By the WLP interns–Friday morning was fun and hectic. In Urdu class, students learned a song about vegetables sleeping in a basket. We sang the song several times, and then we learned to make baskets with vegetables. Students learned to say and write the vegetables. Some students drew the story inside their baskets. We also went over the next set of letters, which included “re” (“R”). Several students had this letter in their name and so were excited to learn it. In the afternoon, we made small water bottles with rice and lentils. One student decorated it for her mother and also used the card she made earlier this week as a birthday gift for her.
At the end of the day, we reviewed everything that we learned this week. It was very nice to see that students remembered so much. It’s hard to believe that the camp is halfway over. The week feels like it was long and at the same time it feels like the time flew by. Looking forward to another week of Urdu Urdu Urdu!
Monday was an important transition day for students in the Persian class. Throughout the past week, students prepared for their imaginary trip to Iran. This week they will actually embark on their imaginary trip. Today students were shown examples of American and Iranian passports to compare and contrast. Then, the class made their own passports for their trip to Iran. Ashkan, the Persian class T.A., interviewed students in Persian, asking questions about their birth date and hometown, before stamping their passports. After getting their passports stamped they had a second interview with Yassaman to complete other sorts of travel paperwork. In addition to this, the Persian class got to play a fun game of Persian “Jeopardy.” The game included questions that touched on the geography of Iran and Persian vocabulary and phrases.
In Urdu the kids prepared for their “trek through the Southeast Asian Jungle” (AKA field trip to the Woodland Park Zoo) by learning the names of the animals. Kids got to make animal masks. The fun activity served as a way to reinforce the vocabulary they learned, in addition to giving them an opportunity to use their artistic skills. Students in the Urdu class also reviewed the vocabulary and concepts they learned during the previous week and continued to build on that foundation.
Like the Urdu class, the Arabic class also concentrated on learning the names of animals today. Mustafa taught the class a song in Arabic about the animals. The closest comparison to American culture would probably be the song “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.” Students also made animal masks with paint, paper, and pipe cleaners. In addition, it was really impressive to see how much the students mastered during the previous week. The kids really seemed to have mastered the Arabic alphabet and how to write in Arabic. One of our students even formed Arabic words with pretzels!
A.C.E. 