Albanian Short Courses Levels

This course is intended for individuals of Albanian heritage who have grown up speaking the language with their family and friends but have had limited formal education in it. The course consists of three terms, each lasting ten weeks with sessions that are two hours long.  The main goal is to improve and refine student’s skills in speaking, listening, reading, and writing, with a focus on improving literacy and formal language use.

During the course, students will work on the following:

• Expanding Vocabulary: Broadening their vocabulary across different topics.
• Grammar and Syntax: Developing a deeper understanding of grammatical forms and structures.
• Reading Comprehension: Engaging with authentic texts, including Albanian literature, non-fiction works, and media articles from Albania and Kosovo.
• Writing Skills: Practicing writing through diverse assignments enhancing their ability to compose simple texts in both formal and informal contexts.
• Practical Application: Applying their language skills in real-world situations, such as participating in conversations, debates and writing exercises that reflect everyday scenarios and cultural themes, listening to video and audio materials followed by discussions, etc.
• In addition to language skills, students will gain insights into the cultural and historical heritage of the Albanian language.

The course will also include the following:

Topics:

• Current Affairs (in Albania and in Kosovo): news and current events from Albania and Kosovo.
• Regions, cities, and landmarks of Albania and Kosovo.
• Education: education systems in Albania and Kosovo including school life and higher education.
• Economy, tourism, and technology. Vocabulary used in these fields and the extent to which the use of International English has influenced the Albanian language in these areas.
• Housing: Housing and real estate, living conditions and preferences
• Employment: Job opportunities, applications, popular professions, employment challenges, and workplace environments.
• Human transactions: Everyday transactions, such as shopping, dining, and using public services.
• Successful Albanians: stories of successful Albanians from various fields.

Cultural References:

• Historical events
• Albanian Literature
• Cinema
• Politics
• Music
• Sports

Language Functions:

•  
  • Understanding diverse authentic texts in formal language and dialect.
  • Understanding the use of Albanian via social media in Albania, in Kosovo and in the diaspora.
  • Writing short texts on various topics using grammatical forms and formal vocabulary.
  • Applying language skills in practical contexts, including conversations, debates, and individual or group presentations.

Grammar and Vocabulary:

• Expanding vocabulary with a focus on formal language. Understanding differences between language variations including the language used in the diaspora.
• Strengthening grammar and syntax knowledge by reviewing the main grammar components and expanding the knowledge of other components such as noun declension, verb conjugation, word formation, prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, noun-adjective agreement etc.

Study materials: teacher’s materials.

Textbooks: 

Shqip.Al, Të mësojmë gjuhën shqipe B1 (Textbook and workbook), Universiteti i Tiranës, Fakulteti i Historisë dhe Filologjisë, Tiranë 2016.

Shqip.Al, Të mësojmë gjuhën shqipe B2 (Textbook and workbook), Universiteti i Tiranës, Fakulteti i Historisë dhe Filologjisë, Tiranë 2016.

Course description: Level 1 is for complete beginners or those who have had only very little contact with the language. The course runs over three ten-week terms and each session is two hours long. The course includes all four skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. The aim of the course is to enable students to function in simple everyday situations and get by in Albanian. This includes knowledge of basic vocabulary, grammar, morphology, syntax, and phonetics. The course will cover the following:

Topics: The alphabet and pronunciation, greetings, numbers, days, months, seasons, time expressions, weather, my family, parts of the body, people characteristics, directions, describing and enquiring about daily routine, buying clothes and groceries, ordering in a café, reservations/travelling. Cultural references: typical foods, simple proverbs, polite exchanges.

Functions: Introductions and greetings, understanding numbers (telephone numbers, prices, dates), formal and informal forms of address, ordering food and drinks, writing a shopping list, buying clothes, describing people, expressing likes and dislikes, understanding and giving basic directions, making requests, asking for permission, describing daily routines, talking about weather.

Grammar: Definite and indefinite forms of masculine and feminine nouns, word order, interrogative and negative sentences, plurals, the five cases of singular masculine and feminine nouns in the definite and indefinite form, modal verbs, verbs in present tense, future tense and past tense, subjunctive mood, articled /non articled adjectives, degrees of the adjectives, simple prepositions and conjunctions, numerals, personal pronouns, possessive pronouns following a noun in the nominative case, simple adverbs, imperative.

Learning resources:

Course book

• Discovering Albanian 1 (Textbook and workbook), Linda Mëniku and Hector Campos, The University of Wisconsin Press
• Additional materials

Teacher’s materials and selected materials from the following books:

• Shqip, S’ka problem, Albanian language for beginners." by Mihallaq Millexhiu and Fatmir Hoxha
• Ckemi, Practical Albanian for the English speakers
• Gjuha shqipe (a publication of 1975)
• Te mesojme se bashku gjuhen shqipe by Lumni Radovicka

Course description: Lower Intermediate is for people who have completed Beginners or who have some knowledge of the language acquired through regular visits to the country or through self-study. The course runs over three ten week terms and each session is two hours long. The course includes all four skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. On completion of the course students should be able to communicate in, and understand, Albanian on a variety of practical everyday matters. The course will cover the following:

Topics: medical conditions, sports, hobbies, professions, buying and giving presents, Albanian dishes and recipes, music and simple short stories, making reservations and arrangements, renting a house, national and religious celebrations, the weekend, holidays, childhood and other past activities, Tirana and places to visit in Albania.

Functions: describing past events, describing the human body, describing simple symptoms to a medical professional, talking about sports, talking about one’s hobbies, understanding short texts from Albanian literature and lyrics, writing letters and being able to ask about posting them, making arrangements about renting a house, discussing ongoing and completed actions.

Grammar: revision and more in depth study of the grammar covered at beginners’ level, the five cases of plural definite and indefinite masculine and feminine nouns, masculine nouns changing gender in plural, agreement between nouns in the five cases and adjectives, agreement between nouns and the possessive pronouns, imperfect indicative, imperfect subjunctive, present perfect tense, five cases of demonstrative pronouns, five cases of interrogative pronouns, passive constructions, direct and indirect object clitics, pluperfect

Learning resources:

Course Book

• Discovering Albanian by Linda Menyku and Hector Campos

Additional materials

Teacher’s materials and selected materials from the following books:

• Gjuha shqipe për të huajt dhe shqiptarët jashtë atdheut by Gjovalin Shkurtaj and Enver Hysa (ISBN 13: 99927-1-454-9)
• Colloquial Albanian by Isa Zyberi,  (ISBN: ISBN-10: 0415056632. ISBN-13: 978-0415056632)
• Mesoni shqip (ISBN: 1881901602)
• Gramatika e gjuhes shqipe ISBN 9992776161

Course description: Upper Intermediate is for those who have successfully completed the Lower Intermediate Albanian Short Course or a similar course and/or have developed a sound knowledge of the basics of the language through extensive visits to Albania or through self-study. The course runs over three ten-week terms and each session is two hours long. Linguistic and cultural awareness is reinforced through continuous revision and by building on students’ previous knowledge when introducing a new topic. On completion of the course students should be able to get by in most Albanian-speaking environments, and to retrieve information from authentic materials. The course includes all four skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. The course will cover the following:

Topics:

• regions of Albania and Kosovo; travelling
• idioms and proverbs,
• health and illness, at the doctor’s, body parts revisited
• furnishing a house
• getting by at the airport and calling a taxi
• opening a bank account, paying one’s bills and charges
• making arrangements, enrolling and attending events
• setting up a mobile phone or internet contract
• what can go wrong: making complaints while travelling or at home
• discussing goals, purpose, and conditions; things that have gone wrong in the past
• a few essential texts in Albanian literature

Functions:

• agreeing/disagreeing, expressing opinion
• relating past events
• expressing wishes, desires, and possibilities
• negotiating and discussing conditions
• making suggestions and recommendations
• speculating, making assumptions
• complaining and apologising; excuses
• giving orders and making polite requests: understanding the difference
• comparing and contrasting

Grammar:

• revision and more in depth study of the grammar covered at previous levels
• past perfect progressive, future progressive, future perfect progressive
• complex sentences: relative clauses and complement closes
• compound nouns, articled nouns
• emphatic pronouns
• conditional, past conditional
• verbal phrases, gerund
• difficult adverbs, subordinating conjunctions, interjections

Learning resources:

• Albanian Verbs by Bahtjar Bega: IBSN 978 99943 40 43 9
• teacher’s materials

Course description: Advanced is for those who have successfully completed the Upper Intermediate Albanian Short Course or a similar course and/or have developed a sound knowledge of the language through extensive visits to Albania, personal relationships, or working with the language. The course runs over three ten-week terms and each session is two hours long. Linguistic and cultural awareness is reinforced through continuous revision and grammar is consolidated as an integral part of texts, short films, and topics covered on the course. On completion of the course students should be able to get by in Albanian-speaking environments, converse reasonably fluently with native speakers, and to retrieve information from a wide range of authentic materials. The course includes all four skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. The course will cover the following:

Topics:

• Albanian culture and society through text, film, and music
• newspaper articles on different contemporary topics
• key events of Albanian history
• major Albanian writers, artists, sportspeople, historical figures, famous Albanian films
• Cultural references: regional customs, arts and crafts, films, essential literature texts

Functions:

• reading, analysing, and summarising authentic texts
• extracting and presenting information from written sources or visual material
• simple analysis of a film orally and in writing, skimming and/or translating newspaper articles of interest, talking about Albania’s history, general culture and important figures in general terms
• reporting on events and matters of public interest
• commenting, debating, criticising written material, news, and events
• speculating, making assumptions
• retrieving and collating information from a variety of authentic sources and media
• negotiating and discussing various points of views

Grammar:

• derivational noun and verb suffixes
• the imperative-subjunctive in a variety of functions: overview
• The optative mood; present and perfect tense
• Admirative mood: present, perfect and pluperfect
• complex sentences and types of relative clauses: overview
• idiomatic expressions and proverbs
• relative order of determiners, adjectives and nouns in noun phrases
• word formation (suffixes, prefixes, infixes, derivation)

Study materials:

• Aspects of the Corrective Contrastive Grammar Jani Pamolli: IBSN 9992700556
• Teacher’s materials

Textbooks: Shqip.Al, Të mësojmë gjuhën shqipe B1 (Textbook and workbook), Universiteti i Tiranës, Fakulteti i Historisë dhe Filologjisë.

Course description: Advanced Plus is for those who have successfully completed the Advanced Albanian Short Course or a similar course and/or have developed an excellent knowledge of the language through working with Albanian, or through living in a partly Albanian-speaking environment. The course runs over three ten-week terms and each session is two hours long. The aim of the course is to help fluent speakers of Albanian to maintain and extend their knowledge of the language, as well as to enhance their literacy and translation skills, and cultural awareness. The course includes all four skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. The course will cover the following:

Topics: specialised topics of interest, old films, colloquial expressions, regional language.

Cultural references: historical highlights, politics, music.

Functions: understanding colloquial language, understanding basic regional accents and language, expressing preference, supporting an argument, writing reports and preparing presentations, expressing gratitude, sympathy, appreciation, expressing regret and indifference, defending and accusing.

Grammar: colloquial and regional grammatical forms, historical past, synonyms, antonyms, polysemy.

Study materials: teacher’s materials.

Textbooks: Shqip.Al, Të mësojmë gjuhën shqipe B1 (Textbook and workbook), Universiteti i Tiranës, Fakulteti i Historisë dhe Filologjisë.