Customer Center

• support.gale.com
• Power to the user
• • K-12 Libraries
  • Public Libraries
  • Academic Libraries
  • Special/Government Libraries
  • Submit Your Success Story
  • Success Stories Archive
  • Market Your Library
  • Market Your Gale Products
  • White Papers
• Gale Community
• Join us on        
• Product Training

Product Center

• Catalog
• Product Sites
• Product Information
• • Cataloging Service
  • Database Title Lists
  • Fact Sheets
  • Guided Tutorials
  • MARC Records
  • Navigation Guides
  • Product Icons | Logos
  • Product Reviews
  • Special Offers
• Free Trials
• Webinars

Free Resources

• Gale's Literary Index
• Monthly Events
• • Black History Month
  • Environmental Resources
  • Hispanic Heritage
  • Poetry Month
  • Women’s History Month
• E-newsletters

Activities Biographies Key Titles Links Literature Quiz Timeline

Counting in Swahili

Age/Grade Level or Audience

Kindergarten through primary grades.

Description

Teach students to count from one to ten in Swahili.

Procedure

Present a brief description of Swahili, how old a language it is, where it is spoken, and who speaks it. Then repeat the first ten numbers in Swahili until students have them memorized.

1. moja [mow'-jah]
2. mbili [uhm'-bee'-lee]
3. tatu [tah'-too]
4. nne [uhn'-nay]
5. tano [tah'-no]
6. sita [see'-tah]
7. saba [sah'-buh]
8. nane [nah'-nay]
9. tisa [tee'-suh]
10. kumi [koo'-mee]

Refer to these numbers in future counting exercises.

Sources

Haskins, Jim, Count Your Way through Africa, Carolrhoda Books, 1989.

Alternative Applications

Use each number alongside its pronunciation and a uniquely African representation of the meaning:

• one Mount Kilimanjaro or Niger River
• two wildebeest or gnus
• three ostriches or emus
• four yams or bowls of fufu
• five grass huts or village compounds
• six Ashanti drums or finger pianos
• seven diamonds or pyramids
• eight Maasai women or Mali children
• nine hyenas or hippos
• ten baobab trees or pyrethrum daisies