Latin and Greek Pedagogy

This article presents a method for developing and practicing both close reading skills and compositional skills as used in an undergraduate Latin Prose Composition course. By using contemporary popular music, students can learn how to recognize, comprehend, and use as a basis for analysis rhetorical and literary devices found in Latin poetry as well as poetic compositional style. When students translate popular songs that they know and understand into Latin and then analyze them according to basic philological processes, they are able to remove barriers to understanding deriving from cultural differences between the Roman world and their modern world. Further, this assignment also offers a solution to the critical problem that many students have no facility with poetic analysis of poetry in their native language. In addition to seeing extensive development of philological methods in students performing this assignment, results were also seen in advanced reading Latin courses in the form of better class discussion and more mature term papers.

Riassunto — La Second Language Acquisition è una disciplina accademica che si occupa di studiare come una lingua seconda o straniera venga appresa dalla mente dell'uomo, ma ha interessanti implicazioni in campo didattico non solo per le lingue moderne, ma anche per le lingue classiche. In questo contributo, viene illustrato il concetto di «input» linguistico che è alla base di due metodologie di cui sono spiegati i principi teorici: il Total Physical Response che favorisce la comprensione immediata, e il Metodo Neocomparativo che po-tenzia la conoscenza metalinguistica sulla base del confronto tra latino e lingue moderne alla luce della grammatica generativa. Questi metodi possono essere utilmente impiegati nell'insegnamento della lingua latina per far fronte alle sfide che la crisi dell'istruzione clas-sica pone ogni giorno a docenti, spesso formatisi solo alle scienze dell'Altertumwissenschaft. Abstract — Second Language Acquisition is an academic discipline which investigates how human mind learns a foreign or second language, but it has got outstanding pedagogical implications non only for modern languages, but also for classical ones. In this contribution, after the explanation of the fundamental concept of input, the theoretical underpinnings of two methodologies are clarified: Total Physical Response which promotes immediate comprehension; the Neocomparative Method which helps developing cognitive skills of metalinguistic knowledge by comparison between Latin and modern languages described by generative grammar. These methodologies can be useful for teaching Latin in order to enable Altertumwissenschaft-related teachers to face the challenges of humanistic education's crisis.

SUMMARY: In this paper I briefly present the Accademia Vivarium novum in Rome, an international boarding school, that tries to recover the traditions of the humanist academies of the Renaissance, offering higher education in the humanities with a strong focus on a mastery of the classical languages which are used there not only in the classes, but also in everyday life. The active use of Latin and Greek namely enables a more rapid and thorough access to the classics, allows one to communicate in the language of the ancients, to have a fruitful and direct dialogue with classical, ancient, mediaeval, and modern thinkers, who wrote in Greek and Latin. It also stimulates enthusiasm in the students, helps to overcome barriers between peoples and fosters a sense of community based on cultural roots. I describe the history and mission of the academy as well as its teaching methods, especially the direct method which I illustrate with some examples and which I also recommend to the Czech teachers.

This edition aims to enable intermediate-level students of Latin to read the text in its original language. There is a substantial introduction that provides background on fifteenth-century Rome and on Latin in the Renaissance, as well as new research on the constitution of the text. The Latin text includes a running glossary and grammatical commentary on every page.

Thoroughly revised in a new 2024 edition, here are Bible stories in simplified Latin, for beginning and intermediate Latin classes. This interphrasal interlinear offers valuable assistance especially to absolute beginners who feel challenged by everything about Latin: with this device they will easily be able to get a clear idea of how the language works. It should also help those who are challenged by the details of grammar, since they can work with bite-sized bits and repetitive vocabulary. From this  collection one can go on to L'Homond's Notable Romans: De Viris Illustribus, which is not a phrasal interlinear but has translations bit-by-bit, or they can take up Learn Latin with Aesop and similar readers. Attached is a continuous Latin text, for reading aloud and for comprehension practice without a translation in sight. Available in paperback or ebook format.

https://www.amazon.com/Epitome-History-Charles-François-LHomond/dp/B0CRS31HJK/

This paper is the introduction to a new method of Spoken Latin (Unus, duo, tres: Latine loquamur per scaenas et imagines). The book has just been published and is available on amazon.
The basic concept underlying this book draws inspiration from three different sources: it focuses on orality that we may discover in the Greco-Latin Hermeneumata of Antiquity, the stress on visuality which characterizes the Orbis pictus of Comenius (1657), and the logic of sequentiality envisioned by François Gouin in L’art d’enseigner et d’étudier les langues (1880).  All these elements are applied in the present book followingna new technique called the Living Sequential Expression (LSE) as well as the principle of Dynamic Language Development which is at the core of the Polis method.

This pedagogical aid extracts and glosses all adjectival phrases in Horace’s Odes to facilitate the reader’s comprehension of the Latin text.  The tri-columnar format puts the Latin text in parallel with the extracted phrases and then with their English glosses.  The expanded hard copy (paperback) includes a clean text of the Odes for classroom use and an appendix listing all the adjectives that Horace uses in his Carmina.

Oniga  has recently proposed the  application of  an innovative perspective on Latin grammar teaching following updated academic research, because he believes that a “new-comparative method”, which is non only limited to the traditional Indo-European historical perspective, will allow students to approach Latin in a more motivating way. In this article a conceptual and historical outline to Altertumswissenschaft-oriented scholars,  and languages teachers is offered: a sinoptic sketch of the background of birth of Chomsky's theory,  second language learning, implicit and explicit learning,  and the instruction and  reading method will enable readers to get a more in-depth insight in conceptual framework of Oniga’s proposal from teaching perspective.

L'istruzione classica sta affrontando una crisi mondiale per molteplici cause: mentre il mondo accademico è impegnato a individuare le radici di ciò che di significativo l'antichità può dare alla modernità, i docenti devono trovare approcci innovativi per insegnare latino e greco antico agli studenti adolescenti ai quali le lingue classiche sembrano non piacere più. In questo articolo viene rivisitata, alla luce delle teorie della Second Language Acquisition di Stephen D. Krashen, il resoconto dell'esperienza di apprendimento di Winston Churchill quando imparò il latino da ragazzo. Classics instruction is facing a worldwide crisis due to multiple causes: while academic response consists in pointing out the roots of meaningfulness of antiquity related to modernity, teachers have to find innovative approaches of pedagogy for teaching Latin and Ancient Greek to teenagers students who seem to dislike them. In this article William Churchill 's recollection of his own experience as a pupil learner of Latin is investigated in limelight of Stephen D. Krashen 's Second Language Acquisition theory.

Students learning what they perceive as a ‘dead language’ can feel a sense of distance from what they are studying. This paper offers an array of practical suggestions to bridge that gap and develop in students a sense of ownership as they study Latin. It offers examples of creative writing assignments suitable for students in their first year of language study: cartoon strips, letters, haiku poems, compositions practicing specific grammatical or vocabulary elements, inscriptions, and literary translations of Latin poetry into English. In addition to discussion of the rationale and learning outcomes of assignments, the paper includes assignment prompts and examples of student writing.

The paper reviews these main works about duty by Cicero and the catholic bishop Ambrosius who wanted to educate the former his son and the latter his priests, so they could live and do what is right. There are many concepts and ideas that reappear in Ambroius' work. The paper analyses these "pagan" ideas that were received by the Christian tradition through Ambrosius book. But it analyses also the pagan ideas that couldn't be admitted by any Christian. The paper considers the differences and similarities between these two great authors of Roman Literature tradition.

Monstratur in hoc opusculo ratio auctores classicos in lyceis legendi per aptationem textuum Latinorum quem ad fi nem exemplo depromitur fabula de Orpheo et Eurydice ex Metamorphoseon libris a Ovidii conscriptis. Ita discipuli textibus antiquis frui possunt a tyronibus ut variis modis scribendi assuescant et sic consuetudo constituetur. Lectione, apprehensione sive cognitione, grammaticae et syntaxi studia praebimus per usum linguae cuius fi nis pensa, exercitia postremaque probatio erit. Claves Auctores Latinos, Latine loqui, rationes docendi, Ovidius, Orpheus, Eurydice.

The following article proposes a Reading of the classical authors from the adaptation of a Latin text for which is taken, in this case, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice of the Ovidian work Metamorphoseon libri as an example and model. This way, students will be able to enjoy the original texts from early stages of the study of the Latin language, thus adapting them to diff erent language styles. Reading and understanding of the Latin text and the study of Latin grammar and syntax are carried out through an active use of the Latin language whose results will be manifested by making the exercises and taking the fi nal test.

El artículo recoge las principales contribuciones del autor a la mesa redonda sobre didáctica de las lenguas clásicas. Estas se pueden resumir en la necesidad de aplicar un principio de rentabilidad al uso de las tic, así como de reevaluar la novedad que estas tecnologías aportan al proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje. Finalmente, se propone ampliar el foco de la investigación educativa hacia la lingüística aplicada.
The paper covers the main contributions made by the author to the round table on ancient languages teaching. These can be summed up as the need for a profitability principle in the application of ict in teaching, along with the reassessment of the innovation these technologies offer to the teaching-learning process. Finally, it suggests widening the focus of educational research in Classics to include applied linguistics.

This new edition is completely rewritten. I do not own any rights to this work (nor do I receive residual compensation), and I am, therefore, prohibited from sharing any electronic copy of the text.

This project is a very small selection of the larger Latin Lexicon of Neo-Latin Terms (Lexicon Morganianum), which I am editing.

L'articolo introduce alcuni concetti fondamentali della Second Language Acquisition nella riflessione didattica delle lingue classiche e interpreta i pressupposti teorici  del metodo induttivo-contestuale elaborato dal danese Hans Oerberg  illustando i tratti di continuità e differenziazione con il metodo diretto o natura impiegato per l'insegnamento delle lingue vive.

In the upper grades of Dutch secondary schools pupils who take Greek or Latin are required to read, translate and interpret authentic texts in the original language. As the phase of language acquisition is not completed at this stage, pupils still need to practice the recognition and interpretation of linguistic elements. In addition, they need assignments that invite them to reflect on the use and meaning of specific linguistic elements used in the texts. However, language exercises are not included in commonly used text books. In this article, I propose a way in which teachers can design exercises that meet these goals. I illustrate the design steps by means of one example concerning congruency and stylistics, and a second example concerning verb forms and (non)factuality.

While we say that the Gallic Wars were written by Caesar, they were really written by the scribes. The thesis of this paper is that they used the third person singular to refer to Caesar, since they were taking down dictation and would not use "I/we," as they were not the ones who had done the action. This use of the third person is attested to in Greek authors, and Caesar obviously was pleased with how it sounded; while he had the last word on the subject, it's the scribes who deserve the credit for style.

Haec symbola a me et a profestrice Myrna Appel anno 2000 conscripta est de Conventu Maretiolensi, in Belgio, hoc anno habito, professoribus Caelesti Eichenseer atque Sigride Albert moderantibus, atque Gaio Licoppe atque Francisca Deraedt adiuvantibus.

This is a "response" I was invited to deliver on a Latin Pedagogy panel in 2016. I was the third and final speaker, but I prepared my arguments without having seen the two other papers. It turns out that I basically argued against everything the second speaker was defending. (The slides were mostly in French, but I spoke in English.)

My main target was Wheelock's Latin, certainly the worst thing that ever happened to Latin in North America, and yet still one of the most popular texts — if not the most popular — in North American Latin classrooms.

As I say on the title slide, I added a few notes throughout. I didn't actually have a text, but I went on for about 25─35 minutes, slightly over my allotted time.

Negli ultimi anni si lamenta, da più parti, la crisi dell’istruzione classica – una delle colonne portanti del sistema liceale italiano. Per trovare una risposta adeguata al nostro tempo e più vicina ai bisogni formativi degli studenti, l’università e la scuola si confrontano e sviluppano una riflessione sulla didattica del latino, basandosi sugli esiti più recenti della ricerca e della sperimentazione in classe.
Il metodo neocomparativo per la grammatica del latino e delle lingue moderne, l’uso delle epigrafi romane come fonte storica di lingua “vissuta”, la riconsiderazione della consecutio temporum nella traduzione italiana, l’utilizzo di una piattaforma di e-learning per le esercitazioni online, l’adattamento dei testi originali alla luce delle teorie di Krashen e, infine, una panoramica di esperienze di insegnamento ad alunni dislessici sono alcuni punti chiave della sfida linguistica che la didattica del latino nel terzo millennio deve affrontare.

Ce manuel présente, en 6 chapitres thématiques (poésie, philosophie, rhétorique, histoire, théâtre, narration en prose), 36 textes au format concours en grec et en latin pour se préparer efficacement à l’épreuve de l’explication de textes.
Chaque chapitre propose des textes en grec et en latin pour un éclairage croisé d’un même thème en vue d’approfondir les différents aspects de la culture antique. Chacun des textes est précédé d’une introduction sur l’auteur, l’œuvre et son contexte et suivi d’une traduction, de notes grammaticales et de son commentaire littéraire.

Voir l'extrait sur le site de l'éditeur.

TABLE DES MATIÈRES

PRÉAMBULE

CHAPITRE 1 : LA RHÉTORIQUE

« Léocrate, ce traître ! » : Lycurgue, Contre Léocrate.
« Un pillage en règle » : Cicéron, Les œuvres d'art.
« Démosthène, cet imposteur ! » : Dinarque, Contre Démosthène
« Les larmes de Cicéron » : Cicéron, Pour Milon.

CHAPITRE 2 : LA POÉSIE

« Dialogue d'Athéna et Diomède » : Homère, Iliade.
« La première flèche d'Iule » : Virgile, Énéide.
« L'aède Démodocos chante la prise de Troie » : Homère, Odyssée.
« La reine et ses convives » : Virgile, Énéide.
« La naissance des dieux olympiens » : Hésiode, Théogonie.
« Madamina, il catalogo è questo… » : Ovide, Amours.

CHAPITRE 3 : LE THÉÂTRE

« Le chemin de pourpre » : Eschyle, Agamemnon.
« Les avertissements de Cassandre » : Sénèque, Agamemnon.
« Deux conceptions de l'héroïsme » : Sophocle, Philoctète.
‣ « Une rencontre inédite entre Ulysse et Silène » : Euripide, Le Cyclope.
« Le poète, éducateur de la cité » : Aristophane, Les Acharniens.
« De l'éducation des enfants » : Térence, Les Adelphes.

CHAPITRE 4 : LA PHILOSOPHIE

« Qu'est-ce que la philosophie ? » : Cicéron, Tusculanes.
« Comment dire la naissance du monde ? » : Platon, Timée.
« Poésie et philosophie » : Aristote, Poétique.
« La véritable liberté » : Sénèque, Lettres à Lucilius.
« Apothéose d'Épicure » : Lucrèce, De la nature des choses.
« La langue des dieux » : Platon, Cratyle.

CHAPITRE 5 : L'HISTOIRE

« Folie meurtrière d'un tyran maudit » : Hérodote, Les Histoires.
« Éloge de la monarchie par le noble perse Darius » : Hérodote, Les Histoires.
« Le geste d'un grand homme », Tite-Live, Histoire romaine.
« Du monarque oriental au héros tragique », Plutarque, Comparaison de Démétrios et d'Antoine.
« L'écrivain, le prince et le philosophe » : Xénophon, Anabase.
« Le revers de Fabius près de Lérida » : César, Commentaires sur la Guerre Civile.
« Alcibiade défend devant l'Assemblée l'expédition de Sicile » : Thucydide, La Guerre du Péloponnèse.
« Discours de Catilina à ses complices » : Salluste, Conjuration de Catilina.
« Premiers pas politiques de Néron » : Tacite, Annales.

CHAPITRE 6 : LA NARRATION EN PROSE

« Le conseil de Trajan à Centumcellae » : Pline le Jeune, Lettres.
« Souvenirs désagréables de l'école » : Saint Augustin, Confessions.
« L'entrée chez Trimalcion » : Pétrone, Satiricon.
« Veillée funèbre » : Apulée, L'Âne d'or ou les Métamorphoses.
« La ruse de Dorcon » : Longus, Daphnis et Chloé.

ANNEXES

Annexe I : Références des textes originaux.
Annexe II : Rappel de métrique appliquée aux textes anciens.
Annexe III : Indications bibliographiques.

Collaborateurs :

Julie Sorba (coord.), Anne Clavel, Jacques Elfassi, Maud Étienne, Martine Furno, Ariane Guieu, Marie-Karine Lhommé, Alexis Pinchard.

The students in a 3rd semester intermediate Greek class at UNC-Chapel Hill produced this puppet show. They wrote the script in Classical Greek, after reading the Greek text of Lysias 1, then they decided to create and film a puppet show version of the action.

Click here to see the show and the final script: https://youtu.be/OyCgh0DHgn8. 

Puppet bow: https://www.dropbox.com/s/cnmyc05jlukhijt/The%20Murder%20of%20Eratosthenes%20-%20Class%20Bow.MOV?dl=0