This week’s resource is Glossa, an online Latin dictionary. You can search Glossa from the website or by replacing PutWordHere in the address http://athirdway.com/glossa/?s=PutWordHere with the word of your choice. It’s nice for quickly looking up a word without needing to search through the interface.
Glossa also integrates with Alfred on the Mac, meaning that you can type a trigger word and then look up the word in Glossa from any program on your computer.
Getting students to compose Latin that is meaningful to them can be difficult. There are many ways of getting them into writing, but I’ve found StoryCubes to be the best.
These are dice with pictures on them–there are two sets: objects and actions. Be sure you get both!
Students get into their groups of 3 or 4, and I had out 6 objects and 3 actions. They take the dice and roll them. Using whatever comes up (and many of these are open to interpretation!), they write a story. Sometimes, they even learn new vocabulary this way!
I strongly suggest getting 3 or 4 sets of StoryCubes for your classroom. If you are feeling ambitious, giving students a full set of Objects and a full set of Actions can yield amazing results!
My students love them. For them, it’s an easy, no pressure, guided way to get into composing Latin.
Try them with your students! You can use them for far more than just writing. They can talk about them Latinē as well.
There are so many options!
Enjoy! Happy Playing!
The Digital Classics Association has sent out a call for papers for their panel at the 2014 APA Conference. Deadline is 29 March 2013.
Article by Mary Beard on Pompeii with an interactive map. (via @wmarybeard)
Free e-book on Pompeii from the British Museum. (via @cortsims and Emil Penarubia)
Secrets of Ancient Greek gastronomy.
(via @SarahEBond)
Review of a recipe from Pass the Garum, with a picture of a Roman soldier in full kit eating it. (via @ancientblogger)
Recipe for Roman bread. (via @ClassicsAlberta)
Petition to save the Gladiator tomb. (via @SaveRome)
Raising money for Doctors without Borders and Combat Stress by walking Hadrian’s Wall. (via @BenKaneAuthor)
Essay on studying Classics. (via @rogueclassicist)
APA blog post on reasons to study non-STEM subjects. (via @apaclassics)
“Living Latin, Living History,”an immersion spoken Latin course in Rome that runs from 12 June to 1 July. (via @apaclassics)
Map of Roman trade routes. (via @ancientblogger)
Map of marble quarries near Rome (link is to a Twitter-hosted image.) (via @SarahEBond)
The seven hills of Rome, with Google street views.(via @italofileblog)
Silk road route map.(via @ancientblogger)
Roman army camp in Germany. (via @quinnkl)
Temple to Jupiter Stator may have been found. (via @DrKillgrove)
Pictures of excavations under St. Peter’s in Rome during the 1950s.(via @ByzCapp)
Primary source texts about Roman women.(via @DCComm)
A list of interesting Roman women. (via @tronchin)
This post from Latin for Addicts talks about Latin words from Proto Indo European.
A summary of information on the missing Ninth Legion. (via @carolemadge)
Review of Mary Beard’s new book. (via @TelegraphBooks)
Recordings of mythological stories. (via @classicslibrary)
(edited to fix a typo)