Goals and Objectives for this semester as well as Long-term (REVISED FROM 1/26/09)

[Sayed]

Semester Goals and Objectives:My first draft on 1/26/09 encompassed many goals and objectives that I don’t believe was very realistic for a semester’s length of time although they were perfect for a more long-term based approach. With that said, I still plan on just focusing on my oral skills because I believe they will have the most practical use for me and I find it a lot more interesting. My two primary areas of focus were one, Persian jokes, riddles, satire, sarcasm, etc. and two, improving my child-like accent into a more adult sounding form while increasing my vocabulary.I decided to focus on forms of Persian comedy because from my experience, if a person can feel comfortable making others laugh or understanding other people’s jokes that are from a different culture than yours, it’s one of the fastest and safest ways to form a connection with that person and consequently use it as a springboard for further learning and development. Many times in the past I felt ostracized from Persian gatherings and events because I did not understand or appropriately react to various forms of comedy for various reasons, which really prevented me from forming bonds with those people and hence increasing my progress in understanding their community. Being able to understand and relay jokes is one of most important social tools a person can have in a foreign environment and I believe if I can improve on this area it will escalate other need areas for me long-term in the language.Secondly, I wanted to focus on this semester on improving my accent in the language. Due to the fact that my language instructor and the Dari community overall in this country use a Kabuli dialect, I wanted to gradually shed my Khandari accent and adopt a more Kabuli tongue so to speak. I also have been told in the past that my accent was akin to a 5 or 6 year old kid but with a very deep voice, and therefore developing a more mature and confident accent was important for me. I know I might never if at all get rid of my accent completely, but I do want to improve upon it and set myself up for further improvement in the future.Future Goals and ObjectivesBe able to follow very complex and lengthy forms of comedy, ie. >1 min as I discussed in my blogs.Recognizing when to match voice level and intonation to a variety of situationsUsing correct grammatical structure for a variety of purposesIncreasing knowledge of proverbs and fablesDeveloping a faster pace in my daily conversationsStart having more dreams in Farsi, because it is said that dreaming in a language is one of the first signs of comfortLess reliance on physical gestures to communicate what I am trying to say