Swahili 1A (AFRI11001)
The University of Edinburgh
School of Social and Political Science
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Welcome to Swahili 1A
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1.1. Aims
3
1.2. Objectives
3
2. A Brief History of Swahili
3
3. Course Regulations and Procedures
4
3.1. Communication
4
3.2. Course Format
4
3.3. Time and Place
5
3.4. Course Team
5
3.5. Guidance and Feedback Hours
6
3.6. Workload Management and Extra Support
6
4. Curriculum at a Glance
7
5. Assessment
9
5.1. Returning Grades and Feedback
9
5.2. Course Marking System
9
5.3. Important: The 15% Realignment
9
5.4. Advice and Guidance
9
6. Course Materials
10
7. Extra Materials
10
8. Student Representation
11
Appendix A: Signing up for Tutorial and Conversation Classes on Learn
12
Appendix B: Oral Examination Sample Mark Scheme
13
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1. Welcome to Swahili 1A
First of all, welcome (Karibu!) to the third incarnation of our beginners’ postgraduate Swahili course – Swahili
1A. We are very excited to have you on board and we hope that the next semester will be enjoyable,
challenging and effective for you.
We strongly believe that learning Swahili should be considered a crucial step for anyone seeking to travel to
East Africa for research, work or travel, as even a rudimentary knowledge of the language will enable you to
engage positively with those from the region, better understand your environment and acquire a more
grassroots perspective on local and global issues. Learning a language so different from those generally
taught in the higher education system can also help you stand out to potential employers and demonstrate
your open-mindedness and willingness to try new experiences outside your comfort zone.
Please also note that taking Swahili 1A does not mean that you have to take Swahili 1B in the second
semester. While we hope that you wish choose to continue, there is no pressure to do so.
1.1. Aims
Swahili 1A has been designed to provide you with a contemporary, interactive, stimulating and effective
introduction to both the Swahili language, which is the most international and widely-spoken of all the
indigenous languages on the African continent, and various aspects of modern and traditional East African
culture. Thus, you will not just be taking the first steps to speaking and understanding a new language, but
you will also be introduced to some of the people and the social and cultural conditions that continue to
shape the development of the language and the East Africa region to this day. The course also aims to be
challenging, stimulating and interactive, providing you with ample opportunity for practice in speaking,
reading, writing and listening.
1.2. Objectives
By the end of the course, you should be comfortable interacting in Swahili in a variety of everyday situations
and will have a solid understanding of around 400 - 500 items of vocabulary, the key tenses and majority of
the noun class system. They will also have been introduced to several elements of Swahili culture and will
have discussed the lives of several important individuals in East African history. Completion of Swahili 1A will
qualify you to continue onto Swahili 1B (semester two) should you wish to do so.
2. A Brief History of Swahili
Swahili is better known as Kiswahili and is spoken by between 60-100 million people in several states of
eastern and central Africa. It is most prevalent in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, where it is a national
language, but is also spoken in parts of Rwanda, Somalia, Zambia, Burundi and the Comoros.
The standardised form of the language stems from the Zanzibar dialect, Kiunguja, but there are a number
of dialects of the languages that differ from this to varying degrees. Standard Swahili is an excellent starting
point to the language though, and the number of people who speak this as a first or primary language is
increasing rapidly, especially in urban areas.
Swahili is a Bantu language, of which there are hundreds, such as Shona and Zulu. It began to spread in the
9th and 10th centuries, through the development of Indian Ocean shipping and trade, from what we would
now consider northern Kenya southwards along the coast through modern day Kenya, Tanzania, the
Comorros Islands and Mozambique.
The second significant expansion of the language occurred in the 19th century, when trade routes were
developed into the East African interior. This is when Swahili firmly became a language of wider
communication – stretching as far as the upper Congo Basin. In particular, Christian missionaries (Krapf –
Germany and Steere - Britain) utilised it to spread religion. This led to the production of dictionaries and
grammar books. The Germans decided to use the language for their administration – converting the script
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from Arab to Roman in the process. Under the British after WW1, Swahili became used as a medium of
instruction in primary schools and the Kiunguja form of the language was standardised.
Following independence, Swahili became the national language of Tanzania and a key tool of Mwalimu Julius
Nyerere in promoting national unity, as well as an official language in Kenya. Recently, the Ugandan
Government has instructed all citizens to learn Swahili to aid integration into the East African Community.
Swahili is an excellent example of a contact language – from the 10th century to the present day Swahili
society has come into contact with a number of different languages and cultures, all of which have left some
visible effects on its lexicon.
According to research performed by a number of scholars, such as Bertoncini, Nurse, Hinnebusch and Lodhi,
around forty percent of its current vocabulary can be considered of non-Bantu origin. For obvious reasons,
most of the earlier non-Bantu borrowings in Swahili are from Persian and Arabic (the largest mother tongue
in Africa) Most of the recent loanwords in Swahili, however, are from English, especially in the fields of
modern education, science and technology, sports and modern entertainment. Lesser contributors to the
Swahili lexicon include Persian, Gujarati, Hindi, Portuguese, Turkish and German.
3. Course Regulations and Procedures
Swahili is part of the School of Social and Political Science. Therefore, you should read this booklet in
conjunction with the Social and Political Science Student Handbook as all the regulations detailed there apply
to this course.
3.1. Communication
During the course of the semester, all-important information for the class will be announced both on Learn
and the group Facebook page (see 3.5.). You should also remember to check your university email accounts
on a regular basis as staff may use this to contact you about course matters.
3.2. Course Format
The course will be delivered through a series of:
Interactive Lectures
The 2-hour interactive lecture introduces new vocabulary and grammar. The interactive element of each
lecture will see students working in groups to perform various exercises set by the tutor. The subsequent
practice and discussion stimulated by these exercises will encourage a deeper understanding of newer
concepts and help highlight and explain common errors.
Tutorials
The 1-hour tutorials are aimed at further developing the knowledge gained during the 2-hour interactive
lecture through the usage of the various exercises, reading materials and audio/visual recordings. This
enables students to solidify their understanding of new concepts through practice and discussion and allows
the tutor to expand on relevant East African themes, which should serve to make the language more
stimulating and relevant. The maximum group size for these tutorials is 10 people, and so every student will
have the opportunity (and will be expected) to practice and contribute.
Weekly conversation classes
These allow students to interact with native speakers of the language in an informal setting and in smaller
groups. These sessions will again have a maximum of ten students per session and will focus on a theme set
at the start of the week. Edinburgh boasts only a small East African community, meaning that these lessons
should be considered crucial in gaining speaking and listening practice and understanding socio-linguistic
norms.
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Fortnightly Progress Test
These reinforce the material taught in the two previous weeks and help ensure that you remain up-to-date
with the vocabulary and grammar necessary to succeed in the course. Feedback and evidence from the
previous two years showed that those students who kept up to date with these examinations were able to
progress very quickly and also found their workload significantly reduced at the end of term.
OPTIONAL language exchanges
New for this year, we have also organised a weekly free and optional two-hour language exchange, which
will enable students to converse with native speakers in a more relaxed setting. These sessions will also be
open to undergraduate students of Swahili, so you will also have the chance to meet others interested in the
language or the East African region. Further details will be provided in class.
3.3. Time and Place
Core lecture
Mondays 1610-1800: SR3, Minto House.
Tutorial
Wednesday 1000-1050: SR2, 15 Buccleuch Place
Conversation Class
Group One: Friday 0900-0950: 2.27 Meeting/Tutorial Room - Doorway 4, Medical School, Teviot
Group Two: Friday 1000 -1050: 2.27 Meeting/Tutorial Room - Doorway 4, Medical School, Teviot
Group Three: Friday 1110-1200: 2.27 Meeting/Tutorial Room - Doorway 4, Medical School, Teviot
Fortnightly Progress Test
Mondays (weeks 3, 5, 7, 9 & 11) 11.00-12.00: SR3, Minto House.
See below for summary of examinations:
Exam One:
05/10/2015
Exam will cover all material from weeks one and two.
Exam Two:
19/10/2015
Exam will cover all material from weeks three and four.
Exam Three:
02/11/2015
Exam will cover all material from weeks five and six.
Exam Four:
16/11/2015
Exam will cover all material from weeks seven and eight.
Exam Five:
30/11/2015
Exam will cover all material from weeks nine and ten.
Please note that for your final grade we will take the best three results out of all five examinations.
3.4. Course Team
Swahili Teaching Fellow: Stephen Kaye
Email:
[email protected]
Office:
4.13, Chrystal Macmillan Building
Twitter:
@Mwalimu_Ed
Facebook: Mwalimu Ed
Guidance and Feedback Hours: Thursday 1300 – 1500 or by appointment
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Swahili Language Assistant: Albert Mkony
Email:
[email protected]
Tel:
07900 991568
Course Organiserr: Dr Thomas Molony
Email:
[email protected]
Office:
4.05, Chrystal Macmillan Building
Tel:
+44 (0)131 650 6976
Guidance and Feedback Hours: Thursdays 1400 - 1600
Course Secretary: Jessica Barton
Email:
[email protected]
Office:
1.19 Chrystal Macmillan Building
Tel:
+44 (0)131 6515066
External Examiner
The external examiner for this course for the 2015/16 academic year is Claire Mercer, from the University
of Cambridge.
3.5. Guidance and Feedback Hours
Each week during the teaching term your teachers and course organiser will hold ‘guidance and feedback’
hours in their office. Students are welcome to drop by if they wish to discuss academic matters such as the
content of the lectures or literature (details for each lecturer below). The details of the guidance and
feedback hours for Stephen Kaye and Thomas Molony can be found above. Meetings outside of these times
may be possible with prior arrangement.
3.6. Workload Management and Extra Support
The Swahili 1A course is meant to be an intensive and involved course that will help students advance quickly
in a short space of time. As such, students may well feel overwhelmed at times with the workload required
of them. Should this be the case, please feel free to contact the main teacher (Stephen) at any time and he
will do his best to assist and support you.
In addition, for those familiar with the use of social media, Swahili at the University of Edinburgh now has
fledgling Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Follow @Mwalimu_Ed on Twitter for access to out of hours support and the possibility of discovering and
interacting with other Swahili enthusiasts and native speakers.
Facebook users can join the group “Swahili at the University of Edinburgh”, where the can also
communicate with previous students to get advice and assistance on anything from Swahili to researching
in East Africa.
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There are also three further ways that you can obtain extra support and practice with Swahili outside of the
classroom:
Optional Language Exchanges (also covered in section 3.2)
These free and optional sessions will allow undergraduate and postgraduate students of Swahili to come
together with native speakers and practice conversation in an informal environment. More information
about these two-hour sessions will be provided in class.
Private Tuition
Should students wish to practice Swahili further outside the classroom in one-to-one or small group basis,
we have reached an agreement with two native Swahili speakers to provide lessons for a cost of £10 per
hour. Contact details are as follows:
Albert Mkony:
07900 991568
Esther Buyamba:
[email protected]
Fred Longino:
07940 783620
Swahili Society
The University also has a Swahili Society that organises weekly beginner’s lessons, conversation practice and
East Africa-related events. For more information, please search for “Edinburgh Swahili Club” on Facebook.
4. Curriculum at a Glance
The following is the planned outline of the Swahili 1A course. Please do note however that some changes
may occur as the semester progresses.
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Week
Vocabulary and Grammar
Themes
1
Personal and possessive pronouns
Introduction to the Swahili verb
Basic key phrases
The importance of Swahili greetings and introductions
Family members
2
Swahili verb formation: present, past and future
To have & to be
Basic question words
Food and drinks
Shopping & markets
3
Negating Swahili verbs in the present, past and future
Swahili numbers, days and time
Telling the time
Planning your day in Swahili
4
Counting to 100,000
Months and years
Counties and nationalities
Methods of transport
East African transport
The life of a matatu driver
When were you born?
Buying a sim card in East Africa
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Introduction to Swahili noun classes
Introduction to adjectives & object markers
Nouns of class 1 & 2
People & professions
Describing people
Remembering Margaret Kumbuka
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Nouns of class 3 & 4
Possessives
Mount Kilimanjaro Tree Planting Project
Who was Wangari Maathai?
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Nouns of class 5 & 6
The -ji- reflexive
Some prepositions
The origins of Swahili words
BAKITA: The gatekeepers of the Swahili language
Swahili poetry: meet Haji Gora Haji
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Nouns of class 7 & 8
The habitual tense
Colours and more adjectives
Going to the barbers (kinyozi)
The historical and contemporary importance of Kangas
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Nouns of class 9 & 10
Demonstratives
The perfect tense
An East African Festival: Sauti za Busara (below)
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The negative perfect tense & bado
Before and after
Simple comparisons
East African music: Remembering Bi Kidude
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Noun class and tense review
Planning your trip to East Africa
Weather, illness and medicine
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5. Assessment
Swahili 1A is assessed in a variety of ways, which each reflect the different skills you will need to master
when learning a language. The breakdown of the assessments roughly reflect the amount of time you will
be expected to spend on each component, as well as the relative amount of practice you will receive in each.
The final mark for the course will be made up as follows:
40%: 2-hour end-of-semester written examination
30%: The average of the best three fortnightly progress tests
15%: 10-minute end-of-semester oral examination
15%: 1-hour end-of-semester listening examination
We will seek to confirm exam dates in the first few weeks of the semester, and these are likely to be within
two weeks of the completion of the course.
5.1. Returning Grades & Feedback
Fortnightly progress tests will be marked and returned to you for the following tutorial, where there will also
be the opportunity to receive general and personal feedback and to go over any items causing particular
difficulty. The three end-of-semester examinations will be marked and returned within fifteen working days
of submission. This time is needed for marking, moderation, and input of results. If there are any
unanticipated delays, it is the course organiser’s responsibility to inform you of the reasons.
5.2. Course Marking System
The Swahili examinations for this course are marked according to a scheme devised by the main teacher,
which usually divides correct answers into smaller sub-sections. This means that an incorrect answer can still
obtain points if it contains some correct elements. Therefore, it is important to always try and answer a
question, even if you feel that your answer will be incorrect, poor or messy. Language learning at an early
stage is rarely about achieving perfection, and is more about trying to communicate the best you can with
the tools you have available.
5.3. Important: The 15% Realignment
Theoretically, one can achieve very close to 100% in language assessment for this course. Consequently,
there is a risk that the grades for Swahili are disproportionately higher than grades for the other courses
offered in the Graduate School of Social and Political Science (GSSPS). This then means that students who
take Swahili are at an advantage in achieving a distinction in their overall degree. After discussion with The
Head of the Graduate School and with consideration of the GSSPS marking indicators, it has been decided
that a realignment of 15% (a 15% reduction) will be applied to all grades achieved for the course, with the
exception of the oral examination, which will be subject to a realignment of 12%. This system has been in
place for two years already and still produces an accurate spread of results – with last year five of the ten
students achieving over 70%
5.4. Advice and Guidance
Every student on the course will have the opportunity to attend a revision workshop towards the end of the
semester, in which they will be able to ask questions relating to the exams or to material which they find
challenging. In addition, time will also be allocated at the end of the semester for undertaking mock written,
listening and oral examinations, so that you will be able to familiarise yourself with the formats and our
expectations beforehand.
6. Course Materials
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This course requires few specialist materials and much of what you may need will be available in the main
library. The essential reading for the course will be the textbook and workbook created by the teacher. These
can be purchased for a non-for-profit price (to be confirmed) in the first week of the course. Should you not
wish to purchase either book, each will be made available free in PDF form on Learn.
Other course materials that will prove useful are listed below. Purchasing these is entirely optional and
limited copies of each are available in the main library.
Simplified Swahili. Wilson, Peter M. 1985. Longman.
TUKI. English-Swahili Dictionary / Kamusi ya Kiingereza-Kiswahili. Dar es Salaam: Institute of Kiswahili
Research / Taasisi ya Uchunguzi wa Kiswahili
TUKI. Kamusi ya Kiswahili-Kiingereza / Swahili-English Dictionary. Dar es Salaam: Institute of Kiswahili
Research / Taasisi ya Uchunguzi wa Kiswahili.
7. Extra Materials
There are a limited, but useful, number of Swahili resources available online. A selection of these has been
listed below.
University of Virginia Swahili Website: http://faculty.virginia.edu/swahililanguage/
Contains a selection of audio recordings, grammar summaries and reading materials.
University of Kansas Swahili Website: http://www2.ku.edu/~kiswahili/
Contains a wide range of Swahili vocabulary and grammar sheets, separated by theme.
BBC Swahili: http://www.bbc.com/swahili
The Swahili language version of the BBC Website. The language here will be much too advanced for a
beginners’ course, but you may find it useful to listen to their short daily radio bulletins to get used to hearing
spoken Swahili.
Mwananchi Newspaper: http://www.mwananchi.co.tz
Arguably Tanzania’s most respected Swahili-language newspaper. Inevitably the vocabulary will be too
advanced at this point, but definitely a good bookmark for the future.
Verbix Swahili Language Verb Conjugator: http://www.verbix.com/languages/swahili.shtml
A useful tool to help you conjugate Swahili verbs in different tenses.
Kamusi Living Swahili Dictionary: http://kamusi.org
Perhaps the most in depth online Swahili dictionary. At the time of writing the site was down for
maintenance, but it hopefully should be ready for the beginning of term. Do always ensure that you double
check words translated from online dictionaries before using them in homework.
Kiswahili.net: http://www.kiswahili.net
Contains Swahili word games and puzzles.
KIKO: http://www.africa.uga.edu/Kiswahili/doe/
An online Swahili course which contains a wide range of audio and visual materials. Excellent for practicing
listening in your own time. It also contains a useful pronunciation section.
East African Tube: http://www.eastafricantube.com
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A great resource for Swahili language music, films and series!
Tanzania Edinburgh Community Association: www.tzeca.org.uk
If you’re interested in meeting members of Edinburgh’s Tanzanian community, they will welcome you to
their Yahoo! Group and occasional events and meetings. Swahili fluency not required!
Jambo Grill: http://jambogrill.co.uk
Because learning Swahili is not all about studying. Jambo Grill is Edinburgh’s first Kenyan restaurant and
serves a wide variety of East African dishes. It is also one of the few places where you can get a cold Tusker
beer!
8. Student Representation
In the first tutorial, your tutorial group will elect a class representative, who will meet with the course
organiser once a semester to discuss any issues concerning the course. Any problems with the course should
first be raised with your tutor or with the course organiser, Thomas Molony. We will also ask you to fill in an
overall assessment form at the end of the course.
Appendix A: Signing up for Tutorial and Conversation Classes on Learn
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The following is a guide to using LEARN to sign up for your tutorial. If you have any problems using the Learn
sign up, please contact Jessica Barton ([email protected]; 1.19 Chrystal Macmillan Building; +44
(0)131 6515066)
Step 1 – Accessing Learn course pages
Access LEARN through the MyEd Portal. Once you are logged into MyEd, you should see a tab called ‘Courses’
which will list the active Learn pages for your courses under ‘myLearn’.
Step 2 – Welcome to Learn
Once you have clicked on the relevant course from the list, you will see the Contents page for that course.
This page will have icons for the different tools available on this page, including one called ‘Tutorial Sign Up’.
Please click on this icon.
Step 3 – Signing up for your tutorial
Clicking on the Tutorial Sign Up icon will take you to the sign up page where all the available tutorial groups
are listed along with any students who have already signed up.
Click on the ‘Sign up’ button next to the group that you wish to join. The Confirm Sign Up screen will be
displayed. Click ‘OK’ and you will be added to your chosen group.
IMPORTANT: If you change your mind after having chosen a tutorial you cannot go back and change it. You
will need to contact the course secretary who will be able to reassign you to another tutorial. Reassignments
will only be made in exceptional circumstances once tutorials are full.
Tutorials have restricted numbers and it is important to sign up as soon as possible. The tutorial sign up will
only be available until the end of Week 1 of the semester. If you have not yet signed up for a tutorial by this
time, please contact the course secretary as soon as possible.
Appendix B: Oral Examination Sample Mark Scheme
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The following should give a better idea of what the examiners will be looking for when assessing you during
your end-of-semester oral examination.
ORAL EXAMINATION
MARK SCHEME
LANGUAGE SECTION
FLUENCY
Marks for fluency are awarded based on the candidate’s ability to speak confidently and naturally, without long pauses,
excessive repetition and frequent self-correction. Allowances will be made for hesitation that is content-related.
Bands
Mark given
1-2
3-4
5-6
7-8
9-10
RESPONSE
Marks for response are awarded based on the candidate’s ability to understand quickly and easily the questions put to them
and respond accordingly. Given that some misunderstandings are inevitable at this level, higher marks are reserved for those
candidates able to deal with such a situation in Swahili until the misunderstanding has been resolved to their satisfaction.
Marks
Mark given
0-2
3-4
5-6
7-8
9-10
VOCABULARY
Marks for vocabulary are awarded based on the candidate’s ability to display a confident and varied knowledge of the
vocabulary required by the syllabus and distinguish easily between the singular/plural and regular/locative forms.
Marks
Mark given
0-2
3-4
5-6
7-8
9-10
GRAMMAR
Marks for grammar are awarded based on the candidate’s ability to correctly and confidently utilise a wide variety of
grammatical structures, including tenses (both affirmative and negative versions), demonstratives, possessives and adjectives.
High-scoring candidates will also be expected to accurately modify plural markers and agreements depending on noun class.
Marks
Mark given
0-2
3-4
5-6
7-8
9-10
PRONUNCIATION AND INTONATION
Marks for pronunciation and intonation are awarded based on the candidate’s ability to maintain correct pronunciation
throughout the examination. The evaluation of this will take into account the candidate’s success in stressing the penultimate
syllable, enunciating each vowel, avoiding the mispronunciation of consonant clusters and modifying intonation when asking a
question. Higher marks are reserved for candidates that are largely effortless to understand.
Marks
Mark given
0-2
3-4
5-6
7-8
9-10
CONTENT SECTION
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QUALITY & INTEREST
Marks for quality and interest are awarded based on the candidate’s ability to produce substantive responses able to continue
the conversation and elicit further questions from the examiners.
Bands
Mark given
0-3
4-6
7-9
10-12
13-15
RELEVANCE
Marks for fluency are awarded based on the candidate’s ability to produce answers directly relevant to the questions.
Bands
Mark given
0-3
4-6
7-9
10-12
13-15
DEVELOPMENT
Marks for fluency are awarded based on the candidate’s ability to develop responses fully and appropriately.
Bands
Mark given
0-2
3-4
5-6
7-8
9-10
EVIDENCE AND EXAMPLES
Marks for fluency are awarded based on the candidate’s ability to provide credible reasons to back up opinions and statements.
Bands
Mark given
0-2
3-4
5-6
7-8
9-10
EXAMINERS’ COMMENTS
OVERALL MARKS
SCTN
FL
RESP
VOC
GRAM
P&I
Q&I
REL
DEV
E&E
TOT
MARK
TOTAL MARK _________/ 100
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