Penn Language Center

The Elementary Amharic I course can be taken to fulfill a language requirement, or for linguistic preparation to do research on Ethiopia/Africa-related topics. The course emphasizes communicative competence to enable the students to acquire linguistic and extra-linguistic skills in Amharic. The content of the course is selected from various everyday life situations to enable the students to communicate in predictable commom daily settings. Culture, as it relates to language use, is also part of the course content. Students will acquire the speaking, listening, reading, and writting skills at the mid-high novice level, based on the ACTFL scale. The mid-high novice level proficiency skills that the students will acquire constitute threshold capabilities of the second semester range of proficiency to prepare students for Elementary Amharic II course materials.