This course extends Intermediate Persian A. It involves a more detailed presentation of functions of the language, oral and aural practice, and reading of texts and the writing of compositions that incorporate features of the language already presented through some important cultural issues. On completion of this subject students will have acquired upper-intermediate proficiency in Persian conversational forms, a reasonable proficiency in written structures and an ability to formulate such structures, an understanding of some of the commonly used grammatical structures of Persian and the ability to apply them in speech and writing, the ability to interpret messages of an average complexity occurring in some audio-visual media and in individual and group spoken forms, and familiarity with some of the dominant cultural ideas and forms in the Persian culture.

Reading Proficiency:

(1) Demonstrate sufficient comprehension to understand most factual material in nontechnical prose as well as some discussions on concrete topics related to personal interests, social, cultural and historical matters

(2) Demonstrate ability to separate main ideas and details from lesser ones and use

that distinction to advance understanding

(3) Demonstrate use of linguistic context and real-world knowledge to make sensible assessment about unfamiliar material

(4) Possess an active reading vocabulary demonstrating the ability to identify main

ideas and to distinguish these from subsidiary ideas

Speaking Proficiency:

(1) Initiate and maintain predictable face-to-face conversations and satisfy unlimited social demands such as travel and accommodation needs

(2) Use accurate grammatical relations

(3) Exhibit more common forms of verb tenses and proper vocabularies

(4) Demonstrate understandable pronunciation

Writing Proficiency:

(1) Demonstrate ability to write routine social correspondence, daily situations,

and/or current events

(2) Demonstrate control of the most fundamental formats and punctuation conventions

(3) Demonstrate good control of morphology of language and of syntactic structures

(4) Writing is legible to native readers

Listening Proficiency:

(1) Comprehend short conversations about social, cultural and historical issues

(2) Demonstrate flexibility in understanding of a range of circumstances beyond

immediate survival needs

(3) Understand most tense forms and their applications

General Homework (10%), quizzes (10%), attendance (10%), class participation (10%), mid-semester test (written 20%), final exam (oral 10% and written 30%)

Four hours of lectures per week (may include language laboratory sessions).

Intermediate Persian A (or equivalent prior knowledge, with permission of the lecturer)

Learning Resources, Prescribed Texts and Readings:

Saffar-Moghaddam, Ahmad. Book 4, History, Culture and Civilization of Iran, Tehran: Council for Promotion of Persian Language and Literature, 2007

Rafiee, Abdi. Colloquial Persian: The Complete Course for Beginners, New York: Routledge, 2001, selected texts.

On-Line Learning Resources

http://www.persian-language.org/

www.irib.ir/radio/adab/shaer.htm

http://www.iranianshouse.org/

http://www.farsidic.com/    on-line dictionary