Monthly Archives: February 2018

Report of the CANE Representative to the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages

by Dr. Madelyn G. Torchin, Tufts University, Program Supervisor, Classics
The 64th Annual Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (NECTFL) was held at the New York Hilton Midtown on February 8-10, 2018. Approximately 1400 educators from across the 13 states of the NECTFL region and Greater Washington participated in the 16 workshops and 284 sixty-minute sessions, centered on the theme, “Unleashing the POW-er of Proficiency.” For classicists, the conference theme became, indeed, the “POW-er of Collaboration.” Participants left intent on continuing dialogue both in meet-ups and social media; everyone was encouraged to offer sessions and workshops at conferences, especially NECTFL and ACTFL.
The collaborative thread underscoring the three days of meetings was introduced by the three-hour workshop, “Creating Confidence through Comprehensible Input for the Classics Classroom,” led by Maureen Lamb, Kingswood Oxford School, West Hartford, CT; John Bracey, Weston Middle School, Weston, MA; and Lindsay Sears-Tam, Greenwich Academy, Greenwich, CT. Presenters reviewed how to create comprehensible input for students, how to implement this instructional strategy, and what assessments and activities have worked well for them using comprehensible input.
In her session, “Fostering a Love of Latin in the AP Curriculum,” Elizabeth Solomon from St. John’s Preparatory School, Danvers, MA, provided a unique system for studying every line of the AP syllabus, from Caesar to Vergil and shared examples of her students’ projects.  Her “mark-up method” incorporates rich and deep analysis of the text as it simultaneously amplifies students’ enjoyment of the material. “Culture without Bounds,” presented by Martha Altieri, Virginia Blasi, and Donna Gerard, explored the interculturality aspects of the Cambridge Latin Course and offered insights and practical pedagogical suggestions.
Sherwin Little and Mary English, Executive Director of the American Classical League and Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, respectively, examined the new framework of Standards for Classical Language Learning with a focus on its components and terminology, in particular Communications. Participants explored assessment strategies as part of the Standards-Based curriculum, including proficiency, performance, and achievement. A rich and full discussion ensued.
The final session for classicists showcased the Mead Project: Creating Classical Connections.  Maureen Lamb, a MEAD Fellow for 2017, created a hub website, for sharing resources for teaching, professional development opportunities, and connecting teachers of Latin and Greek for support. Attendees enthusiastically received this new resource and exchanged ideas about valuable resources and ways to use those currently available for Classics teachers and how to expand Maureen’s plan to cover all New England Classics programs and resources.  Ultimately, a mentoring program for early career Classics teachers will be put into place.
In sum, the collaborative spirit of the Classics at NECTFL inspired and energized participants. While NECTFL’S offerings in pedagogy and other languages made this a valuable contribution for CANE members, one of its greatest benefits was bringing together a diverse group of strong, critical thinkers and providing opportunities for the lively exchange of creative ideas and solutions for advancing our profession.

In 1928, H.C. Nutting wrote a Roman novel called Ad Alpēs, the story of a Roman family traveling from Ephesus to the Alps, stopping at Rome along the way. While they make their journey, various characters in the novel tell stories from history and mythology as well as revealing aspects of Roman culture through their everyday interactions. The stories come from both classical Latin sources and the Bible.
Recently, Latinitium, a website created by Daniel Petterson, in collaboration with Johan Winge released a new edition of this text to be read again ubiquitously in the Latin community. One can purchase a copy for just under twenty-five USD on Amazon. I have not fully completed reading the book, but I have completed enough of it to provide my thoughts on it as a resource for teaching, advancing one’s fluency, and pleasure reading in general.
Firstly, though I have already stated the price, the affordability of this text with the amount of text received cannot be overstated. For around twenty-five dollars, one can read two hundred pages of Latin in a consistent and well-flowing narrative. Also included in this book is a full glossary as well as vocabulary and grammatical footnotes. The book is not leveled or graded so the Latin remains constant throughout with respect to its ‘difficulty’ and the grammar is in no way sheltered.
This book is a wonderful resource for students at an intermediate-high to advanced level to use for extensive reading. The problem often with Latin is the lack of extensive reading available in the beginning levels of language learning. This book is by no means the complete solution but it is an effective text for reading a lot of Latin that is ‘good’ Latin, compelling, and fairly easily understandable. If one is looking for a text from which they would like to choose selections to read before tackling authorial Latin, I would consider Ad Alpēs ideal for such a task.
For increasing one’s own fluency, the value of this book cannot be overstated. The narrative is complete, interesting, ancient in nature, and thoroughly engaging. This book, for me, has been one of the few non-ancient sources which I did not want to put down while reading. I was indeed hooked fairly early on in wondering what would happen next and how Nutting would re-tell the narratives that have become eminently familiar to me throughout my career. The most important matter in any text, especially a Latin one, is that desire to continue to read. I think this book is a wonderful step for those learning in schools or on their own after going through a traditional grammatical syllabus or a natural acquisition method.
The quality of the text as put out by Latinitium is wonderful, with the printing clear and pleasant and all vowels ‘macronized’. The footnotes do not seem extraneous nor overly helpful (i.e. ‘giving the answer’). The Latin is entirely classical in style. I cannot recommend Ad Alpēs enough for any Latinist to have to complement their already bursting bookshelves.