Speak Xhosa in Eight Weeks

Trainer: Tessa Dowling
Duration: 12 hours
Delivery: Online
Timing: Eight weekly 90-minute sessions
Cost: R2,995 (incl VAT). Best price guaranteed
“Tessa is a brilliant teacher and it was an absolute pleasure to do the course. Content, preparation, delivery top notch. Highly recommended.”

This course will give you the Xhosa you need to have a conversation: handy vocabulary, everyday phrases, and key grammar. You’ll enjoy the sessions, feel challenged but not overwhelmed, and discover a warm and respectful new way to connect with fellow South Africans. (This is an introductory course. For our intermediate Xhosa course, click here.)

COURSE CONTENT

Each week covers a different topic, with easily achievable goals:

  • Week 1: Greetings and introductions – formal and informal, including slang greetings and nicknames; understanding Xhosa names, and pronouncing the clicks
  • Week 2: Complimenting and thanking – a few nice ways to lift the mood with grace and respect
  • Week 3: Exclaiming about the weather – always an ice-breaker
  • Week 4: Asking basic questions and using the present tense, allowing you to make your own sentences
  • Week 5: Complaining and commiserating in fun ways – nothing hectic, just the normal things that bring people closer together
  • Week 6: Getting to know someone – asking about past experiences and using the past tense
  • Week 7: Making plans, using the future tense
  • Week 8: Wishing well – great ways to wish people a nice holiday, good luck, a peaceful night, a speedy recovery, and more

DELIVERY METHOD

At each 90-minute weekly session, Tessa Dowling will expertly and entertainingly present new material. After that, you’ll practise what you’ve seen and heard.

You’ll receive PowerPoint presentations, notes, sound files, and a course manual with practical exercises to complete at home.

There are no formal assessments, but Tessa will provide constant feedback.

OUTCOMES

After completing Speak Xhosa in Eight Weeks, you’ll boost your work performance by:

  • Speaking warmly with colleagues, clients, and other fellow South Africans from all walks of life in their mother tongue
  • Understanding more about Xhosa culture
  • Enjoying the benefits of learning a new language, including improved memory, enhanced general communication, and greater confidence

Click below to book or ask about our offerings

Delivery: Online or in-person

Duration: 12 hours

Other info: Click "Ask a question" to find out more; or "Request a booking" to arrange an exclusive course for your team. Group discounts and online or in-person options are available.

Cost: Best price guaranteed

Duration: 12 hours

Start date: 14 January 2025

End date: 4 March 2025

Timing: Every Tuesday, 17h30-19h00, for eight weeks

Cost: R2,995 (incl VAT). Best price guaranteed

Share this page:
“Just to thank you sincerely for the wonderful time I had on your course.  I never thought that a stressful situation could be so enjoyable. I could go into all kinds of superlatives to describe the course, but I have decided that two words will suffice : AA –  absolutely awesome!”
“Enkosi kakhulu. It was a very good course and extremely well presented and prepared and with lots of practical information. I will miss it. Thank you very much, Tessa is a SUPER Xhosa teacher!”
“I am loving the course!  Tessa has such a great energy and inspires us to believe that something a huge as learning another language is possible… especially a little later in life.  I love the format and the content.  Tessa is always available for questions and answers with lots of additional information.”

Join our newsletter

We won’t ever sell your details. We’ll just send you helpful info about fantastic courses.

Ask a question

Request a booking

Ask a question

Tessa Dowling

Tessa Dowling

Tessa Dowling has been described by a leading language academic as “both erudite and hilarious”. She has taught businesspeople, politicians, doctors, and many other adults how to speak Xhosa, and has written textbooks for learners of African languages.

Tessa holds a Distinguished Teacher Award from UCT, where she lectures. She writes prize-winning academic articles and lighter humorous pieces on African languages, is a popular speaker at conferences, and is often asked to comment in the media on language issues.

Having begun her study of Xhosa at the age of twenty-five, Tessa is living proof that an English-speaking South African adult can master an African language.

In her Speak Xhosa in Eight Weeks course, Tessa takes participants from zero knowledge of the language to “breaking the ice” level. She gives participants the building blocks of the language, enlivened by songs, videos and activities.

  • Holds a PhD in African Languages
  • Specialises in teaching African languages to non-mother-tongue-speakers
  • Co-ordinates Xhosa Communication major at UCT
  • Teaches Xhosa online to students at Harvard, Cambridge, Sorbonne-Nouvelle, and King’s College London
  • Produced Speak Xhosa With Us multimedia package, highly rated by Yale University’s Software Review panel
  • Received Provincial Arts and Culture Award for promoting multilingualism
  • Has worked with clients such as Discovery Health, NBC Holdings, CapeTalk, Western Cape Government (including the Premier), City of Cape Town, University of the Western Cape, and the British Embassy