Note: The course at UR is taught only in the Spring semester, from January – April. The materials below are from spring 2011. If you'd like to get a head start on the 2012 course, check out Lernu. It's free: sign up for an account and explore! In particular, we recommend the beginning course Vojaĝu kun Zam and the basic course Ana Pana.
Esperanto 101: An introduction to Esperanto
A free, non-credit beginner's course in the the international language Esperanto. All are welcome!
Goals
By the end of the semester you should be able to hold simple conversations and read most Esperanto texts with the help of a dictionary. We'll be putting your newfound knowledge to use as soon as possible: you'll be corresponding (and or video-chatting via Skype, if you're brave!) with penpals around the world.
Students completing the course will be eligible for scholarships in July to NASK, la Nord-Amerika Somera Kursaro (North American Summer Esperanto Institute) at the University of California, San Diego.
Where/When
Photo © UR Mathematics
Classes meet Mondays from 6:15-7:45 in Hylan 1106A on the UR River Campus. If you'd like to join, please contact < esperanto at lodestone dot org>.
Materials
Most of the materials will be online this semester. We'll use one printed text, Esperanto: Learning and Using the International Language by David Richardson—it contains a history of the language, a reader, and a basic Esperanto-English dictionary.
We'll also be reading and/or listening to various free supplementary materials in class: short stories, excerpts from news magazines, radio broadcasts, poetry, cartoons, classical literature, podcasts, and even some pop music!
Instructor
Hoss Firooznia is a graduate student and staff member at the University of Rochester who's been using Esperanto since his undergraduate days. He is certified in Esperanto proficiency at the Council of Europe's C1 level by Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, and he has studied Esperanto at the University of Hartford and the University of California. In 2005 he was chosen to teach Esperanto for UR's Continuing Education program, and in the summer he works as an assistant instructor of Esperanto at the University of California, San Diego.