Swahili, and I think will be helpful as I continue my pursuit of learning Farsi. I also thought this was reflected on the video, as I looked pretty comfortable and confidant.So, overall, I am happy with the way I sound, but would have liked to say more on a larger variety of topics in this video. Please see my longer self-evaluation for my thoughts on the course overall. ThanksWill
Read more…
This is a description of a picture of my mom and I. I submitted it in an e-mail but am finally posting it.Ism man Will hast. Man az Boston hastam. Man beastoyik sal am. Farsi, Swahili, vav ingliz baladam. Man daneshju hastam. Man coat shalvar pooshidam. Eeshan madare man hast.Ismish Marilyn ast. Madaram baz neshaste ast. Un panjah vav shish sal ash. Ingliz baladad.Artifact 2:This artifact was posted on Taylor Napier-Runnels blog and can be found there.Artifact 3: This artifact is a short description of Kabul.Kabul – Man az Boston hastam. Hala man dar Kabul zindagi mekonam. Man Kabul ra dost doram. Kabul markaz Afghanitan hast wa buzurghtareen shahar dar Afghanistan hast. Dar Kabul mardam Dari sohbat mekonand. Kabul koh hai ziad darad. Hundu Kush yaki az koh hai mashHoor Kabul hast. Darya-i-Kabul ziba hast.
Read more…
Posted by Will Cragin on April 14, 2009 at 11:30am
Week 9 goals – My goals for this week are simply to learn more about Dari, the differences between the two languages, and how best to go about the transition from studying Farsi to Dari. I will then adjust my lesson plans to go on from there.Week 9 Review: The transition from Farsi to Dari has been a little easier than I imagined. The hardest part is that because the differences are not great, its easier for me to slip back to Farsi without thinking, simply because that is what I have been studying for the last 8 weeks. However, working with Muska has helped a lot, especially because it is one on one. I think I learn much better when its one on one rather than in a small group.Resources - BBC Farsi, Farsi Textbook, Class notes, handouts, EasyPersian, language partner for speaking practice, and a new Blog in Dari that I have begun to follow.Week 10 Goals: This week I will continue to study Dari and try and practice over and over so as to re-enforce the subtle differences in the two languages. I also plan on watching youtube vidoes, in both Persian and Farsi, in order to be able to listen to the difference in accents in the two languages.Week 10 Review: Overall, I continue to see progress in the transition from Farsi to Dari. I also had a long conversation with Muska about culture in Afghanistan, and I am beginning to see how the difference in culture is reflected in the difference in dialect.Resources - BBC Farsi, Farsi Textbook, Class notes, handouts, EasyPersian, language partner for speaking practice, Hamesh blog.Week 11 Goals: This week I will begin to shift my focus to the cultural project, which I am doing on Farsi and Dari. I plan on seeking out people from Iran and Afghanistan to interview, conducting an initial literature review, and trying to get an overall sense of where this project needs to go. I will also continue to practice Dari with Muska, and hope to add 10 new vocabulary words to use.Week 11 Review: This week went well overall. However, after beginning my interviews and literature review on the Dari versus Farsi subject, I realized that it might be a little to ambitious for both my skill-set and the small time period I am working with. So, I have decided to change the topic of my cultural project to Kabul. I am interested in looking at the historical, political, and social dynamics that have made Kabul what it is today. Otherwise, I reached my goals of learning 10 new vocabulary words and have continued to adjust to Dari after spending most of my semester doing Farsi.Resources - BBC Farsi, Farsi Textbook, Class notes, handouts, EasyPersian, language partner for speaking practice, Hamesh blog, you tube videos.Week 12 Goals: This week I will focus on my cultural project and begin preparing for the exam. I am not going to attempt to study much new material, instead I am going to make sure that everything I have learned this semester is still there. I also want to continue to practice speaking with Muska, which has been very helpful in my language study so far. I am also going to work more on my portfolio and make sure it is complete.
Read more…
Week 5 Review – This past week I accomplished all of my goals. I learned basic clothes, present tense, possessives, and basic sentence structure. I also spent more time reviewing the alphabet and listening to BBC. We continued to plan the trip to Iran in May, and we already have found an American professor willing to take us there, and are now working out the prices, dates, etc.Resources - Resources - BBC Farsi, Farsi Textbook, Class notes, handouts, EasyPersian, language partner for speaking practice.Week 6 Goals – This week I would like to learn 5 more adjectives and 5 more verbs. I would then like to put those to use by attempting to construct simple sentences. I am also planning on continuing to listen and to practice writing Farsi script. Most importantly, I want to review the first five weeks of material, as I feel like we are going to fast without actually learning everything.Resources - Resources - BBC Farsi, Farsi Textbook, Class notes, handouts, EasyPersian, language partner for speaking practice.Week 6 Review – This week I think I did well accomplishing my objectives. I have realized that it is more important to go at a slower pace and really understand everything, rather than setting ambitious objectives that make one feel rushed and overwhelmed. I was able to learn 5 new adjectives and verbs, and constructed a few simple sentences.Resources - Resources - BBC Farsi, Farsi Textbook, Class notes, handouts, EasyPersian, language partner for speaking practice.Week 7 Objectives – My major goal for week 7 is to begin to look at past and future tenses. I would like to be able to construct sentences with adjectives and verbs I am already familiar with in the past, present, and future. I think this will give me a good understanding about how the different tenses work, and lay a foundation for delving further into the study of different tenses. I will continue to review weeks 1-6 as well.Resources - Resources - BBC Farsi, Farsi Textbook, Class notes, handouts, EasyPersian, language partner for speaking practice.Week 7 Review – This week went well, although it is certainly more challenging than I thought trying to figure out past and future. This is because the verb changes drastically depending on the tense – there is no simply way to think about it. However, I did manage to put together a few sentences and am beginning to understand how it works.Resources - Resources - BBC Farsi, Farsi Textbook, Class notes, handouts, EasyPersian, language partner for speaking practice.Week 8 objectives – This week I would like to learn 5 more verbs, but mainly focus on getting a better understanding and more practice with past and future tenses. I will also continue to focus on reviewing, something I believe I need to make more of a priority. One of the best lessons learned from studying Swahili was that it is essential to keep reviewing everything, otherwise as you learn more you end up forgetting the things you already learned.Resources - Resources - BBC Farsi, Farsi Textbook, Class notes, handouts, EasyPersian, language partner for speaking practice.Week 8 review – This week I definitely made progress on past and future tenses. However, my understanding is still limited and my array of verbs I can conjugate is small. I also found out that I got through the first round of a job interview process to work in Afghanistan. This has led me to the desire to switch my focus of study to Dari. I will be meeting with Muska, an Afghan student, for drill sessions now.Resources - Resources - BBC Farsi, Farsi Textbook, Class notes, handouts, EasyPersian, language partner for speaking practice.Week 9 goals – My goals for this week are simply to learn more about Dari, the differences between the two languages, and how best to go about the transition from studying Farsi to Dari. I will then adjust my lesson plans to go on from there.
Read more…
Posted by Will Cragin on February 24, 2009 at 7:08pm
Week 4 Review - This past week I succeeded in reaching most of my goals. However, I did not learn numbers 20-100. I did however learn 5 new verbs, 5 new adjectives, fruits, and continued to review the alphabet. The highlight of the week was when Mona's mom came into class on Tuesday. She is a professor and was informative in answering our questions about Iran. She spoke at length about the Iranian revolution, what the anniversary means for Iranians, and how most Iranians view Americans and our policies to Iran. It was quite fascinating and gave me good insight into false notions of Iranian society that are widespread throughout American media.Resources - BBC Farsi, Farsi Textbook, Class notes, handouts, EasyPersian, language partner for speaking practice.Week 5 goals - This week I would like to continue to review the alphabet, learn basic clothes, weather, a few more verbs in present tense, possessives, and basic sentence structure. I am also going to be looking into a potential trip to Iran in May with our drill instructor, which hopefully will give me more motivation to study Farsi. I will also continue to listen to BBC Farsi and attempt to read sentences of articles to gauge my progress in reading Farsi script.Resources - BBC Farsi, Farsi Textbook, Class notes, handouts, EasyPersian, language partner for speaking practice.
Read more…
Posted by Will Cragin on February 17, 2009 at 10:00pm
Semester Goals – By the end of the semester I would like to…- Be able to recognize Farsi characters and read Farsi words.- Greet people and say goodbye to them.- Introduce myself to others and understand their responses and questions.- Be able to ask about different goods – fruit, food, clothes – at a market in Tehran, Iran, and be able to understand their response.- Know basic grammar structure – pronouns, conjugations, negatives, and sentence structure.- I want to be able to read a menu and order from it.- I want to be able to ask Iranians what they think about Americans.Long Term GoalsMy long term goals are to be able to communicate effectively with native speakers of Farsi and Dari. I hope to one day work in a Farsi speaking area, and being able to communicate with the people there would greatly help my work. It is therefore not necessary to be able to read Farsi at an academic level, as I am far more interested in using it colloquially. I have always been fascinated in learning about other peoples and cultures, and in my mind the first step towards any understanding among people of different backgrounds is to be able to speak the same language.
Read more…
Posted by Will Cragin on February 17, 2009 at 5:22pm
Week 3 Review -This past week I continued to study Farsi script, and am gaining more confidence as the weeks progress. My reaction time is quicker and I feel more confident. While I did not learn months yet, I was able to learn pronouns, prepositions, family vocabulary, more question words, and some practical conversation about malls. Mona, our drill instructor, brought a friend in who goes to Sargent Reynolds community college in Richmond. He is from Iran, and has been in the US for the year. He answered questions about Iran, things about nightlife and social life for college students, ways of dress and different styles, and about family relations. It was very interesting. I also spent a fair amount of time practicing basic conversation and introduction skills with another Farsi student, which was extremely helpful.Week 4 - This week I would like to learn numbers, 20-100, 5 new verbs, 5 new adjectives, and fruits. In addition, I would like to continue reviewing the Alphabet and getting more comfortable reading script. I also plan on continue to practice Farsi conversation with another Farsi student twice a week. Not only will this reinforce vocab and phrases learned, but it will allow me to be more comfortable both speaking and listening to the language.Resources - BBC Farsi, Farsi Textbook, Class notes, handouts, EasyPersian, language partner for speaking practice.
Read more…
Posted by Will Cragin on February 11, 2009 at 7:27pm
Week 1 – This week, my first week of studying Persian, I plan on focusing almost solely on learning the alphabet. The rest of the students in my drill section have either studied Arabic or already learned the alphabet, so I feel it’s crucial that I get this down as soon as possible. My goal is simply to learn each character as it stands on its own. I also plan on being able to say hello, how are you, and answer accordingly, as well as counting from 1-10.Resources – I plan on using the handouts that Mona passed out in class, as well as the easypersian.com website for further reference. I will also use BYKI to help with greetings.Reflection - This week I learned the alphabet, and am pretty confident that I can recognize each letter as it stands on its own. The problem is, characters change form depending on whether they are at the beginning, middle, or end of the word, meaning that reading is still a big problem. I am able to say hello, how are you, and answer I am good, and am able to count from 1-10 now as well.Week 2 – This week my main goal is to be able to learn the characters in their different forms, and hopefully begin to be able to read some words. After that, I would like to learn numbers 11-20, and expand on my greetings. I would like to be able to ask what someone’s name is, where they are from, and say goodbye.Resources – Handouts, EasyPersian, Farsi textbook, and BBC Farsi website.Reflection - This week I learned more than I expected. I made solid progress on being able to read Persian script, although I am certainly far from being able to read it well. I am now able to ask where someone is from, what their name is, and answer those two questions as well. I also learned days of the week, some colors, time, and how to say goodbye. In addition, I have begun listening to BBC Farsi daily just to get a feel for how the language sounds.Week 3 – This week my major goal again is to continue to gain familiarity with reading Farsi script. In addition to that, I would like to learn months, pronouns, and prepositions, family vocabulary, question words, and review time.Resources – Handouts, Farsi Textbook, Drill session notes, BBC Farsi website, and easypersian.com
Read more…
