Persian VII Spring 2023 Syllabus

FORLANGC 197GF Persian VII (half course)
Five College Center for World Languages
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Date span Assignment Self-assessment
Feb 6 to Feb 12

Tutorials and conversation sessions start this week.
Prepare at least one half of the study guide for your first sessions.
Written work for the first study guide will be due at tutorial next week. 
Self-assessment due by 9am on Monday
Feb 13 to Feb 19

Study Guide 61 homework due at tutorial. 
Self-assessment due by 9am on Monday
Feb 20 to Feb 26

Study Guide 62 homework due at tutorial. 
Self-assessment due by 9am on Monday
Feb 27 to Mar 5

Study Guide 63 Homework due at tutorial. 
Self-assessment due by 9am on Monday
Mar 6 to Mar 12

Study Guide 64 homework due at tutorial. 
Self-assessment due by 9am on Monday
Mar 13 to Mar 19

Spring Break - no sessions, no self-assessments.

 
Mar 20 to Mar 26

Study Guide 65 homework due at tutorial. 
Self-assessment due by 9am on Monday
Mar 27 to Apr 2

Review week - Sessions meet for review.
Self-assessment due by 9am on Monday
Apr 3 to Apr 9

Study Guide 66 homework due at tutorial. 
Self-assessment due by 9am on Monday
Apr 10 to Apr 16

Study Guide 67 homework due at tutorial. 
Self-assessment due by 9am on Monday
Apr 17 to Apr 23

Study Guide 68 homework due at tutorial. 
Self-assessment due by 9am on Monday
Apr 24 to Apr 30

Study Guide 69 homework due at tutorial. 
Self-assessment due by 9am on Monday
May 1 to May 7

Study Guide 70 homework due at tutorial. 
Self-assessment due by 9am on Monday
May 8 to May 14

Review of Study Guides 61-70
Tutorials and conversation sessions WILL meet this week for review
Self-assessment due by 9am on Monday
May 15 to May 21

Writing Skills Assessments will take place.

Graduating seniors need to see that home campus senior grade deadlines are met.
May 15 to May 21

End of the Semester

Final Oral Evaluations
Individual oral evaluations will be scheduled in this time period.
Do not make travel plans until you know the date and time of your individual oral evaluation. 
Graduating seniors need to see that home campus senior grade deadlines are met.

FORLANGC 197GF Persian VII (half course)
Course Description and Requirements

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Director: Janna White
Contact Information: fcmlp2@umass.edu or 413-542-5264

Course Description

Persian VII is an intermediate-level course for students who have completed Persian I-VI or the equivalent. The course teaches Iranian Persian (Farsi). It is also useful for students who want to learn Dari (Persian as spoken in Afghanistan) or Tajik (Persian as spoken in Tajikistan). The course is offered through the Five College Mentored Language Program. The course format includes small group conversation sessions and individual tutorials. Students studying Persian develop speaking, listening, reading, writing, and cultural etiquette skills needed for study abroad and to support course work in Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies.

Course Materials

Textbooks should be purchased online or through a special order at your local bookstore.

Persian Grammar: For Reference and Revision, Author: John Mace, Publisher: Routledge, Edition: 1
ISBN: 9780700716951

LangMedia Websites for Persian at http://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu.

Language Learning Strategies & Tips: http://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu/strategies.

Requirements

1. Successful mastery of the material assigned on this syllabus and its accompanying study guides. Students are reminded that their final comprehensive oral evaluation will cover all material assigned for the course regardless of whether it was used or discussed in tutorials or conversation sessions.

2. At least 7 hours per week of independent study (at least one hour per day). The program provides weekly study guides that include instructions for both oral and written practice. The guides also include preparation for conversation sessions and homework to be handed in at each tutorial.

3. Weekly 30-minute individual tutorials with the mentor assigned to the course. Mentors will go over written homework assignments, answer questions brought by students, work on individual issues with pronunciation and grammar, and provide practice drills in preparation for written and oral evaluations.

4. Weekly one-hour small group conversation sessions. Conversation sessions are led by the mentors and/or native- or fluent-speaking undergraduate or graduate student conversation partners. Conversation sessions provide practice with both speaking and listening comprehension. Conversation sessions constitute the primary practice for the oral fluency portion of the final evaluation.

5. Weekly homework assignments submitted by the tutorial meeting. Weekly homework assignments should be uploaded by the start of each tutorial session to the student's homework folder at the link provided by the course organizer. Homework must be submitted on time at the tutorial to receive credit. There a rolling one-week grace period for late assignments. Assignments received within one week of their original due date will generally be considered on-time and receive credit. Note that the intention of this policy is to provide flexibility for students who occasionally require additional time to complete their written assignments. Students are still expected to come to every tutorial having thoroughly reviewed that week’s material. Students who abuse the policy by routinely submitting assignments late may have the grace period extension revoked, at the discretion of the program director. If an assignment is submitted more than one week after the original deadline, mentors can provide feedback and comments, but the student will not receive credit. Any exceptions due to illness or other emergencies must be cleared by the program director. Self-granted extensions will not be recognized.

6. Weekly self-assessment reports submitted on time. Self-assessments are due at the end of each week and are recorded as “on time” as long as they are received by 9:00 am the following Monday morning. Late self-assessments will only receive partial credit. The self-assessments help students to evaluate their own progress in learning the language and their overall development of language learning strategies, and also alert the program staff to any problems with preparation or logistical details of the course.

7. Writing skills assessment to be completed at the end of the semester.

8. Final comprehensive oral evaluation covering listening and reading comprehension, conversational fluency, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and cultural knowledge.

Grading

10% attendance, preparation, and participation in all tutorials and conversation sessions, plus on-time submission of homework and self-assessment reports 

40% overall quality of the homework portfolio 

10% writing skills assessment (assesses ability to write short paragraphs, dialogues, and essay topics) 

40% final comprehensive oral evaluation covering listening and reading comprehension, conversational fluency, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. The final oral evaluation must be completed in order to pass the course.

Grading scale: A (94-100); A- (90-93); B+ (87-89); B (84-86); B- (80-83); C+ (77-79); C (74-76); C- (70-73); D+ (67-69); D (64-66); D- (60-63); F (59 or lower).

Final grades are submitted by the program director based on final evaluation grades and the student’s overall course participation record and homework portfolio.

Study Guides, Homework Assignments and Self-Evaluation

Weekly study guides serve as the student’s primary guide to the course and are essential to a student’s independent learning. The study guides are accessed through the course website and contain live links to any online materials students need to access. Students are responsible for accessing the online study guides and downloading printed copies for themselves as necessary.

Most of the study exercises included on the guides are activities a student does on their own. Some of the texts and online exercises include answer keys. Students are expected to use these keys to evaluate their own work. Exercises that do not include or lend themselves to simple answer keys cover material that will be “checked” through the process of using the material in tutorial interactions and conversation sessions.

Each study guide also includes work that should be handed in for feedback from the course mentor and to become a part of the student’s homework portfolio. If students have access to an answer key for any homework to be handed in, they are expected to use the answer key ahead of time to correct their own work. They should bring the page with noted corrections to the tutorial and have the mentor clarify any remaining confusions.

Homework assignments should be clearly labeled at the top of each page in English with the student's name, the date, and the Study Guide number.

Accommodations

The University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Five College Center for World Languages are committed to providing an equal educational opportunity for all students.  If you have a documented physical, psychological, or learning disability on file with UMass Disability Services (DS) or your home campus, you may be eligible for reasonable academic accommodations to help you succeed in this course.  If you have a documented disability that requires an accommodation, please notify the program director within the first two weeks of the semester so that we may make appropriate arrangements.  For further information, please visit Disability Services at https://www.umass.edu/disability/ or your home campus office of disability services. 

Academic Honesty Policy

Students must adhere to all University of Massachusetts Amherst and Five College policies regarding professional conduct and ethics, including policies covering non-discrimination, sexual harassment, and academic honesty. University of Massachusetts Amherst Academy Honesty Policy: Since the integrity of the academic enterprise of any institution of higher education requires honesty in scholarship and research, academic honesty is required of all students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.  Academic dishonesty is prohibited in all programs of the University.  Academic dishonesty includes but is not limited to: cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, and facilitating dishonesty.  Appropriate sanctions may be imposed on any student who has committed an act of academic dishonesty.  Instructors should take reasonable steps to address academic misconduct.  Any person who has reason to believe that a student has committed academic dishonesty should bring such information to the attention of the appropriate course instructor as soon as possible.  Instances of academic dishonesty not related to a specific course should be brought to the attention of the appropriate department Head or Chair.  Since students are expected to be familiar with this policy and the commonly accepted standards of academic integrity, ignorance of such standards is not normally sufficient evidence of lack of intent. More information about the Academic Honesty Policy and Procedures may be found online here: https://www.umass.edu/honesty/.

Importance of Communication

Practice communication skills similar to what you would need in a professional work or internship situation: check email twice per day; read email carefully and respond in a timely manner; contact the office by email or phone about questions or issues; take a proactive approach to solving any problems or issues that come up. Save fcmlp2@umass.edu in your address book to help ensure that important messages about your course do not end up in your spam folder.

Schedules and Schedule Changes

Each student will be assigned regular weekly tutorial and conversation session times. Any temporary or permanent changes in these times must be worked out with the director of the Five College Center for World Languages, who maintains the master schedule of all tutorials and conversation sessions. Email questions related to schedules to your course organizer. Do not ask your mentor directly for changes because they may not be aware of other scheduling issues affected by the change. The mentors have been instructed to refer anyone who requests schedule change to the program office.

Students who miss tutorials or conversation sessions will not be provided with make-up opportunities. Students who know ahead of time that they will need to miss a future session should inform their course organizer with as much advance notice as possible. 

In the event that the mentor or conversation partner has to cancel a session due to illness or another emergency, every effort will be made to provide an appropriate make-up session or substitute.

Snow emergencies and snow days: Winter snow emergencies occasionally cause delays and cancellations of Five College bus service, early closings of campuses, or snow days being declared on one or more campuses. Because we do not want any students or mentors to get stranded away from their home campus, we will generally cancel tutorials and conversation sessions if 1) the National Weather Service has issued a warning for severe winter weather for the time period of the sessions; and 2) the students and or mentors affected would have to travel to other than their own campus. We will not cancel if the mentor and the students involved live on the same campus, unless that campus has cancelled classes for the relevant time period. If a snow day has been declared in the morning, tutorials and conversation sessions may still take place late in the late afternoon or evening if the weather has cleared and the buses are running. Cancellations due to weather will be sent by email. If you have weather related questions, email your course organizer or call the office at 542-5264.