Lithuanian Level 1 Beginners

Course description: Level 1 is aimed at absolute beginners who have no previous knowledge of the language or very minimal knowledge, e.g. greetings and the alphabet. The course runs over three ten-week terms and each session is two hours long. It focuses on all four skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. The main aim is to enable students to function in simple everyday situations and get by in Lithuanian. The course covers the following areas:

Topics: the alphabet and pronunciation; greetings; countries and nationalities; places and buildings; professions; days of the week, months, seasons; family; personal features and characteristics; food and drink; colours; means of transport; directions. Cultural references: Lithuanian food, simple proverbs, polite expressions.

Functions: introducing oneself; talking about family; understanding numbers (prices, telephone numbers, dates); telling the time; describing people; ordering food and drinks in a restaurant or café; expressing likes and dislikes; making requests; understanding a simple recipe; understanding and giving directions; writing simple notes and lists.

Grammar: nouns; genders; plurals; cases; verbs in the present, past and future tense; imperative; subjunctive; negation; adjectives; prepositions; conjunctions; numerals; personal and possessive pronouns; simple adverbs and degrees of adverbs; perfective and imperfective aspects of verbs.

Study materials: Stumbrienė, V. and A. Kaškelevičienė (2004) Nė dienos be lietuvių kalbos. Vilnius: Gimtasis žodis. Teacher’s materials.