Serbian/Croatian Short Courses Levels

Course description: Level 1 is for people with no previous knowledge of the language or minimal knowledge such as some greetings and the alphabet. 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 course will cover the following:

Topics: the alphabet and pronunciation, greetings, numbers, my family, my house, food, drinks, ways of describing people, directions. Cultural references: typical foods, simple proverbs, polite exchanges.

Functions: introducing oneself, describing people, describing your family, understanding numbers (prices, telephone numbers), ordering food and drinks in a restaurant, describing your house, understanding directions, arranging a day out, planning a weekend.

Grammar: nouns, plurals, forming questions, cases: singular form of nouns and modifiers, verbs in present tense, future tense and past tense, adjectives, prepositions and conjunctions, numerals, personal pronouns in the Accusative case, reflexive verbs, possessive pronouns, possessive adjectives, demonstrative pronouns and simple adverbs.

Study materials: M. Selimović-Momčilovic and Lj Živani, (1998) Serbian for Foreigners, Institut za strane jezike, Belgrade, C. Hawkesworth (2005) Colloquial Croatian, Routledge, London and teacher’s materials.

Course description: Level 2 is for people who completed Level 1 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. The course will cover the following:

Topics: holidays, human body, medical conditions, sports, hobbies, music, film and theatre, cities vs countryside, national and religious celebrations.

Functions: describing the human body, describing simple symptoms to a medical professional, describing photos, talking about sports, talking about one’s hobbies, acquiring a basic awareness of Serbian and Croatian music, talking about films, buying clothes in a shop, talking about past and future holidays, comparing and contrasting various things, following instructions.

Grammar: revision of all cases in the singular form, plural form of nouns and modifiers in all cases, personal pronouns in all cases, imperatives, perfective and imperfective verbs, comparatives and superlatives, future exact, conditional sentences and relative pronouns.

Study materials: M. Selimović-Momčilovic and Lj Živani, (1998) Serbian for Foreigners, Institut za strane jezike, Belgrade, C. Hawkesworth (2005) Colloquial Croatian, Routledge, London and teacher’s materials.

Course description: Level 3 is for people who completed Level 2 or who have sound knowledge of the language acquired through extensive 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. The course will cover the following:

Topics: important tourism sights, musical festivals, sport events, regional customs, holidays and festivities, travelling, booking a holiday, renting, climate, health and illnesses, introduction to the society and its challenges. Cultural references: press and TV, films.

Functions: summarising a text, presenting a short topic, writing letters and emails, expressing agreement and disagreement and apologising.

Grammar: revision of all cases in the singular and plural form, revision of all tenses, personal, relative and interrogative pronouns, imperative, modal verbs, perfective and imperfective verbs, comparison of adjectives, conditional clauses, `se` constructions expressing wish and passive meaning, passive.

Study materials: C. Hawkesworth (2005) Colloquial Serbian/Croatian, Routledge, London, Let`s Learn Serbian 2, Novi Sad (2007) and teacher’s materials.

Course description: Advanced is for people who have completed Upper Intermediate or who have good knowledge of the language acquired through living in the country or through using Serbian/Croatian regularly. 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 course will cover the following:

Topics: newspaper articles on different contemporary topics, important events in Serbian/Croatian history, the political system, the educational system, environmental protection and nature reserves, conflicting views and political conflict: past and present, major writers, artists, sportspeople, historical figures, famous films. Cultural references: regional customs, arts and crafts, films, essential literature texts.

Functions: skimming and/or translating newspaper articles of interest, talking about the history of the region, general culture and important figures in general terms; understanding and talking about the school system and the political system; familiarising oneself with short and famous literary works, simple analysis of a film orally and in writing.

Grammar: revision of grammar introduced on previous levels, conditional clauses and passive voice, the past and present adverbial participles, word formation, synonyms and antonyms.

Study materials: authentic press articles, audio and video clips, teacher’s materials.

Course description: Advanced Plus  is for people who have completed Advanced or who have very good knowledge of the language acquired through living in the country extensively or through using the language regularly through work or personal relationships. 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 course will cover the following:

Topics: specialised topics of interest, old films, colloquial expressions, regional language. Cultural references: historical highlights, politics, music, sport, topics chosen according to students’ specialised interests.

Functions: understanding colloquial language, understanding basic regional accents and language; expressing preference, supporting an argument, public presentations, expressing gratitude, sympathy, appreciation; expressing regret and indifference; defending and accusing, analysing, and responding to, reviews and criticism, writing reviews and summaries.

Grammar: revision of grammar introduced on previous levels, colloquial and regional grammatical forms, historical past, synonyms, antonyms.

Study materials: authentic press articles; audio and video clips, teacher’s materials.