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Offered:

Please note that this course is a Zoom only course and there is no in-person component.

  • Intermediate Urdu 204 is offered in Term 2 (May - Jun) and Term 4 (Oct- Dec) each year, pending sufficient enrollment.

Date & Time:

Begins Friday 20 October 2023

  • Our 2023 Term 4 Intermediate Urdu 204 course meets on Fridays from 11:00am-12:30pm beginning on 20 October 2023 (New Zealand time). The course meets for 8 consecutive weekly sessions. The final session will be held on Friday 8 December 2023.

  • If you live outside of New Zealand and wish to Zoom in to our live class sessions, check the nearest local Time Zone equivalent below.

Time Zone equivalents:

for live-streaming Zoom Sessions from New Zealand. If your Time Zone doesn't suit our live-streamed class, you can also access our courses by watching the live-recorded sessions that are posted to the course webpage each week, usually the next day.

  • Honolulu, Hawai’i: begins Thu 19 Oct 2023, 12:00-1:30 pm

  • US Pacific: begins Thu 19 Oct 2023, 3:00-4:30pm

  • US Central: begins Thu 19 Oct 2023, 5:00-6:30 pm

  • US Eastern: begins Thu 19 Oct 2023, 6:00 -7:30 pm

  • London, UK: begins Thu 19 Oct 2023, 11:00 pm-12:30 am

  • New Delhi, India: begins Fri 20 Oct 2023, 3:30 - 5:00 am

  • Bangkok, Thailand: begins Fri 20 Oct 2023, 5:00-6:30 am

  • Singapore/Shanghai: begins Fri 20 Oct 2023, 6:00-7:30am

  • Tokyo, Japan: begins Fri 20 Oct 2023, 7:00-8:30am

  • Sydney, Australia: begins Fri 20 Oct 2023, 9:00-10:30 am

Description:

Intermediate Urdu 204, Part 4

  • • This is Part 4 of our eight-part Intermediate course taught over 8 successive school terms specifically designed for Intermediate Urdu learners. Our language and culture courses focus on teaching and learning, and we do not expect you to study outside of class nor do we assign homework (unless you'd like some!). Come and spend 12 class hours per Term (eight 1.5 hour weekly classes) learning Urdu and about Pakistani and Indian culture, and have some fun too! All of our language classes are designed for busy people.

  • • This course is specifically designed for Urdu students that have alredy learned the basics of the Urdu Nastaʿlīq (نستعلیق) script in our 100-level courses, have taken our Intermediate Urdu 201-203 courses (or equivalent), and have a good understanding of Introductory Urdu grammar and vocabulary. It continues to build upon the foundations of Introductory Urdu 101-104 and Intermediate Urdu 201-203. This course continues with reading, conversational and comprehension practice, and conmtinues to introduce new grammatical constructions and vocabulary.

  • • Subsequent Term courses of Intermediate Urdu (i.e. Urdu 301-304) continue with reading, more complex grammatical constructions, new vocabulary, and learning additional conversational skills.

  • • Those already familiar with the Urdu script (e.g. may know Arabic or Farsi), and have an introductory understanding of Urdu grammar and vocabulary, may also chose to enrol in this Urdu course, provided they have sufficient introductory grammar and vocabulary. Contact the instructor if you are interested.

YouTube Stars Karl Rock & Manisha Endorse EarthDiverse!

8 January 2023


Course curriculum

    1. EarthDiverse Course Information

    2. EarthDiverse Zoom Instructions PDF

    1. Course Goals

    2. “Introductory Urdu” textbook by Dr Todd Nachowitz, PhD (updated 25 May 2023 with complete Chapter 3)

    3. Link to access Quizlet EarthDiverse Urdu flashcard sets:

    1. 20231020 T4.1 Urdu 204 class notes

    2. New Lesson20231020 T4.1 Urdu 204 video

    1. 20231027 T4.2 Urdu 204 class notes

    2. 20231027 T4.2 Urdu 204 video

    1. 20231103 T4.3 Urdu 204 class notes

    2. 20231103 T4.3 Urdu 204 video

    1. 20231110 T4.4 Urdu 204 class notes

    2. 20231110 T4.4 Urdu 204 video

Additional course info:

  • Videos and PDF content of class presentations or whiteboard notes are uploaded 1-2 days after each live session
  • Begins on Fri 20 Oct 2023 (NZ)
  • NZ time: Fridays 11:00am-12:30pm

Meet our Instructor:

Executive Director, Senior Lecturer Dr Todd Nachowitz, PhD

Dr Todd Nachowitz, PhD, is the Founder and Executive Director of EarthDiverse. Todd is a Hamilton-based lecturer, anthropologist, environmentalist and diversity educator. He previously taught in Religious Studies at the University of Waikato, teaching courses on Comparative Religion and Religious Fundamentalism & Extremism. Todd holds a Masters Degree in Development Anthropology from Syracuse University in upstate New York (1991) and a PhD from the University of Waikato (2015) in Political Science and Public Policy where he completed his thesis on diversity governance and the Indian diaspora in New Zealand.

Prior to settling in New Zealand in 1995, Todd lived and worked in the United States, India, Pakistan and Nepal. He spent 11 years in South Asia as the Academic Director for university study-abroad programmes in Varanasi, India (for the University of Wisconsin-Madison); Lahore, Pakistan (for the University of California-Berkeley); and Kathmandu, Nepal (for School for International Training, based in Brattleboro, Vermont, USA) focusing on language, culture and religion.

Todd speaks Hindi and Urdu, and is a specialist in comparative world religions and the history, religions, languages and cultures of South Asia. He also currently teaches our Hindi and Urdu language courses and the Religious Diversity courses at EarthDiverse.

Location:

This class is a hybrid class with both in-person sessions in our classrooms and streamed live via Zoom.

All in-person classes are held at the EarthDiverse Centre located at 401 Anglesea Street, Hamilton Central, Hamilton (located just north of the Hamilton Central Bus Station) (entrance is located on the left side of the building, see map). Those looking for parking for our evening classes can park just in front of the building in any of the available car parks. Daytime parking can be found in our dedicated car parks, or free 2-hour on-street daytime parking can be found just in front on Anglesea Street.
Location

Distance Learning:

This course has distance-learning options for those unable to attend the live class sessions in Hamilton, New Zealand. Students have three options for attending our courses once they have registered:

  • Attend in-person classes in our Hamilton classrooms at the regularly scheduled day and time.

  • Attend our live on-line classroom sessions via Zoom at the regular scheduled day and time.

  • Watch the live-recorded class sessions at your leisure, at a time, day and place more suited to your schedule.

Distance-Learning options:

Live Zoom sessions and Video-Recordings

  • In addition to our in-person classes in Hamilton, our courses offer distance learning options for those unable to attend classes in-person. Live-streamed Hamilton classes are available via free Zoom software for those living outside the Waikato. Live-streaming allows you to participate fully in your own learning, ask questions of the instructor and participate fully in the same way as if you were in the physical classroom.

  • Those unable to attend the scheduled date and time of the actual class sessions, or those who need to miss a class or two due to previous engagements or unexpected illness, can watch any or all of the live-recorded video sessions on their computers, laptops, tablets or mobile devices and study at their own pace and in their own time.

  • Detailed instructions on how to access our distance learning components will be sent after completing your registration. There are no additional fees for this service. However, distance learners will need access to a desktop or laptop computer with a good quality web-camera (tablet devices and mobile phones can also access our live-streamed classes), a built-in microphone (most modern laptops have built-in microphones) or a headset with a microphone. You will also need to download and install the free Zoom software on your computer or device. Those accessing the video recordings will be able to do so with a simple web browser on any device.

Pricing options:

All prices in New Zealand dollars and includes GST. Unwaged includes students, seniors and retirees.

Notes:

Those who cannot make the class meeting day and time via live Zoom sessions may consider accessing this course through the weekly recorded video sessions. Class videos are usually posted within 1-2 days of each live class session and are available for your own personal learning on a day and time of your choosing.

  • • This course has no assignments, quizzes, tests or exams.

  • • You will not need to purchase any reading materials.

  • • All classes encourage questions and discussion.

  • • PDFs of class presentations and video recordings of each session are posted 1-2 days after each session for the duration of the course. You are most welcome to come, sit back, relax, take part in and enjoy the class rather than focus on taking notes!

  • • There are no refunds for missed classes.

Materials:

All materials are included in the course fees. These are developed by our instructors and distributed as PDF files on the course webpage.

  • An “Introductory Urdu” textbook, written by Todd Nachowitz, PhD, is included in the course fees. This is distributed as a PDF file and posted to the course web page, which you can print at home and add to your own loose-leaf notebook. The textbook may be supplemented with additional materials.

  • You will require a pen or pencil and a notebook for taking notes. Any notes that your instructor writes on the class digital notepad are posted as PDF files on the course web page so that you can print these out at home and add them to your own notebook.

Prerequisites:

A keen desire to continue your Urdu language journey!

  • Prerequisites for this course are: completion of Introductory Urdu 101-104 and Intermediate Urdu 201-203, or the equivalent, as evaluated by the instructor.

  • There are no prerequisites if you can already read and write in Urdu (e.g. are already familiar with the Arabic or Farsi script) and have sufficient introductory grammar, vocabulary and basic conversational ability.