Courses: Summer 2024
We will be offering the following seminars in Summer 2024. Meeting times are all Afghanistan time. Beginning May 20, 2024, admitted students should list their choice of seminars using the link on the Current Students page. Students may choose only those courses listed for their level of English. As courses fill, they will be removed from the list of Summer options, Offerings remain free of charge for women in Afghanistan and are focused on synchronous meetings and independent reading and research. Following the AFSO course listings is a listing of credit-bearing courses offered through our partnership with Bard College and the Open Society University Network. Students may sign up for AFSO courses, marked by *, that are cross-listed with OSUN; only nominated students may enroll in other OSUN courses.
Courses in English and Writing
Learning English through Speaking and Drawing
Low Intermediate students
This class focuses on developing students' communication skills, with emphasis on vocabulary building and grammar usage. Activities will use comics and cartoons to strengthen comprehension, reading, writing and speaking skills. Our goal in this class is to create our own individual comic strip at the end of the course. NO prior experience in drawing or art are necessary. Students must be able to draw circles o , lines / , crescents ( and dots • to take part.
June 10 - July 24, Monday and Wednesday 13.00
English Grammar and Vocabulary
Professor Diana Craciun
Low Intermediate - Intermediate students
Course description to come.
Schedule to come
How Can We Make Our Language Learning More Effective?
Professor Natalia Parker
Low Intermediate - Advanced students
In this workshop, Natalia will examine language learning through the eyes of cognitive psychology. We hope that this workshop can help you view how you learn from a slightly different perspective, and perhaps answer some of the questions that any language learner asks themselves, trying to use the knowledge that they acquire in their lessons, in their practice when they speak or write in another language. We'll learn how our processing of learning material can be optimised, and suggest strategies to make language learning more effective. We will examine how our brains process, store, and retrieve information and how some recent scientific findings could be applied to real learning situations. After the first, general workshop, Natalia will conduct specific interactive workshops on how to develop your speaking and writing; and how to make the most of your reading and listening.
June 18. Further sessions TBA. Time TBA.
The Art of Caring in Reading and Writing
Professor Sarah Elizabeth Whitney
Intermediate students
In this class, we will explore how people can take care of each other in times of good and bad health. What does empathy really mean? Who is a caretaker? What is "self-care" and why is it important? We will read about how people practice care for others, the environment, and society, and we will learn to write and support our own ideas about ethics, care work and compassion. Students will do a lot of writing in different forms, including narrative, persuasive and creative. Some of our assignments will include creating and illustrating a short comic, writing and sharing recipes that are made with care, and interviewing caretakers in your own communities.
June 17 - TBA. Time TBA.
English Language Test Preparation
Professor Lucy Ferriss
Advanced students and instructor permission only
We will prepare for the TOEFL and other English language exams with practice in reading, writing, listening, and speaking in English, using examples from the TOEFL exam and other sources. At the end of the semester, students will take a practice TOEFL exam. All students who hope to take the Colloquium in Fall 2024 must take this seminar.
June 24 - August 14, Monday and Wednesday 16.15 - 17.30
English Grammar Classes
Team-taught
These classes will be offered by peer educators throughout the summer at Intermediate and Advanced Levels. Schedules will be announced as the term begins.
Courses in the Arts
International Dramatic Literature in English
Professor Kirstin Smith
Intermediate - Advanced students
In this six-week course, we will explore plays by women from around the world. In our seminars, we'll read scenes aloud together and discuss them, as well as learning about the plays' contexts. Our aims are to practise English through performance and reading, and to analyse each drama's structure, imagery, and themes. Plays will be by writers such as Thembelihle Moyo, Lynn Nottage, and Caryl Churchill.
June 20 - July 25, Thursday 18.30 - 20.30
Music and Migration
Professor Sara Feili
Course Description to come.
Schedule to come.
Courses in Philosophy and Social Science
Urban Planning
Professor Andrew Walsh
Intermediate – Advanced students
A global history of urban planning, beginning with ancient cities and moving to modern city planning.
June 17 - July 19, time TBA
Feminist Philosophy
Professors Simona Aimar and Fatema Sadeghi
High Intermediate – Advanced students
Course description to come.
Schedule to come
* Plato
Professor Isaac Wilhelm
High Intermediate – Advanced students
Plato is one of the most innovative, and influential, philosophers in history. He helped develop a compelling, rigorous, and clear-headed methodology---of asking questions, and critically evaluating any proposed answers---for studying a variety of problems. Historically, that methodology contributed to the development of mathematics, science, history, the arts, philosophy itself, and more. But Plato's methodology is not a mere historical artifact. Practiced well, it can help us discover what is most valuable in life, correct our own biases and misapprehensions, and ultimately, uncover the deepest features of reality.
June 11 - July 4, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10.00 - 12.30 with some change in time during the session
* The Politics of Memory and Justice in Transitional Societies
Professor Jessie Barton-Hronesova
High Intermediate - Advanced students
This course sits at the intersection of two related fields: transitional justice that studies ways to deal with past human rights violations and memory politics that looks at who and how creates, transmits and reinvents collective memories and to what political purpose. By exploring the multifaceted and often country-specific approaches to justice and memory, we will evaluate the effectiveness and usefulness of the various methods of dealing with the past and study how new memory regimes have been forged in the post-World War II period.
June 24 - August 26, Mondays, 13.00 - 14.30
Courses in Mathematics and Data Science
Note: Some courses require a mathematics placement test.
* Introduction to Research Techniques
Professor Xavier Prudent
Intermediate - Advanced students
This lecture will introduce you to fundamental methods in academic research: from the protocol design to the data collection and visualisation. Students will be expected to complete personal research projects, in which they will use statistics and project design. Even though the use of a personal computer (working station or laptop) be preferred, the lecture and the projects will be designed so that anyone with a phone and paper can complete them. Material includes weekly lectures, YouTube videos, pdf documents, and a "chat" channel. Collaborations between students are encouraged, so the strong may help the weak; stronger students will be challenged, while weaker students will be supported.
June 14 - September 6, Fridays 18.00
College Algebra
Professor Barbara Kaltenbacher
Intermediate - Advanced students. Low intermediate by instructor permission only.
Mathematics is a fundamental "language" needed for working in sciences, economics and engineering – and of course in mathematics itself. The purpose of this course is to refresh some known background from school and to augment it to a base of skills and tools on the level of a standard college algebra course.
June 27 - September 5, Thursdays, 10.00 - 11.30
Integral Calculus
Professor Elisa Francini
High Intermediate – Advanced students
This course presents the basic principles of Integral Calculus by examining definitions of antiderivatives, integrals, and their interconnections, along with practical applications. Special emphasis will be placed on real-world scenarios where integral calculus serves as a powerful analytical tool. Note: Students should have successfully completed a course on Differential Calculus. An admission test will be administered one week prior to the beginning of the course.
June 18 - July 23, Tuesdays 10.30 - 12.00
OSUN Credit-Bearing Courses for Advanced AFSO Students
AFSO has partnered with the Open Society University Network to enable advanced students nominated by AFSO to take select courses for university credit. Courses identified above with * are open to all high intermediate and advanced AFSO students as credit- or non-credit courses. Other classes are available only to advanced students who have taken AFSO classes and received permission.