Adapting and Writing Language Lessons/Appendix T

by Earl W. Stevick

APPENDIX T
TO
CHAPTER 7

MICROTEXTS AS CENTERS FOR A SERIES OF
PRINTED LESSONS (SWAHILI)

The following is one of 25 brief lessons, each of which was based on a short, complete news item about meetings in East Africa. The stories were chosen both for their linguistic simplicity and for the light which they shed on the holding of meetings in Kenya and Tanzania.

Each story is surrounded by a large amount of pedagogical apparatus, part of which was designed to enable students to use them as supplementary material almost from the beginning of their training. This apparatus progresses from very tightly controlled to relatively uncontrolled activities of the student. The lessons thus provide occasions for use, as well as a sample of the language and structural exploration. They do not, however, contain any explicit provision for lexical exploration beyond what is in the original sample.

LESSON 11

Vocabulary

Listen to the Swahili sentences, repeat them aloud, and practice until you can give them easily and correctly in response to the English sentences.

Rais aliwahutubia Mawaziri kwenye mkutano.	The President addressed the Ministers at a meeting.
Watakutana mwisho wa mwaka huu.	They will meet [at] the end of this year.
Bw. Fulani ni mjumbe wa wilayahii.	Mr. So-and-so is the representative of this district.
Mwenyekiti alisimamia uchaguzi.	The chairman supervised the election.
Mwenyekiti wa Mkoa huu ni nani?	Who is the chairman of this province?
Wanachama walimsaidia mwenyekiti.	The members helped the chairman.
Wanachama wote wanasaidiana.	All the members help one another.

Text

Listen to the text, read it aloud, and then check with the English translation.

Kwenye mkutano mkuu wa mwaka wa chama cha U. W. T. katika Wilaya ya Karagwe Bi Paulina Mkonge alichaguliwa kuwa Mwenye Kiti wa wilaya na Bibi Cortrida Laurenti alichaguliwa Makamu wa Mwenye Kiti.

Uchaguzi huo ulisimamiwa na mwenye kiti wa U. W. T. wa Mkoa Bi Amisa akisaidiana na mjumbe wa Mkoa Bi Mariani Farahani.

Kiongozi, 15 Agosti 1966

At the annual meeting ('principal meeting of the year') of the U. W. T. organization in the district of Karagwe, Miss Paulina Mkonge was elected to be chairman of the district and Mrs. Cortrida Laurenti was elected deputy (of the) chairman.

The (aforementioned) election was supervised by the reggional chairman of U. W. T., Miss Amisa in cooperation with ('cooperating with) the regional representative, Miss Mariani Farahani.

Supply concords All blanks are to be filled orally. Writing in the book would spoil it for future practice.

U.W.T. ni __ama __enye	U.W.T. ni chama chenye	U.W.T. is an organization
_anachama __engi.	wanachama wengi.	with many members.
Morogoro ni mkoa _enye	Morogoro ni mkoa wenye	Morogoro is a Province (?)
__iji ___ngi	vijiji vingi	with many villages.

Read the first sentence in each pair, and try to anticipate the second:

wanachama waliwakuta Viongozi.	The members found the leaders
viongozi walikutana.	The leaders met one another.
wanachama waliwasaidia viongozi.	The members helped the leaders.
Viongozi walisaidiana.	The leaders helped one another/cooperated.
Rais aliwajulisha mawaziri.	The president introduced the ministers.
Mawaziri walijulishana.	The ministers introduced one another.
Viongozi walihutubia mkutano.	The leaders addressed the meetings.
Viongozi walihutubiana.	The leaders made speeches to one another.

Questions

1. Uchaguzi huo ulisimamiwa na mwenyekiti wa mkoa?
2. Bi Paulina Mkonge alichaguliwa kuwa mwenyekiti wa mkoa?
3. Bibi Laurenti alichaguliwa makamu wa mwenye kiti?
4. Uchaguzi huo ulisimamiwa na nani?
5. Bi. Mariani Farahani ni mjumbe wa mkoa gani?
6. Mkutano huo ulikuwa wa aina gani?

Sasa mwenyekiti wa Wilaya ni nani?

Glossary

kwenye (17)	at
mwaka (3,4)	year
U.W.T.	(Umoja wa wanawake wa Tanzania)
umoja (14)	union, unity
mwanamke (1)	woman
wanawake (2)
wilaya (9, 10)	district
makamu (1)	deputy, vice-
-simamia	to oversee (lit: 'to stand by or over')
mkoa (3,4)	region, province
-saidia	to help
-saidiana	to help one another: to cooperate

Use each of these words in a short sentence based on the text. Then, if you have studied Swahili elsewhere, go on and use each word in a short sentence that is not based on the text. Ordinarily, these sentences should be factually true as well as grammatically correct.