Presented at the 2012 CALICO Conference at the University of Notre Dame by Evan Rubin, Chris Brown, and Mana Mohtasham

1. What’s So Epic About This Legend?
Blending Technologies to Teach Language and Culture at Multiple Levels
Produced by the Language Acquisition Resource Center at San Diego State University
Language Acquisition
Chris Brown Evan Rubin Mana Mohtasham Resource Center
cbrown@projects.sdsu.edu erubin@projects.sdsu.edu mohtasham@mail.sdsu.edu http://larc.sdsu.edu/
Twitter: LARC_SDSU

2. The Tales of Shahnameh
“The Persians regard Ferdowsi as the greatest of
their poets. For nearly a thousand years they have
continued to read and to listen to recitations from
his masterwork, the Shah-nameh, in which the
Persian national epic found its final and enduring
form. Though written about 1,000 years ago, this
work is as intelligible to the average, modern
Iranian as the King James version of the Bible is to
a modern English-speaker. The language is pure
Persian with only the slightest admixture of
Arabic.”- The Encyclopedia Britannica

3. The Tales of Shahnameh
Ferdowsi
Shahnameh
Zal Simorgh

4. Classic Literature
In The Language Classroom
Benefits
Culture
History
Challenges
Language level
Support / Activities

5. Collaboration
Dr. Fatemi Jahromi
Tehran University
Author of “An English Translation of Selected Tales of Shahnameh”

6. The Project
Take the story of Simorgh
Adapt for learners at:
• Novice
• Intermediate
• Advanced
• Superior
Develop interactive story with:
• Audio
• Text
• Language Support
• Activities
• Quizzes
Use in STARTALK Summer Camp
VIEW A SAMPLE

7. A Closer Look At The Technology

8. Articulate Presenter

9. Articulate Quizmaker

10. Before You Know It
http://www.byki.com/listcentral.html

11. https://larcmoodle.sdsu.edu

12. iBook Author http://tiny.cc/simorgh-ibook

13. Future Plans
Complete Novice level
Additional activities and support
Make widely available
Different stories / languages

14. Thank You
Q&A
Produced by the Language Acquisition Resource Center at San Diego State University
Language Acquisition
Chris Brown Evan Rubin Mana Mohtasham Resource Center
cbrown@projects.sdsu.edu erubin@projects.sdsu.edu mohtasham@mail.sdsu.edu http://larc.sdsu.edu/
Twitter: LARC_SDSU