Introduction

INTRODUCTION – Ọ̀RỌ̀ ÌSÁÁJÚ

Activity Book for Intermediate Yoruba is a supplementary material for learners of Yoruba as a foreign language. The module will equip learners with the required skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing to perform the required tasks in the statement, as well as help learners to participate in real life communicative contexts, especially with native Yoruba speakers in different contexts.

Since language is used in real contexts, the communicative approach to language teaching informs the presentation of Yoruba in the module. The contents are presented in an interactive and engaging manner. The module is also embedded with lots of exercises to help learners practice more and assess themselves. These activities will help improve learners’ mastery of the language and present the Yoruba language in action. Learners are advised to consult Yoruba textbooks. You may find the following textbooks useful: Antonia Yétúndé Fọlárìn Schleicher Jẹ́ k’á sọ Yorùbá, Je k’á ka Yorùbá  and Fehintola Mosadomi Yorùbá Yé Mi

The topics are carefully selected in line with the ACTFL Can Do Statements. The following topics are covered in the module: Greetings in Different Contexts; Describing People; Asking and Giving Directions; Haggling at a Yoruba Market; Planning a Trip; Talking about your health, and some aspects of the Yoruba Culture.

The Listening activities include authentic materials such as interviews with native speakers; video clips from Youtube; and audio recordings. The speaking activity requires you to audio-record your responses, and pay attention to the appropriate tone mark. The writing activity presents you with topics which you are to respond to in writing. The reading activity tests your understanding or comprehension of the passage. Activities are in forms such as fill in the blanks, multiple choice questions, summary tests, among others. You will also be exposed to the rich cultural elements of the Yoruba language.

Since learners are likely to have had two semesters of Yoruba, for the most part of the book, the target language is used, while English is favored to introduce the concepts and to give instructions for clarity. However, the expressions to be practiced and the activities are in the target language.

THE GOAL OF THE COURSE (ÌLÉPA Ẹ̀KỌ́ YÌÍ)

This module will improve your communicative competence in the language. You will be able to engage in meaningful social interactions, read and write in Yoruba. After sufficient practice with this supplementary material alongside with other useful textbooks, we hope that this module will help learners attain Intermediate High Proficiency on the NCSSFL-ACTFL scale. Specifically, you should be able to fulfil the following Can-do-statements:

• greet in different contexts;
• describe people, places, events, and things;
• make presentations of a variety of topics in an organized way;
• write on topics in a generally organized way; and
• understand the main ideas in messages, presentations and texts.