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| Title: | SAMS301: Advanced Samskritam I |
| Placement: | Fall semester |
| Pre-Requisites: | SAMS203 |
| Course Website: | https://www.safl.org/ |
Course Overview:
SAMS301 is an online course designed to enable students to further the application of their writing, reading and comprehension skills gained in SAMS100-level and 200-level courses. Students will continue reading and analyzing simple stanzas in verse, and learn to compose essays in Samskritam. This course will introduce advanced grammatical concepts such as consonant ending nouns and the different tenses of the passive voice.
Course Objectives:
- Understand and formulate responses to simple moral stories.
- Conjugate and become familiar with the use of the subjunctive mood.
- Conjugate and become familiar with the use of the impersonal voice in the present tense.
- Recognize the verb forms in the ten classes.
- Recognize the case endings for nouns ending in consonants.
- Identify the cultural practices associated with Indian festivals.
- Understand sentence construction in the passive voice and know the passive verb forms.
- Begin to split simple euphonic vowel combinations correctly and understand simple stanzas written in verse.
Core Content – Topical Outline:
Part 1:
- Listening & Speaking
- Conversations of daily routines
- Reading & Writing
- Recognition of consonant ending masculine and neuter gender nouns in first four cases
- Subjunctive mood
- Differences between passive and active voice
- Techniques for reading and understanding stanzas in verse
- Reading and comprehension of simple moral stories
- Purport translation of simple verses
- Euphonic vowel combinations
Part 2:
- Listening & Speaking
- Conversations of daily routines
- Reading and Writing
- Recognition of consonant ending masculine and neuter gender nouns in last four cases
- Use of the impersonal voice
- Reading and comprehension of simple moral stories
- Reading and understanding stanzas in verse
- Past passive participles
- Euphonic vowel combinations
- Letter writing
- Introduction to famous Sanskrit poets and their work
Grading Plan:
5% - Class Attendance
15% - Weekly Conversations
20% - Homework Assignments
20% - Midterm Exam on Part 1
20% - Final Project
20% - Final Exam on Part 1 and 2
Grading Scale:
A = 90-100%
B = 80-89%
C= 70-79%
D= 60-69%
F= 59% and below
Course Assignments, Exams and Projects:
1.Class Attendance (5%):
This course includes a mandatory, once a week, 1.5hour contact class by video conference. A Samskrita Bharati trained teacher will lead this session. The time will be used to practice conversational skills, introduce new topics, and answer any questions. The only excused absences are those due to sickness or family emergency. In such cases, an email from a parent of the student must be sent at least 24 hours before the start of the class in order to excuse the absence.
2. Weekly Conversations (15%):
Students are assigned a simple topic to speak about every week. These topics are intended to cover concepts taught in previous classes, and enable the students to put theoretical knowledge into practical use, by employing those concepts in simple Sanskrit sentences and conversations. Every student is expected to record his or her oration as an audio file, and submit this through the website. Students who fail to do so will not only not receive credit for that week, but also miss out on a valuable opportunity to familiarize themselves with using Samskritam as a means of communication.
3. Homework Assignments (20%):
Homework is assigned as indicated in the weekly syllabus on the course website. Students are expected to complete the homework before midnight on Sunday of each week. All homework assignments are to be submitted via the course website. 5% per day will be deducted from assignments submitted late. Extensions must be requested at least 24 hours before the deadline for any assignment.
4. Midterm Exam (20%):
The midterm exam will be administered during the seventh week as indicated on the course calendar. The exam will include a written and oral portion. Both portions of the exam will be administered and proctored by the course instructor during class time. Students are to complete all exams without the aid of any textbooks, notes, or other people.
5. Final Project (20%):
Students are expected to write a short essay describing the celebration of an Indian festival of their choice. The essay should be typed in Devanagari script and submitted as a pdf file. The paper should be a minimum of one page, single spaced, in size 12 font. There will be multiple deadlines throughout the semester to track the progress of the students. The project will be graded on usage of correct grammar, punctuation, spelling and creativity.
6. Final Exam (20%):
The final exam will be administered during the final week of classes as indicated on the course calendar. The exam will include a written and oral portion. Both portions of the exam will be administered and proctored by the course instructor during class time. Students are to complete all exams without the aid of any textbooks, notes, or other people.
Course Expectations:
Students are required to have access to a computer, scanner, webcam, microphone and the internet for this course. Teachers primarily use email to contact students and it is imperative that students respond in a timely manner.
Apart from the weekly class, students are expected to spend ample time studying the course material and completing the homework. Students are expected to honor academic integrity when completing all assignments and exams.
Required Texts and Materials:
The following texts and materials will be required for this course.
300 Level Continuing Students
सौरभम् - Third Year SAFL Textbook
पञ्चतन्त्रकथाः
महाभारत-नीतिकथाः