A Learner Directed Approach to Kpelle. A Handbook on Communication and Culture with Dialogs, Texts, Cultural Notes, Exercises, Drills and Instructions

A combined teacher's manual and learner's manual for one of the Mande languages of Liberia presents materials for about 300 hours of study and is the equivalent of a first-year college language course. The basic text introduces all of the syntactic constructions of Kpelle that learners are...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author Thach, Sharon V
Format Web Resource
LanguageEnglish
Published 1981
Subjects
African Languages
Cultural Education
Dialects
Dialogs (Language)
Grammar
Independent Study
Instructional Materials
Introductory Courses
Kpelle
Liberia
Oral Language
Pattern Drills (Language)
Peace Corps
Second Language Instruction
Teaching Guides
Uncommonly Taught Languages
Vocabulary Development
Liberia
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Summary:A combined teacher's manual and learner's manual for one of the Mande languages of Liberia presents materials for about 300 hours of study and is the equivalent of a first-year college language course. The basic text introduces all of the syntactic constructions of Kpelle that learners are likely to encounter in the language, and introduces 1,000 vocabulary items in the most common usage. Each of the lessons has three sections: texts and vocabulary, grammatical and cultural information, and exercises with suggestions for independent study. The text section includes monologues and dialogues, with an English paraphrase. The section on grammar and culture gives explanations of Kpelle grammatical forms and cultural facts. The exercise section uses the material just presented, sometimes including picture illustrations. The independent study suggestions are directed to learners living in a Kpelle speaking area, and take the learning situation out of the classroom into the community. The lessons have these topics: instructions and commands, greetings, personal information, foods, numbers and bargaining, feelings and states of being, visiting, weather, Liberian geography, counting and arithmetic, daily tasks, clothes and crafts, health, and agriculture. A review lesson is provided after each four lessons, and the final lesson contains brief readings on a variety of topics related to the previous lessons. A list of Kpelle reading materials is appended. (MSE)