About Our Classes.
Our classes are relatively small, so you will get a lot of personal attention and personalized assistance from your professor. And, you will get to know your classmates and make friends.
Our classes dont have TAs and you will be taught by your Professor every day.
Our classes were designed with both true beginners and heritage speakers in mind. For those who only speak Persian/Farsi, the Elementary I course is a quick and easy way to learn how to read and write properly in Modern Persian.
Our courses were designed with the MLA (Modern Language Association) standards and ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) proficiency guidelines in mind.
Each of our courses meets or exceeds proficiency requirements determined by ACTFL for that particular level.
We teach based on modern methodologies in language instruction and rely on integrated and communicative approaches with an emphasis on the five C's in accordance with the National Foreign Language Standards (Communication, Communities, Cultures, Connections, and Comparisons).
We incorporate digital resources in our course material, i.e. our textbook for semesters I and II is available to our students online in its entirety, so that students can access the pages of the book, readings, exercises, video and audio material, HW assignments from their computers anytime at their convenience.
We speak Persian every day in class, so that you develop confidence and strong speaking proficiency by the end of the semester.
To reflect the realities of modern Persian-speaking world, we teach Colloquial pronunciation for all speaking and listening tasks and rely on Standard Written Persian for writing and reading tasks.
There is a Tuition-Free study abroad program available to students of Persian. The study abroad program is organized and held by a third party not associated with Cornell.
Our students are from over 20 fields across Cornell departments, colleges and schools including Near Eastern Studies, History, History of Art, ILR, CALS, Engineering, Law school, Biological sciences, Comparative Literature, Government, Economics, Linguistics, Classics, Anthropology, Philosophy, Hotel Administration, Archaeology, Human Ecology, Architecture, Music, Theatre Arts, ROTC. You will always find someone to whom you can relate.
The quality of instruction in the Persian courses is up to the highest national standards. Our curriculum is based on National Standards for Foreign Language Learning defined by American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) which emphasizes the Five Cs (Communication, Culture, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities). We also rely on the proficiency evaluation guidelines and skill-level descriptions used by U.S. government institutions such as Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) and Foreign Language and Area Studies program (FLAS). Our undergraduate and graduate students become competitive applicants for language learning scholarships and grants, summer language programs and study abroad programs.
Some of the Achievements of our students:
One of our former students went on to teach Persian/Farsi language at an NGO in Washington, DC.
Several of our students having completed Elementary and Intermediate Persian courses went on to work with Persian-language manuscripts in the Libraries and Archives in Britain and India.
Two of our alumni were accepted to a competitive study abroad program (in Persian) and went on to complete three rounds of study abroad on scholarships.
Persian language courses inspire our undergraduate students to pursue graduate studies in the related fields. One of our Persian language students went on to write Honors Thesis on a modern Iranian ιmigrι literature. The student is now pursing Graduate Studies in Literature (with an emphasis on Iranian writers) at a prestigious university in the U.S.
Study abroad opportunities:
1. Tuition-Free study abroad program in Tehran, Iran hosted regularly by the Saadi Foundation (Iran) that collaborates with The American Institute for Iranian Studies (AIIrS, U.S.A). The host institution in Iran covers the tuition cost, textbooks, lodging, cultural programs and field trips. Prerequisite: 4 semesters of Persian at a university level.
Saadi Foundation: http://www.saadifoundation.ir/index.aspx?fkeyid=&siteid=1&pageid=243
American Institute for Iranian Studies (AIIrS): http://www.simorgh-aiis.org/
2. Study Abroad in Tehran, Iran hosted by the Dehkhoda Lexicon Institute and International Center for Persian Studies (Iran). Fees apply. Our Cornell students have taken this study abroad during summer and have had really good experiences. Information about the cost (in English) and specifics of the program is available at: http://icps.ut.ac.ir/tuition-e.html
3. Study Abroad (Persian) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan hosted by the American Councils for International Education. Fees apply. Our Cornell students have taken this study abroad program and have had good experiences.
See:
http://www.clscholarship.org/languages/persian https://www.americancouncils.org/programs/critical-language-scholarship
Scholarships are available from the Critical Language Scholarship Program as well as Boren Awards for International Study.
https://www.borenawards.org/boren_scholarship
Student organizations at Cornell:
There are two Persian Student Organizations at Cornell: the undergraduate Persian Students Organization (PSO) and Iranian Graduate Students Organization. These student organizations regularly hold cultural events including: the annual Nowrooz celebration (Persian New Year), Chaar shambeye Soori (Bonfire Wednesday, Persian traditional festival of spring), Mehregan celebration (Persian fall festival), Shabeh Yaldah celebration (Persian winter festival) as well as other events that occur intermittently. Persian Studies program holds the weekly Persian Discussion Table open to all interested students and faculty who seek an opportunity to get together for a free meal in an informal setting and practice Persian or simply chat and learn about Persian culture, current events, and all things Persian. Knowledge of Persian is not required. Persian Studies program also hold regular events on North Campus that center around Persian and Middle Eastern art, languages and cultures.