General requirements for university studies.

The aim of the course is to provide students with a basic knowledge of the Georgian language as well as a general orientation on Georgian culture and society.

The course offers

- a basic knowledge of the grammatical structure and vocabulary of Georgian with a particular focus on typologically interesting features.

- an introduction to Georgian and South Caucasian studies

- an overview of the language situation in Georgia

- an orientation to Georgian culture and society.

After finishing the course, the student are expected to have obtained knowledge of

- main characteristic syntactic and morphological features of Georgian;

- main aspects of the political and cultural situation in Georgia

After finishing the course, the student are expected to be able to

- read, analyse and understand simple texts in Georgian by means of a dictionary;

- understand discussions on simple topics in Georgian;

- analyze main tendencies of the language situation and ethnic relations in Georgia;

- independently identify and search relevant information concerning the Georgian language and culture

After finishing the course, the student are expected to be able to critically reflect over and make judgments in respect to

- own need of further studies for improving the communication skills;

- language situation and ethnic relations in Georgia.

The course is offered as an IT-based distance learning course. The course presupposes active participation of the students. Learning activities include:

- lectures published every week combining theory (linguistic and cultural topics) and practise (texts and exercises).

- interactive exercises for individual studies

- compulsory exercises given to the students throughout the term.

- non-compulsory live sessions on the Internet

- a large number of audio files aimed at facilitating the comprehension of oral speech and practising the pronunciation

- student to student interaction in the virtual classroom on the Internet

- a compulsory project work in small groups on cultural themes, shared with classmates for peer review.

All activities are conducted online.

Compulsory exercises given to students throughout the term, as well as examination, focus on the assessment of knowledge of main morphological and syntactic features and basic vocabulary, as well as on the students’ ability to read, analyze and understand simple texts in Georgian. Audio questions are used for assessment of listening comprehension.

A project paper is aimed at the development of the ability to independently search and analyze relevant information concerning the Georgian language and culture.

Examination is conducted online.

Students who do not pass the regular course exams have the minimum of two re-sit opportunities. Re-sits follow the same form as the original exams, apart from re-sits for group work, which take the form of individual written assignments.

Internet based course material includes all the necessary literature for the course, including texts, grammar, dictionary, exercises, audio files, research papers concerning the language situation and ethnic relations in Georgia;

Georgian texts are offered in Georgian script, parallel Latin transliteration is also provided.

Some external links are also included.

Additional material may be introduced in the course, but no more than 100 pages.

All students are offered an opportunity to give oral and written feedback at the end of the course. A summary of the results will be made available on the school’s web-pages. The students are also given a possibility to offer feedback for each module/unit.

Students have an opportunity for discussions and suggestions concerning the course during the term both in Forum and through e-mail correspondence with the teacher. Students can also take contact to the student union.