Language Centre

Sinhala Beginners course

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Key information

Attendance mode: Part-time, on campus, 1 term per sub-level
Location: Bloomsbury

Course overview

This course provides you with a basic knowledge of Sinhala and of contemporary Sinhala culture.

It concentrates on spoken Sinhala, the language used by speakers at all social and from all educational backgrounds. Literary Sinhala differs markedly from the colloquial variant and does not form the basis of this course.

Method

This course is taught in English and Sinhala with coverage of the four key skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing). Instructions are given largely in English, but Sinhala expressions are used as often as possible to ease you into using Sinhala directly rather than using an English-to-Sinhala translation approach.

The course includes a pronunciation guide, lessons on conversation, grammar and set exercises followed by review exercises after every four lessons. Whilst phonemic transcription will be used for the first 6 weeks, the basic Sinhala transcript will be introduced from the seventh session. You are expected to attend regularly, participate in class and complete homework regularly to ensure learning progress.

Materials

The tutor will provide you with the course material. You are encouraged to make use of recommended websites, listen to radio broadcasts and watch television programmes available on the intranet.

Location

This course will take place on the Bloomsbury campus of SOAS. See SOAS Campus Map. Room locations will be provided once the enrolment period for the course has closed.

Entry requirements and progression route

For the first stage of Sinhala Beginners (i.e. Sinhala Beginners 1), no previous knowledge is required. To be able to join Beginners 2 or 3 you should have completed Beginners 1 and 2 respectively at SOAS Language Centre or have an equivalent knowledge of guided learning hours (20 hours blended learning per each sub-level).

The progression route from Sinhala Beginners 1 is to Sinhala Beginners 2; from Beginners 2 to Beginners 3. Upon successful completion of Sinhala Beginners 3 you will be able to progress to the Elementary level course in Sinhala.

Please note, that each term, courses are subject to quorum requirements.

For course dates and information, please see our timetables

Structure

Sinhala Beginners 1

By the end of the course you should be able to:

use the Sinhala writing system
use greetings and farewells
introduce yourself
talk about your family
use time expressions
use the days of the week
ask and give directions
use numbers 0-100
describe things
order a taxi
give a command
order food in a café or restaurant

Sinhala Beginners 2

order a meal and drinks at a restaurant
talk about family and relatives
use ordinal numbers and also cardinal numbers up to 1000 and above
ask the train fares, times and reserve seats on journeys
use the Sinhala writing system including the mixed alphabet
to understand modern Sinhala writing usage, language of the media and follow the news, debates and stories on television
to read and understand all notices, warnings, road and street names and instructions to follow when entering religious monuments and archaeological sites
write reviews and complaints on subjects of your choice
write informal letters/emails to your family
to prepare a summary on a given subject to an organisation or to your employer
to give a short presentation on a given subject

The above is an indication of content that may be covered over the duration of the course but it could vary depending on the level and progress of students in the class.

Sinhala Beginners course

Key information