Project RIA Companion Resources

Readers in Ajami:

Project RIA is developing three Ajami readers: a Hausa, Mandinka, and Wolof reader. Each reader will have about 150 pages, including 10 selected contextualized Ajami texts, standard Latin script transcriptions and annotated English translations. Each reader will consist of 6 units, dealing with themes such as advertisement, business and economy, health and medicine, agriculture and the environment, human rights, politics and diplomacy, and religion, history and arts. We recognize that most users of the Ajami readers (including professional African language teachers in Title VI centers) have been trained in Europhone schools. Thus, although they may be culturally literate in Hausa, Mandinka, and Wolof societies, they are generally illiterate in their respective centuries-old Ajami writing traditions. For this reason, Project RIA will offer users tips on how best to use the readers and their accompanying multimedia resources. For each unit, we offer specific ideas for in-class and out of class exercises. We are also developing instructional tasks for each unit that enhance users’ speaking, listening, reading and writing in both Latin and Ajami script and allow them to apply the knowledge they gain from RIA resources to their respective professional fields. The final hard copies of the readers will be made freely downloadable.

Companion Multimedia Resources:

The three Ajami readers are complemented by rich multimedia resources in a website. These resources will include 1) 10-minute long interviews with Hausa, Mandinka, and Wolof Ajami users in their natural environments discussing their activities, Ajami writing tradition, and the 6 themes of the readers (60 minutes of video recording for each language, 180 minutes for the three languages); 2) video interviews have optional subtitles in Hausa, Mandinka, and Wolof standard Latin script orthographies and English translations allowing users to choose the type of subtitles they prefer; (3) curated high resolution digital images that authentically capture the communities of Hausa, Mandinka, and Wolof Ajami practitioners with captions in standard Latin script orthographies and English, and (4) pedagogical activities that allow users to practice their Hausa, Mandinka, and Wolof listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. Users will be able to view the video interviews, listen to the insights of a diverse group of Ajami users whose voices have not been captured in this manner before, read subtitles in English or  in Hausa, Mandinka, and Wolof standard Latin orthographies. RIA multimedia resources will be made searchable using English or Hausa, Mandinka, and Wolof words in Latin script.

The development of RIA resources are informed by best practices in digital technology and language pedagogy and assessment, including National Standards in Foreign Language Education’s “Five Cs,” and ACTFL and STAMP guidelines. Performance-based pedagogy also informs the development of RIA textual and digital resources in order to enable users to gain unique insights in Hausa, Mandinka, and Wolof societies and be able to perform specific tasks, including recognizing the similarities and differences between Hausa, Mandinka, and Wolof Ajami orthographies.