SDLC 111: Bi-Weekly Report 2 (Weeks 3 & 4)

[Pamir Niaz]

While weeks one and two of the semester allowed me to review what I learned in SDLC 110 and catch up on some of the things I might have lost effectiveness in over the summer, I was excited to begin learning new material. Weeks three and four were split creating / structuring sentences and reading / listening comprehension, respectively. Mirwais (the FLTA for the course) used week three to gauge everyone's ability to read and write; given their prior experience coming into the course. One activity we did was practice writing sentences in Dari that Mirwais said in Dari. Building upon the meetings from week three, week four was spent on comprehension. As a result, we read--or at least attempted to--read sentences in Dari and then summarize (in Dari) what the sentences meant. To aid our language learning, and add a different perspective, Mirwais had us watch the pilot for a popular Afghan drama / soap-opera called  "Raaz Hai Een Khana;" which translates into "The Secrets of this House." The episode was just under ten minutes and Mirwais had tasked us with trying to listen intently to the show's dialogue and then (i) provide a brief synopsis of the episode and (ii) note any words we were not familiar with. I thought this was a great task since it not only was designed to improve our ability with the language, but also provided a level of exposure to Afghan culture since the "Raaz Hai Een Khana" is arguably the most popular show in Afghanistan.