The first semester (1A) focuses primarily on Colloquial (or Spoken) Burmese, with some excursions into the Literary Style, usually reserved for written communication. Students learn to speak in simulated conversations: as a shopkeeper in Bogyoke Market, a pilgrim on the way to Shwe Dagon, or a diner in a Mandalay restaurant. Students will study fragments of poetry, passages from short stories, song lyrics, and political cartoons, and attempt to compose their own poems, prose, song titles, and song lyrics.