COURSE DETAILS

At the end of Intermediate Burmese (100A, 100B), non-native students will be able to speak Burmese using basic sentence structures, conjunctions, and modifiers to discuss a history, literature, music, and current events. They will also be able to read and write simple literary-style paragraphs describing daily activities, food, travel, family life, home life, and pop culture.

Academic Year 2024-2025

Intermediate Burmese 100A/B (15 units)
ZOOM
Wednesdays 4-6PM
Thursdays 4-6PM
Fridays 4-5PM 

Fulfills one year of language requirement. Units will be added to UCLA transcript. 

Burmese 100A Fall 2024 (7.5 units): September 26, 2024 to December 6, 2024
Burmese 100B Winter/Spring 2025 (7.5 units): January 21, 2025 to May 9, 2025

Note: This is a distance learning class administered through UC Berkeley and conducted through Zoom. Students are required to attend the class and participate in live discussions during the designated times.

ELIGIBILITY

• Currently enrolled graduate or undergraduate student
• Minimum GPA required: 2.0 for undergraduate students, 3.0 graduate students
• Must be already enrolled in minimum 12 units at UCLA
• Note: To enroll, you need to have successfully completed BURMESE 1A and 1B (Introductory Burmese Part I and II), or possess basic Burmese speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills. For those who need to brush up on their reading and writing skills, the course includes an optional one-week self-study module on the Burmese alphabet and diacritics.

STUDY MATERIALS INCLUDE

• excerpts from Lu Du Daw Amar’s biographical essay “Back to Pyin Oo Lwin Once More”
• a news clip about admission fee increase for foreigners at the Shwe Dagon pagoda;
• a news report on UNESCO recognizing Bagan as a world heritage site.

LESSONS & ASSIGNMENTS INCLUDE

• converting spoken Burmese into literary Burmese;
• writing a report about a Burmese book in a library;
• converting verbs into nouns by adding the prefix အ or suffix ြခင်း
• formulating and using onomatopoeias (sound-imitating phrases);
• writing the opening to a ghost story using onomatopoeias.  

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

Kenneth Wong is the author of A Prayer for Burma (Santa Monica Press, 2003), a travelogue and memoir about growing up under military rule; Survival Burmese: Phrasebook and Dictionary (Tuttle Publishing, 2017); Easy Burmese: a Complete Language Course and Pocket Dictionary (Tuttle Publishing, 2019). His short stories, articles, poetry translations, and essays have appeared in Myanmar Times, Irrawaddy, San Francisco Chronicle, AGNI, among others. 

ENROLLMENT INSTRUCTIONS

Because it takes a few weeks for the enrollment to be processed, students are asked to start the enrollment process at least four weeks before classes begin.

1. If interested, contact the instructor Kenneth Wong at kennethwong@berkeley.edu for an initial language assessment.
2. To officially enroll, contact Sandy Valdivieso at sandy@international.ucla.edu to schedule a meeting. 
3. The students should have the following forms ready when making the appointment:

Undergraduate students: Simultaneous Enrollment Form

Graduate students: Intercampus Exchange Program Application
(The form must be approved by the department chair.)