5-19-11 meet-up

1st ACTIVITY:

Vocabulary Practice

• We quizzed each other on Fruits/பழங்கள்
• We tried to come up with tips on how to remember the vocabulary words, but we couldn’t come up with many tricks for this section of words
• We reviewed the fruits and vegetables using an iPhone Tamil app put out by uTalk seen here. They also have an Android app, and it’s possibly available for other phones. It has a section to review words and then it quizzes you on them.
• After the fruits, we practiced our numbers.
• We reviewed numbers 1-20, and then read through 20, 30, 40, etc. and 100, 200, 300, etc.
• We practiced saying random numbers like 33, 67, 42 and then 328, 467, 928, etc. We even practiced saying 1111!

2nd ACTIVITY:

Colloquial Tamil — Unit 3 Dialogue 2: Shopping for Groceries

• We practiced dialogue 2 on page 43
• As a preview for next week, we also read through the next dialogue we are planning to do Unit 6 Dialogue 1: Planning an outing on page 85
• We decided to skip around the book a bit because we were interested in the vocab from this dialogue, including days of the week and family member vocab that we will be studying for next time.

3rd ACTIVITY:
Alphabet practice (reading)

• We practiced recognizing alphabet letters from a Tamil-learning website for kids called Noolagam.
  • We mute the volume and deselect “auto” so we can go at our own pace.
  • Then we go through each letter and pronounce them aloud.
  • For this exercise, one consonant is chosen, and the all of the ways it can be combined with the vowels are displayed.
  •  ண் is the consonant we chose to practice.

Alphabet practice (writing)

• After this general review, we practiced the letter ண் in all its variations.
• It is the 6th consonant in the Tamil alphabet.
• It is pronounced “nn”, similar in sound to the ‘n’ in no, but said a bit longer, like ‘nno’.
• This letter is used for long n sounds in the middles of words

ண் “in”

• We wrote this letter and all of its variations when combined with the different vowels. Then we found Tamil words that used this letter. There are a lot of words that use this letter, but here are a few:

…..

eye — (kann)

கண

…..

wrist — (mannekkattu)

மணிக்கட்டு

…..

butterfly fish — (vanna meen)

வண்ன மீன

…..

triangle — (mukkoonam)

முக்கோனம்

…..

4th ACTIVITY:
Grammar practice

• We didn’t practice any verbs or grammar this time, but we are planning to study வாங்கு (vaanku) which means buy/receive for next time.

4-27-11 meet up

1st ACTIVITY:

Vocabulary Practice: “I like/ I don’t like…”

• We quizzed each other on vegetables & used the phrase “i like/ I don’t like”
• ex: I like tomatoes. I don’t like onions.
• How do you say “Do you like beans?” “He likes potatoes.”    ??

Vocabulary Practice: numbers

• We reviewed numbers 1-20, and looked at multiples of 10 up to 100. We realized that 90 and 900 don’t follow the same pattern as the other numbers.
• ex: 30=muppadu, 40=naappadu 50=ambadu
• whereas 90=tonnuuru which relates to 100=nuuru

2nd ACTIVITY:

Colloquial Tamil — Unit 3 Dialogue 2: buying groceries

• We practiced the dialogue, taking turns with the different roles. We will do this dialog again to get more practice with buying food items.

3rd ACTIVITY:

Grammar practice

• We wrote the colloquial version of the verb “to come” வா (vaa) and practiced sentences like:
  • She came / is coming / will come to the store.
  • I came home.
  • Rajesh will come to the mountains.
• Thanks Arun for your verb-studying suggestions. We’re going to stick to class 7 verbs for now!

4th ACTIVITY:

Alphabet practice (reading)

• We practiced recognizing alphabet letters from a Tamil-learning website for kids called Noolagam.
  • We mute the volume and deselect “auto” so we can go at our own pace.
  • Then we go through each letter and pronounce them aloud.
  • For this exercise, one consonant is chosen, and the all of the ways it can be combined with the vowels are displayed.
  • ட்  was the  consonant we chose to practice.

Alphabet practice (writing)

• After this general review, we practiced the letter ட் in all its variations.
• It is the 5th consonant in the Tamil alphabet.
• It is pronounced “t”

ட் “t”

• We wrote this letter and all of its variations when combined with the different vowels. Then we found Tamil words that used this letter.

…..

shop — (kadai)

கடை

…..

house — (veedu)

வீடு

…..

stick — (thadi)

தடி

…..

thumb — (kattaiviral)

கட்டைவிரல்

…..

* We have a theory:  Is ட்  pronounced with a “t” sound when the letter is followed by another ட் and pronounced with a “d” sound when the letter is by itself?      ??

பழங்கள்/காய் questions…

I have a question about fruit, or பழங்கள் (pazhangkall) and vegetables, or காய் (kaay)

Most names of fruits seem to end in பழம் , just as many veg names end in காய்
Can you always leave the காய் and பழம் off, or do you always have to say the ending too?

For example, can you say maathullam instead of maathullamparam for pomegranite?

Is there a fruit or veg that you always have to add the பழம் or காய் to?

I am thinking when you write it you should always write the whole thing though?

Thanks for your help Tamil speakers!

who, what, when, where, why, how: dialog 2

A made-up dialog using the colloquial version of these words:

who: யார் (yaar)
what: என்ன (yenna)
when: எப்ப (yeppa)
where: எங்க (yenga)
why: ஏன் (yean)
how: எப்படி (yeppidi)

(phone conversation – using colloquial Tamil)
—————————————————————————————————

1. Who are you? — (My name is Liz*)
2. Where are you going? — (To the store)
3. Why are you going there? — (To buy stuff.)
4. What will you buy? — (Onions.)
5. How much do they cost? — (10 Rupees)
6. How will you pay? — (Cash.)
7. Who else will go with you? — (Vijay* is going.)

*You can substitute names with any name

—————————————————————————————————

1. niinga yaru? — (En peeru Liz.) 

2. yenga pooringa? — (kadaikku pooren)

3. ange yean pooringa? — (saman vanga pooren)

4. yenna vanga pooringa? — (vangayam)

5. evvlo aagum? — (pattu ruubaa)

6. yeppadi pay panna pooringa? — (panham.)

7. yar kuda pooringa? — (Vijay kuda pooreen)

—————————————————————————————————

who, what, when, where, why, how: dialog 1

A made-up dialog using the colloquial version of these words:

who: யார் (yaar)
what: என்ன (yenna)
when: எப்ப (yeppa)
where: எங்க (yenga)
why: ஏன் (yean)
how: எப்படி (yeppidi)

(phone conversation – using colloquial Tamil)
—————————————————————————————————

1. Hello. — (Hi.)
2. Where are you? — (I’m at the zoo.)
3. What? Why? — (My friend* wanted to see the baby elephant.)
4. How did you get there? — (I came with my friend*.)
5. Who else did you come with? [Who else are you with?]  – (No one else.)
6. When are you coming home? — (In 2 hours.)
7. Ok, see you later. — (Ok, bye.)

*You can substitute “friend” for any person’s name.

—————————————————————————————————

1. Hello. — (Hi.) 

2. எங்க இருக்க? — (நான் zoo-ல இருக்கேன்)
2. yenga irukka? — (naan zoola irukkayn)

3. என்ன? ஏன்? — (என்னோட friend யானைக்குட்டிய பாக்கனும்னு சொன்னா)
3. yenna? yean? — (yennōda friend yaanaikkuttiya paakkanumnu sonnaa)

4. எப்படி அங்க போன? — (friend கூட வந்தேன்)
4. yeppadi anga pōna? — (friend kooda vanthayn)

5. வேற யார் கூட இருக்காங்க? — (யாரும் கூட இல்ல)
5. vayra yaar kooda irukkaanga? — (yaarum kooda illa)

6. எப்ப வீட்டுக்கு வருவ? — (ரெண்டு மணி நேரத்துல)
6. yeppa veettukku varuva? — (rendu mani nayrathula)

7. சரி, அப்புறம் பார்க்கலாம் — (bye)
7. sari, appuram paarkkalaam

—————————————————————————————————