Religion provided inspiration for Swahili poetry resulting in a unique literary tradition. Today, Swahili is used in government and administration, commerce, trade, primary and secondary education, popular culture and media. The Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages, Michigan State University and the African Studies Center offer three levels of Swahili instruction. The emphasis is on conversation skills as well as reading and writing. The instructors introduce the students to various aspects of East African culture through written texts, video and audio tapes, and slide pictures.
Students learn and discuss cultural differences between America and East Africa.
Grammatical structures are learned as needed. Students write simple compositions describing themselves, events, etc. Videos, audio tapes, newspapers, magazines and the internet provide resources for the content of materials of the students interests as well as exposure to more advanced language. They are encouraged to discuss culture as well as news from Africa. Students begin to read short novels, plays, poetry, and essays.