Fall 2006 class: Conversational Esperanto

Where/When

Classes meet Mondays and Thursdays from 7:15 - 8:15 p.m. in room 1106A of the Hylan Building on the UR River Campus. Come join us for a free 12-week introduction to Esperanto, the international language. You don't need to already be a UR student: all are welcome! Just contact <hoss at lodestone dot org> to reserve a spot.

Goals

Students will gain a basic command of Esperanto and a solid basis for future study. By the end of the course you should be able to understand basic spoken and written Esperanto and conduct basic conversations with speakers from all over the world.

If there's interest, in November we will make pen-pals with fellow Esperanto students in other countries.

Instruction

We'll be using the direct method of instruction, which will get you speaking the language immediately. It's an easy, informal, and fun way to learn!

Some class time will also be devoted to the history and literature of this fascinating language, and the unique role it plays in defending native language rights.

Materials

This semester we're using the animated Mazi en Gondolando, an award-winning video series from the BBC. We'll watch the video in class and downloadable excerpts will be available on the web site for easy review. No textbook is required.

We'll also be sampling a wide range of Esperanto media from around the world, including news magazines, radio broadcasts, poetry, cartoons, classical literature, and even some pop music!

People

Instructor: Hoss Firooznia < hoss at lodestone dot org >

Hoss is a graduate of the University of Rochester and has been involved with Esperanto since 1991. He studied Esperanto at the University of Hartford and has been an instructor for the English version of ELNA's Free Esperanto Course. In 2005 he was chosen to teach a course titled Esperanto 101: Learning and Using the International Language at the University of Rochester.

Guest speaker: Steve Farrington

Steve is a graduate of SUNY Brockport and Bowling Green State University who teaches French and Spanish at Monroe Community College and a high school in Webster. After recently taking up Esperanto, he went travelling in Europe and attended the 2006 Universala Kongreso in Florence, Italy, with several thousand Esperanto speakers from around the world.

Guest speaker: Marian Ghilea

Marian is a Ph.D student at the University of Rochester and a former correspondent for Monato, a Belgian news magazine published in Esperanto. Marian first learned Esperanto in his native Romania; he also speaks English, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, and of course Romanian, his native tongue.