ስለ – ABOUT

       

The purpose of this blog is to help anyone who wants to improve his or her Amharic skills, and have a place to practice it. I would like to connect with anyone who wants to learn, practice, improve and discover the Amharic language.

 I have identified the need for learning Amharic since 2012, when I started teaching the language in Washington DC, at the Ethiopian Community Center. It was a pilot project, which ended up being a success. The students were all people close to the Ethiopian culture in one way or the other: children of Ethiopian parents, people curious about the Ethiopian culture, married with Ethiopians, adopted children from Ethiopia, people looking for a language challenge… The demand for learning was present but the offer was very limited. 

As an Amharic language instructor, I planned, prepared, and delivered lessons to a wide range of levels (beginner, intermediate and advanced students). I produced new teaching materials, including audio and visual resources.

I improved my teaching experience by attending workshops on “Study in African Languages” at the National African Language Resource Center (NALRC) at Indiana University. I also got a certificate of Completion of “Study in Amharic Professional Development” from the National Council of Less commonly Taught Languages. (NCOLCTL).

As a language test developer at Second Language Testing Center (SLTI), which has now merged with Berlitz Corporation, I developed test materials based on audio recordings and written passages in Amharic. I have a deep experience in assessing students’ language levels and helping them reach their goals.

Sharing my culture is one of my passions. So if you want to learn Amharic efficiently, you’ve come to the right place.  I will keep posting diverse audios, videos and reading activities so you can keep practicing your Amharic. I will cover all essential conversational themes as well as cultural topics. If my blog turns successfully throughout the next year, helping readers either to improve or discover the language, I would like to start a virtual classroom and an online forum for learners to exchange their experiences. 

As there’s a big lack of materials to teach Amharic as a second language, I hope to fill that gap with my contributions via this blog. I invite anyone who’s interested by the language to be involved: comment, ask questions, give suggestions.