An introduction to Kiswahili, one of Africa's major lingua franca spoken by millions across several nations in Eastern Africa. Using a communicatively-oriented, proficiency-based approach, students will develop basic communicative skills in the language through a combination of classroom activities, take-home and other language assignments. While the initial emphasis will be on the development of audio-oral skills, students will also be introduced to the essentials of reading comprehension and written expression. In addition to the acquisition of a core vocabulary, the student will be prepared to manipulate basic grammatical structures of Kiswahili for purposes of basic communication in a variety of situations. Students will also be introduced to aspects of Swahili and African culture to build cultural awareness and communicative competence.