Offered:

  • Every term throughout the year, pending sufficient enrollment.

Date & Time:

  • 2022 Term 4 classes begin again on Friday 28 October 2022 from 11:30am-1:00pm (New Zealand time) and run for eight consecutive weeks. The class class of the Term is on Friday 9 Dec 2022.

Time Zone equivalents:

for live-streaming Zoom Sessions from New Zealand

  • Honolulu, Hawai’i: begins Thu 20 Oct 2022, 12:30-2:00pm

  • US Pacific: begins Thu 20 Oct 2022, 3:30-5:00pm

  • US Central: begins Thu 20 Oct 2022, 5:30-7:00pm

  • US Eastern: begins Thu 20 Oct 2022, 6:30-8:30pm

  • London, UK: begins Thu 20 Oct 2022, 11:30pm-1:00am

  • New Delhi, India: begins Fri 21 Oct 2022, 4:00-5:30am

  • Bangkok, Thailand: begins Fri 21 Oct 2022, 5:30-7:30am

  • Singapore: begins Fri 21 Oct 2022, 6:30-8:00am

  • Sydney, Australia: begins Fri 21 Oct 2022, 9:30-11:00am

Description:

  • Our Urdu 300: Conversational Urdu course is specifically designed for adults (and children over 10 yrs) who have completed the first year Introductory Urdu 101-104 and Intermediate Urdu 201-204 courses and who wish to continue their language learning through conversational practice. It is also for those who already understand basic Urdu grammar, can read and write Nastaʿlīq (نستعلیق) script, and who wish to practice speaking in Urdu. This ongoing course focuses on teaching conversational fluency, Urdu grammar, and reinforces reading through working with children’s stories, intermediate level short stories, poems and listening to ghazals.

  • Conversational Urdu 300 focuses on conversational practice but also includes reading short stories and dialogues in Nastaʿlīq (نستعلیق) script, learning vocabulary for specific scenarios (e.g. cooking, shopping, travel, going to the bank, etc.), Urdu poetry, songs and ghazals, more advanced dialogues, and continued grammar instruction.

Meet our Instructor:

Urdu Instructor Dr Saadia Arif

Our new Urdu language instructor is originally from Pakistan and Urdu is her mother tongue. She was born in and spent her early years in Saudi Arabia, and is fluent in both Urdu & English. She is a Medical Doctor by profession with a. speciality in Obstetrics & Gynaecology. Before migrating to New Zealand in 2016 with her family, she also worked in the UK. Saadia is now happily settled and raising two amazing boys in Hamilton. She has volunteered for the Red Cross since 2016, which gives her an opportunity to help and connect with the local community. She is currently studying to complete her post-graduation degree. Saadia enjoys pottery, photography, painting and exploring the beautiful outdoor of Aotearoa. Her love for travelling took her to discover Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, South Africa, Dubai, India, Germany, Switzerland and the UK. Experiencing the diverse, rich cultures and meeting amazing people are among her most treasured memories.

Location:

All in-person classes are held at the EarthDiverse offices and classrooms located at 401 Anglesea Street, Hamilton Central, Hamilton (located just north of the Hamilton Central Bus Station) (entrance is located on the side of the building, see map below). 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:

  • 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. Unwaged includes students, seniors and retirees.

Course curriculum:

Week by week new material will be posted throughout the duration of the course. Video recordings of each weekly session will be posted here after 1-2 days after each class.

    1. EarthDiverse Zoom instructions

    1. 20221028 T4.1 Urdu 300 video

    1. 20221111 T4.2 Urdu 300 video

    1. 20221118 T4.3 Urdu300 Video

About this course

  • $150.00
  • 4 lessons
  • 3.5 hours of video content

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.

Materials:

  • An “Introductory Urdu” textbook by Todd Nachowitz, PhD is included in the course fees. These are available on the course web page as PDF files once registration has ben completed.

  • This may be supplemented by additional materials. You will require a pen or pencil, a notebook for taking notes. Any notes that your instructor writes on the class whiteboard will also be posted as a digital PDF file on the course web page so that you can print these out at home and add them to your own notebook.

Prerequisites:

  • Completion of the Introductory and Intermediate series of Urdu 101-104 and 201-204.

  • No prerequisites if you are already familiar with the Urdu script and have some familiarity with Urdu grammar and spoken Urdu.

Students reviews:

Testimonials: