Masabelane ngesiXhosa! Let us share in isiXhosa: Beginner isiXhosa for staff

Price: Fully subsidised for SU staff

Masabelane ngesiXhosa! That means, ‘Let us share in isiXhosa’. We are inviting you to come and share in the language and culture of isiXhosa during your lunch hour. We offer two eight-week courses (two one-hour sessions per week, 13:00 to 14:00), open to Stellenbosch University staff members.

Masabelane A1 (Beginner) is aimed at staff members who have not attended an isiXhosa course before, and you are bound to have fun while you learn. The course aims to teach you about the isiXhosa language and culture, and to enable you to engage in meaningful conversation at beginner level. By doing this course you will be actively cultivating a multilingual mindset in the office and in class.

Masabelane A2 (Elementary) is a brand-new short course aimed at staff members with a beginner’s knowledge of isiXhosa. It is the ideal follow-up course if you have completed the original Masabelane course and would like to further your knowledge of the language. If you haven’t attended Masabelane but you already know a bit of isiXhosa, you’re also welcome here. This is a fun-filled course offering you a linguistic and cultural taste of isiXhosa as a language in a wider cultural context. By the end of the course you should be able to speak social isiXhosa with confidence and identify the gist of social conversations. You will also have knowledge of basic isiXhosa grammar, vocabulary and idiomatic expressions.

2024 course dates

Beginner A1
15 July – 4 September
16 September – 6 November

Elementary A2
20 August – 6 November

Downloadable documents

– 2024 Beginner A1 info page
– 2024 Elementary A2 info page

Presenters

Stembele Johnson – Stembele is a young and dynamic isiXhosa lecturer. She enjoys sharing her love for the isiXhosa language and its culture with her students, and she believes that learning a new language connects people from different cultures and creates a space for people to grow. She enjoys helping her students become part of a broader isiXhosa culture in an encouraging learning and teaching environment.

Location

All sessions will be offered in Stellenbosch at the University campus.

We will focus on the following themes to enhance your ability to communicate in isiXhosa:

Greeting people and making introductions
Asking about someone’s health and feelings
Inviting someone for a drink or something to eat
Ordering something to drink and eat at a restaurant
Identifying kitchen contents
Making and answering telephone calls
Speaking about the weather
Naming the months and days of the week
Setting up formal and informal appointments
Giving directions
Asking for help at a filling station

This course is presented face-to-face over eight weeks. We use a communicative approach to teaching, which means that you will learn isiXhosa in a fun and exciting way.

We love interacting with you to give you the practice you need so that you can become confident in speaking the language. There will be speaking tasks at a lower beginner level as well as group interaction with the presenter.

Depending on the delivery mode of this course, you might also be given access to our online learning platform so that you will have access to course resources and will be able to complete certain activities.

The primary language of teaching and learning of this course will be English (instruction), with occasional switching to isiXhosa for learning purposes.

Face-to-face contact time = 24 hours (2 hours per week for 12 weeks)
Online and autonomous learning = 12 hours (1 hour per week)

You need to attend all the sessions; there are no tests, but you will be continuously assessed on the basis of your participation in class.

We recommend a computer with internet access and a microphone to participate in live sessions on MS Teams, if there are any, and to complete the online activities outside of class.

Any Stellenbosch University staff member with no previous knowledge of isiXhosa.

Click on the ‘Sign up now’ button if you are interested in doing this course, and fill in the form. We will then send you a link to enrol for the course.

You will receive a certificate of attendance after you have completed the course successfully. You will have to attend all the sessions and take part in the activities.

You will not only learn a new language but will also be empowered with multilingual and multicultural skills. You may also find that you can connect better with students and colleagues in basic isiXhosa conversations. In addition, you will be able to start appreciating isiXhosa as a regional language and its position as an official language in South Africa.