Offered:

  • Every term throughout the year, pending sufficient enrollment.

Date & Time:

  • 2023 Term 1 classes begin on Friday 17 Feb 2023 from 12:00-1:30pm (New Zealand time) and run for eight successive weeks. The final session will be held on Friday 7 April 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 16 Feb 2023, 1:00-2:30pm

  • US Pacific: begins Thu 16 Feb 2023, 3:00-4:30pm

  • US Eastern: begins Thu 16 Feb 2023, 6:00-7:30pm

  • London, UK: begins Thu 16 Feb 2023, 11:00pm-12:30am

  • Paris: France: begins Fri 17 Feb 2023, 12:00-1:30am

  • New Delhi, India: begins Fri 17 Feb 2023, 4:30-6:00am

  • Bangkok, Thailand: begins Fri 17 Feb 2023, 6:00-7:30am

  • Singapore: begins Fri 17 Feb 2023, 7:00-8:30am

  • Tokyo, Japan: begins Fri 17 Feb 2023, 8:00-9:30am

  • Sydney, Australia: begins Fri 17 Feb 2023, 10:00-11:30am

Description:

  • Our Urdu 501: Conversational Urdu course is specifically designed for adults (and children over 10 yrs) who have completed our Introductory, Intermediate and Advanced Urdu courses (or have equivalent knowledge) and who wish to continue their language learning through conversational practice. It is also for those who already understand 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 501 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 and includes GST. 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 Course Information

    2. EarthDiverse Zoom instructions

Additional course info:

  • Videos and PDF content of class presentations or whiteboard notes are uploaded weekly after each live session
  • Begins on Fri 17 Feb 2023
  • NZ time: Fridays 12:00 - 1:30pm

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 posted within 24 hours of each live class session and are available for your own personal learning session on a day and time of your choosing.

Materials:

  • You will only require a pen or pencil, a notebook for taking your own class notes, and a loose-leaf binder. Any notes that our instructor writes on the class whiteboard will be emailed to you as a digital PDF file so that you can print these out at home and add them to your own notebook.

Prerequisites:

  • Completion of the Introductory, Intermediate and Advanced Urdu courses, or the equivalent as evaluated by our instructor.

  • No prerequisites if you are already have some familiarity with spoken and written Urdu and wish to improve your conversational ability.