Monthly Archives: February 2015


Teaching Latin to the Young

With young students, even more than with older students, you need to think about what your goals in teaching the class are. A Latin class in middle or high school, even though different teachers may have different approaches, is likely to teach the language with a goal of reading some texts by a certain point. Classes for younger students, though, Is this supposed to be an introduction to the concepts of learning a language? An introduction to Latin that will be built on the next year? A world civilization class? Vocabulary building? Will the students take NLE/ALIRA/any other exam? Will they all go on to the same class in the future, or will they spread out into the world? Is this supposed to charm them into taking Latin in the future, or is it all the Latin they are likely to have? Are they supposed to learn about Rome, Rome and Greece, or the generalized ‘Ancient World,” which can include Egypt, China, the Americas, and more? Do you want lots of hands on activities, or is this more of a book class?
For two years, I taught fourth and fifth grade students at a small private school for the gifted “Classics.” This was one of the elective classes, like art, gym, and music. All students at the school took “Classics” those years, then, as middle school students, took Latin. They also took a modern language, starting in kindergarten.
The first year, there was a fifth grade section of the class and a fourth grade section. The second year, because of a difference in the size of the grades, there were two mixed sections. I took a different approach each of these years. In the first year, I used the book *Minimus.* All students ended up doing Minimus I, although I planned that the fifth grade the next year would do Minimus II. I loosely defined culture ideas for the fourth grade as “Rome at Home,” doing food, clothes, and so on, while I loosely defined the fifth grade activities as Rome abroad, teaching about the broader Empire. I quizzed on the Minimus vocabulary only, giving certificates of accomplishment to students who scored above a 90%. The Latin was casually worked in; I tried to have students able to recognize big concepts like endings and we read and talked about the Minimus story, but the exposure was my main goal.
In the second year, because there were students in each class who had been exposed to Minimus I and the Rome at Home topics as well as students who had not, I took a different approach. We used *Telling Tales in Latin* and did mostly the Rome abroad topics. The Latin exposure was more casual- we had no quizzes and, although we did talk about the topics, the focus was even more on exposure.
Here is an annotated list of resources I found useful in teaching this class.
Activitates Liberis
This is a great collection of activities to do with students. We had a Roman wedding from this, but had two dolls get married instead of students. At Katy Ganino Reddick’s suggestion, instead of throwing nuts during the procession (when I wheeled the dolls around through the classroom on an office chair), the students threw packing peanuts. The wedding was a highlight of the year for a lot of students. This collection had readings, worksheets, handouts, and more for a wide variety of topics.
Ancient Coins for Education
The coin identification project is aimed at older students, but younger ones can enjoy a simplified version.
CTY
Johns Hopkins runs the Center for Talented Youth, which offers a course in *The Ancient World* for students who have finished grade 3 or 4. Sample syllabi are available online, with suggested books.
Minimus
This fun British textbook is written as a comic book about real and imaginary people at Vindolanda. The teacher guide is expensive but worth it with lots of activities and reproducibles.
Telling Tales in Latin
This new text is an adaptation of Ovid, and so ties in nicely with myths. There are a lot of pictures and discussion questions.


Announcements for February 15

CANE

  • You can begin preregistering for the Annual Meeting in March. Details here.
  • TODAY is deadline for the Katz Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Research. All funding opportunities can be found on the Scholarships page.
  • The CANE Classical Calendar for the 2014-2015 school year is currently on sale for $8 on Amazon.

BEYOND CANE

 Ongoing

  • Check out these updates from ASCANIUS.

Certamina et Dies Classici et Eventus!

  • CAM members can attend a guided tour of “Roman in the Provinces: Art on the Periphery of Empire” a new exhibition at the McMullen Museum at Boston College on February 28. Click here for more information.
  • The Brookline Certamen is happening April 11. Register by March 23. Visit here for more information.
  • Registrations are now being accepted for this year’s summer programs organized by the Vergilian Society.  The details of these tours can be found here.

Conferences

  • On November 6-7, 2015 the Department of Classics at Florida State University, Tallahassee, will host a Langford Conference on the topic:NARRATING LIVES: BIOGRAPHY AND IDENTITY IN ANTIQUITY
    Participants and topics covered will include:
    Prof. Cynthia Damon (University of Pennsylvania): Suetonius
    Dr Flore Kimmel-Clauzet (Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3): Greek poetic biography
    Prof. Federicomaria Muccioli (Università di Bologna): Ruler cult and ancient biography
    Prof. Stefan Schorn (KU Leuven): Nicolaus of Damascus
    Prof. Rex Stem (University of California, Davis): Cornelius Nepos
    Dr Alexei V. Zadorozhnyi (University of Liverpool): Plutarch
    We invite junior faculty to submit brief proposals (300 words) for 20 minute supplementary papers. The department will be able to provide two nights of hotel accommodation and meals for those whose proposals are accepted.
    The Langford Seminars and Conferences have been regular events at Florida State University for over two decades. Among the contents of PLLS volumes 11-15 are revised papers first presented at these events.
    Papers presented at the Langford Conference of November 2015 will (after revision) be considered for inclusion in PLLS 17.
    For further information about previous Langford events, go to:
    http://classics.fsu.edu/About-the-Department/Langford-Endowment/Langford-Conferences- Archive/Previous-Langford-Conferences
    For further information about PLLS go to: http://classics.fsu.edu/About-the-Department/PLLS
    Francis Cairns fcairns@fsu.edu Trevor Luke tluke@fsu.edu

Meetups

  • Live in western MA or northern CT and want to practice speaking in Latin? There is a large group that meets weekly in Amherst! For details, contact TJ Howell.
  • In the Boston area? Check out the Active Latin Meetup page for events.

Jobs

  • See our new Jobs page for details.

Funding and Professional Development

  • Fellowships and grants are being offered through the ASCSA for graduate and postgraduate travel for the 2015-2016 school year. A few remain with spring deadlines.
  • The Society for Classical Studies (SCS) wants teachers of classics to be aware of the following programs that are intended to contribute to their professional development and the success of their students.  Click on the relevant URL below to see a full description of each program and detailed instructions for submitting applications.  The Coffin Fellowship is funded by an endowment established by former students of David D. and Rosemary H. Coffin.  The Pedagogy and Zeph Stewart Latin Teacher Training Awards are supported by income from the Society’s Gateway Endowment for Classics Research and Teaching.
    • Pedagogy Awards 
      http://apaclassics.org/awards-and-fellowships/2013/2013-pedagogy-award
      These awards are open to both collegiate and precollegiate teachers of classics. SCS membership is not required. The amount of funding available ranges from $500 to $2,500.  Possible projects include, but are not limited to, the following: attendance at a professional conference, purchase of teaching materials, study abroad.  Projects that received funding in 2013 and 2014 are described briefly at the URL above.  Deadline: March 2, 2015.