143040 VU Hausa: Exercises 1 (2024W)

Course: In this course, we primarily focus on the video-based Hausa course "Hausar Baka - Gani Ya Kori Ji" [Spoken Hausa - Seeing is Better than Hearing], (see reference below). Videos and course materials are available online (http://aflang.humanities.ucla.edu/language-materials/chadic-languages/hausa/hausar-baka-online/) or made available in Moodle. The video segments feature natural interactions from more than 50 Hausa speakers and cover culture-specific topics (e.g., greetings, leave-taking, shopping, family behaviour, marital strife, dining habits, religion and superstition, occupations, and more) that help to understand the grammatical structures of Hausa.

Goals: Using videos with Hausa speakers on different cultural topics, the students acquire basic knowledge of the basic vocabulary and grammatical structures of Hausa. The primary aim is to acquire and understand simple grammatical structures of Hausa, with students also acquiring the ability to analyse linguistic structures, understand simple expressions and use them themselves. The basic knowledge acquired in the course Hausa Grammar 1 is applied in the course 'Hausa: Exercise 1' by means of practical tasks and exercises.

Contents: On the one hand, specific grammatical questions will be in the foreground, on the other hand, grammatical structures will be worked out using selected texts or video recordings of simple conversational situations. First and foremost, it is about getting to know the basics of Hausa grammar, e.g., noun system, verbal system, lexical and grammatical tone. In addition, it is also about acquiring the basic Hausa vocabulary and the ability to actively use it. Furthermore, the students acquire socio-cultural and historical background knowledge, which is necessary for a comprehensive understanding of the Hausa society and their language.

Methods: Lecture; Reading and discussion of selected texts and exercises.