Summer Beginner/Intermediate Persian

(due to the ongoing Covid-19 travel restrictions the course will have both in-person and online sections)

June 7–August 21, 2021

Days: M W F Sat 

Time: 6-9 PM / Online course hours TBD

Duration: 10 weeks (+ 1 week break in the middle of the course)

Total hours of instruction: 120

Course fee: $900

Deadlines: May 5 (application) and May 15 (payment), 2021

This intensive course is designed for beginner and intermediate-level learners of Persian who would like to make quick progress over the summer. A typical day of instruction will include two hours of work on grammar and reading/writing and an hour dedicated to developing speaking and aural comprehension skills. The textbook to be used in this course is Basic Persian: A Grammar and Workbook by Saeed Yousef and Hayedeh Torabi, supplemented by additional materials prepared by the instructor. By the end of the course students will have covered most topics in elementary/intermediate grammar of Persian and should feel confident communicating both in speaking and writing on a variety of familiar topics. A special emphasis will be placed on vocabulary, and course participants should expect to have mastered 500-1000 by the end of the course. The course will be taught in Persian, with more English translations and explanations offered in the beginning of the course and less towards the end. Yerevan is a popular destination for Iranian university students, and we will be happy to help course participants eager to practice Persian outside of class to find language exchange partners. The course is deliberately scheduled in the evening, so that it can be accessible to those who are busy with work and other commitments during the day. 

The deadline to apply has been extended to May 5, 2021. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the course capacity is filled, and we encourage students to apply early. 

Fees

The course fees are to be paid as a donation made through a bank transfer by May 15, 2021. Mejlis Institute is a non-profit organization. All funds collected will be used to pay the salary of the instructor, and any surplus will be invested in the development of our future programs. A portion of the proceeds will be used to support a local charity in Armenia. A report on the usage of the funds collected through the course will be presented to course participants upon request. The applicants who wish to attend the course but cannot afford to pay the course fees can be issued a partial or full fee waiver. To request a waiver, please send us an e-mail separately after filling the application form and arrange for a reference letter to be sent from your academic supervisor or another mentor who can attest to your merit and the situation of financial need. Since students’ donations constitute our main source of funding, we encourage applicants to consider applying for scholarships offered by their universities or seek other forms of external funding prior to applying for tuition waivers. 

This course is planned as an in-person program. Students interested in attending an online version of this course should contact us at info@mejlisinstitute.org.

Instructor

Maryam Torabi, MA, is a scholar of Medieval Armenian and Persian literary traditions. Having studied Armenian and Persian literature in Isfahan Ms. Torabi came to Armenia to work on her doctoral dissertation, which she is currently completing in the Department of Linguistics at Yerevan State University. She focuses on the language of the eighteenth-century poet Sayat-Nova exploring his engagement with Persian poetry. Apart from teaching Armenian to Iranians and Persian to Armenians she has formerly served as the librarian of the Blue Mosque in Yerevan.