Teaching Of Latin Research Articles

Professor, Magistra, et Discipuli: A College Internship in the Secondary School Classroom

Without additional resources, a university Latin program and a nearby public school have provided undergraduates with the opportunity to explore and experience teaching Latin at the secondary level. The internship has supported the efforts of the Latin teacher in the public school, illustrated to undergraduate students the possibility of teaching Latin in a secondary school as a professional option after graduation, and benefited both the school and the university Latin programs. The program can be readily adapted to local circumstances and will be replicated at a second university this fall.

“What shalt thou do when thou hast an english to make into Latin?”: The Proverb Collection of Cambridge, St. John’s College, MS F.26

This article considers proverbs used as translation sentences, in the context of the teaching of Latin in the medieval schoolroom. Its enquiry focuses in particular on one folio of such latinitates , in Cambridge, St. John’s College, MS F.26 (with further discussion of Cambridge, University Library MS Additional 2830). Its argument concerns, first, the question of what happens to the nature of proverbial wisdom when modulated from the (supposedly) oral, vernacular, folk context of its primary application, to the secondary (supposedly) written, Latinate, authoritative context of the classroom; when common, workaday wisdom shares the pedagogical page with Cato. Second, it extrapolates from this example to trouble the assumptions that still cling so tenaciously to this linguistic binary, arguing that presuppositions that Latin was not oral, vernacular, or homespun, or conversely that English was not written, authoritative, or bookish, are spurious. Finally, it considers the same proverbs that appear here as translation sentences when they are incorporated elsewhere into poetry, pondering the comparable ways in which that genre used them to construct authority, vernacularity, and orality.

Teaching Vocabulary and Morphology in Intermediate Grades

Direct vocabulary instruction of Tier 2 and Tier 3 words in intermediate-grade curricula is an important tool of literacy instruction because English is a language grafted from many roots and has not developed a one-to-one phoneme–grapheme correspondence. In addition to knowing graphemes and phonemes, students must formally learn words that cross domain knowledge and introduce subject-matter concepts. Intermediate-grade teachers can deal with these curricula demands and help their students advance their reading ability and their subject learning by combining vocabulary instruction with word recognition skills and by incorporating the meaning of vocabulary words with subject knowledge. Teaching vocabulary and morphology improves students’ comprehension of text because knowledge of meaningful word components, syllabication, and academic vocabulary improves both word recognition skills and subject specific understanding. In addition, teaching content terminology and Latin and Greek stems improves students’ word recognition skills, increases students’ academic vocabulary knowledge, and helps students meet Common Core State Standards. Cloze exercises and learning opportunities that engage students in using their newly acquired vocabulary are helpful teaching techniques and support all students’ annual reading growth.

Transformatio Per Complexitatem: The 20th Century Transformation of Latin Teaching in the UK

A second-order change took place in Latin Teaching in the UK in the 1960s and 1970s, with effects reaching into the present day. This Change was a shift in attitude, values and methods which Forrest describes as, ‘curriculum change on an unprecedented scale’ (Forrest, 1996, p. 42) and the ‘transformation of Latin teaching’ (ibid, p. 146). This article explores the nature of this change and justifies categorising it as second-order. Secondly, it considers the process of how the change took place, looking also at changes within the wider social field and resistance to change within Latin teaching. Both a Bourdieusian theoretical framework and a metaphorical application of chaos and complexity theory are used to analyse this change and explain some of the conflicts and crises within and around the change period. The final section of the analysis considers issues affecting the communication of ideas and the effect of social capital within the system.

The Tirones Project

“There is a shortage of certified Latin teachers: Please spread the word!” This plea is the title of a recent article inAmphora, a publication of the Society for Classical Studies (Ancona & Durkin, 2015). Here the authors cite government statistics, reports from the placement service of the American Classical League, and personal experience to demonstrate that the demand for Latin teachers – whether or not certified – outstrips the supply. As they point out, this lack of teachers at the pre-collegiate level does not bode well for the health of our discipline.

2013 Siglo de Oro Drama Festival, Chamizal

2013 Siglo de Oro Drama Festival, Chamizal Anna-Lisa Halling, Coordinated and Laura L. Vidler Each year the Chamizal National Memorial, located in El Paso, Texas, hosts the well-attended Siglo de Oro Spanish Drama Festival. 2013’s installment, which ran from March 6 to March 10, featured professional theater groups from Mexico (Puebla) and Spain (Murcia, Segovia, and San Clemente). The works produced included the more traditional comedia fare (El caballero de Olmedo and La vengadora de las mujeres), a theatrical re-creation of a liturgical ceremony (Misterio del Cristo de los Gascones), an adaptation of a narrative work (El coloquio de los perros), and a compilation of crowd-pleasing entremeses (De burladores y burlados). The following reviews, each written by a different reviewer, offer a critical look at these theatrical productions. The reviews and the reviewers are as diverse as the plays themselves and are meant to offer varying viewpoints and insights into a unique compendium of dramatic endeavors. El caballero de Olmedo by Lope de Vega On March 6, The Shake and Falstaff Company (Puebla, Mexico) opened the 2013 International Siglo de Oro Drama Festival at the Chamizal National Memorial in El Paso, TX, with a performance of Lope’s tragicomedy El caballero de Olmedo. Director Abril Mayett’s production takes several liberties with the setting and casting of the play with mixed results. Mayett frames the work within the context of Mexico’s Cristero War (1926–1929), during which Catholics and the Catholic Church rebelled against the harsh lines drawn between church and state by Mexico’s post-Revolution constitution. The setting is emphasized with varying effect through added and modified dialogue, costume, music, and two extra characters: a bishop and a town mayor. These incidental characters provide the bulk of the additional dialogue through a series of clandestine negotiations that, together, highlight the corruption, hypocrisy, and complicity of the milieu. Appearances of the obispo and the alcalde frame the work throughout, as does the accompaniment of a group of itinerant mariachis, in [End Page 167] huaraches and sombreros, of comically dubious skill. The minimalist set and strings of lights crisscrossed overhead are reminiscent of a summer evening feria. The unusual multiple castings crafted by Mayett, while extremely enterprising and cost effective, leave several issues unresolved without truly enhancing the production. The dizzying casting begins with Mayett herself, who plays both Inés and the gracioso Tello. Fernando Villa Proal plays not only the antagonist, Rodrigo, but also Inés’s father, Don Pedro, and the alcalde. Mario Eduardo D’León plays both Alonso and Leonor. Mónica Bejarano, amazingly, plays Fabia, Ana (the maid), the obispo, Rodrigo’s friend Fernando, and also the Sombra. The cast is certainly to be commended for tackling such a difficult acting (and costuming) challenge. Mayett’s performance, in particular, was a tour de force. Her characterization of each role was so distinctive that, at the curtain call, the audience was baffled by the “absence” of Inés; they had not realized that Mayett had simply taken her bow dressed as Tello (a tip of the hat and a letting-down of hair might have helped here). Obviously, these double and even quintuple castings require some practical adjustments to the dramatic text. For example, because Inés and Tello can never appear onstage together, Fabia becomes the Latin teacher in the second act, and Tello’s lines are redistributed to Don Pedro. The very tall D’León, cross-dressed as Leonor, is forced to play up the height difference between him and Bejarano as Fernando. The resulting slapstick has them unable to keep their hands (and faces) off each other. This sexual comedy spills over to D’León’s portrayal of Alonso when he gets caught by Don Pedro in the house. Inés attempts to hide her physical pleasure as Alonso “hides” under her skirts. When all is said and done, Mayett’s multiple castings and the resulting extradramatic consequences detract from the layers of meaning appended to the production by the Cristero War setting. The limited number of players minimizes opportunities to expose alliances or juxtapose oppositions. For example, since Rodrigo and Don Pedro can...

Exercete Latine! — Słownik tematyczny języka łacińskiego z ćwiczeniami

The scope of this book it the creation of innovative materials for teaching/learning Latin language. The list of a basic Latin vocabulary is being prepared in accordance to the guidelines of the Council of Europe at the A1 level of language proficiency and will be presented as a thematic dictionary — it will consists of lexems, phrases and very typical for Latin teaching sentences to each issue. Moreover it will also include exercises which are made to enable the consolidation of grammar acquired at any given stage of a learning process. The scope of my research includes the development of innovative materials for teaching and learning Latin language based on the guidelines proposed by the Council of Europe. It also includes the assessment of achieving the A1 level in Latin language within the four language skills (reading, listening, writing and speaking). This project provides, inter alia, the answer to the lack of modern teaching materials for Latin teachers as well as the lack of learning materials. This project also attempts to develop the four mentioned above language skills in learning Latin process.

Poet, Scholar, Trickster: Israel the Grammarian and his “Versus de arte metrica”

Israel the Grammarian was a tenth-century scholar and poet of presumably Breton origin, who played an influential role in King AEthelstan’s court before becoming tutor to Bruno, the future archbishop of Cologne. This article focuses on his hexameter poem “Versus Israhelis de arte metrica super nomen et uerbum,” a discussion of the prosody of final syllables, addressed to Bishop Robert of Trier, Israel’s patron. While on the surface the “Versus de arte metrica” appear to be a didactic poem, it has, in reality, probably been intended as an academic parlour game that tests the reader’s command of Latin grammar and grammatical literature. At the same time, it reflects the central role of inflectional paradigms and the emergence of inflection tables in medieval Latin instruction.

Del "De ratione discendi et docendi" de Jouvancy a las "Prácticas e industrias" de Idiáquez: los avatares de la "Ratio studiorum" jesuita

At the end of the seventeenth century, the Society of Jesus meditated deeply on how to teach classical languages. In this «aggiornamento» of the Jesuit Ratio studiorum , exponent of his propaedeutics, the publication of the book De ratione discendi et docendi , writed by J. Jouvancy, was vitally important. Years later, in Spain, F. J. Idiaquez from the College of Humanities of Villagarcia de Campos (Valladolid,) taking over from his French brother, developed his work Practicas e Industrias para promover las Letras humanas , which tried to solve the problem of the teaching of Latin in Hispanic lands.

Colloquia familiaria aetate litterarum renatarum scripta ne spernamus!

<p>We hope to bring to the attention of modern readers a genre of works composed in great numbers during the Renaissance, which were designed to complement the practice of conversational Latin. We single out these particular texts, because, in our opinion, teachers of Latin in our own time can still find them useful. They take the form of simple dialogues which are usually brief. They are typically called colloquia, and are filled with pure and idiomatic Latin phrases pertaining to daily life. The most famous humanists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including Erasmus, Vives, Corderius, Sturmius, Pontanus among others, are numbered among the authors of <em>colloquia</em>. We hope to outline the main features of these texts, to explain why they were published in such large numbers in the humanistic age, and what benefits students and teachers of Latin today can gain from such <em>colloquia</em>.</p>

De Caesare in scholis Latinis provectioribus destinatis modo activo proponendo

<em>On the Active Use of Caesar in Latin Classes for Advanced Students. </em>Methods for active teaching of the Latin language are usually considered to be best suited for the curriculum of beginners’ classes. Such methods can, however, be used quite efficiently even when teaching advanced students either at High School or University level. Nor does it seem to be necessary to restrict the active use of Latinity to simple conversations only or to avoid using the texts of the classic Roman authors, which students of Latin need to understand well. In short, there is nothing preventing students from becoming familiar with the rules of grammar by means of active exercises. Such familiary furnishes the student with shortcuts to a better understanding of the language itself. This may in turn lead to that very ability to read ancient texts which is, after all, the main object of Latin teaching. The present contribution deals with the use of active methods in the curriculum for Advanced Placement (AP) High School pupils who are taking courses that provide them with academic credits for university qualification in the USA. Examples are taken from Caesar’s <em>Commentarii de bello Gallico</em>, a fundamental text in the AP curriculum as far as prose is concerned. The article deals first with how to explain a text in various ways by means of the Latin language alone, without having recourse to the vernacular. Asking questions, making paraphrases, adding titles, or providing a summary are all alternatives here. Furthermore, dictation is elucidated, and how it can offer a bridge to explaining the text in Latin; so is an active method to explain various grammatical constructions. There then follows the active treatment of grammatical as well as rhetorical figures. Finally, questions of how to compose dialogues, and even how to edit plays for the stage, are addressed. At the end of the essay, the author discusses how to combine textual work with exercises involving describing images in Latin.

“Sátira gramatical” y emancipación: la figura del profesor de latín en la obra de Fernández de Lizardi

En este trabajo se pretende analizar fundamentalmente el papel que desarrolla la “sátira gramatical”, como subgénero literario y su aplicación en la figura del “profesor de latín” dentro de las novelas picarescas del escritor mexicano José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi. Estas novelas son: El Periquillo Sarniento (1816 y 1830) y su continuadora Vida y hechos del famoso caballero D. Catrín de la Fachenda (publicada póstumamente en 1832). En la elaboración de este artículo hemos partido, primero, de la definición del concepto de “sátira gramatical”, que conlleva la “carnavalización” irónica del preceptor al aplicar la enseñanza de la gramática latina. Seguidamente, hemos ilustrado estos conceptos con los “dómines” que aparecen en relevantes autores literarios y que sirvieron de modelo para la configuración del “profesor de latín” en la obra de Lizardi. Según eso, hemos situado las novelas del mexicano en su contexto sociocultural y hemos analizado la función que el subgénero de la sátira gramatical, así como la figura y método educativo del profesor de latinidad desempeña en sus novelas, con el objetivo fundamental de impulsar el espíritu emancipador de México respecto a la Corona española.

LATIN SELF-STUDY AND TEACHING TEXTS FOR HIGH SCHOOLS

With the present state of flux in education, Latin teaching has been placed under greater pressures than ever before. Yet almost in every centre, even in areas where Latin has been phased out because of "rationalisation", pupils and their parents approach the universities for advice on private tutoring in Latin. At the same time there is a market that was consistently neglected in the South African school system. There has to date been a National Examination, which fell under the former Department of Education and Training of the House of Assembly, which was annually taken by private candidates, some candidates from a few "Black" schools which offer Latin, and some from independent or correspondence colleges. Most, but not all, were students from traditionally "Black" areas, where Latin is not generally taught.

CHILD PSYCHOLOGY IN THE ANCIENT WORLD: QUINTILIAN AND AUGUSTINE ON KINDERGARTEN EDUCATION

Quintilian, as the first publicly remunerated teacher of rhetoric at Rome, occupies a unique place in the history of Classical education. His remuneration (a thousand gold pieces per annum) set a standard few Latin teachers have subsequently achieved. That is, however, not his chief claim to fame. His handbook on education, the Institutio Oratoria, in twelve books, is a model of thoroughness, treating of every topic, from the child's earliest learning experiences! to what may be considered a complete syllabus for a combined liberal university course in the humanities and sciences. It is also a handbook on good teacher-pupil relationships, parent-teacher interaction and educational ethics. It touches on all aspects of teacher conduct, even the most suitable age at which a sensible man would retire.

OBITUARY : MISS ELIZABETH CARTWRIGHT

During her 38 years as Latin teacher at Rustenburg Girls' High School, Miss Elizabeth Cartwright gained the love and respect of the many generations of pupils who passed through her hands.

Teaching Latin in New York City’s Public Schools: A Panel Discussion Sponsored by the New York Classical Club, May 4, 2012

The four contributions below and this introductory framing piece present the findings from a recent panel on the resurgence of interest in teaching Latin as a curricular requirement at the core of a liberal arts education in several newly founded public schools in New York City. Four relatively new schools are represented here—in the order in which they appeared on the panel—by a combination of teachers and administrators: Williamsburg Charter High School (Ron Janoff), South Bronx Classical Charter School (Lester Long), The Brooklyn Latin School (Jason Griffiths), and Maspeth High School (Kathleen Durkin). Each contributor provides some background on his/her school and then attempts to shed light on the teaching of Latin there. In each case, the authors offer an overview of the curriculum and method of instruction, a survey of student results, some reflection on the struggles encountered, and new ideas for moving forward.

Progressive Education: Revisioning and Reframing Ontario’s Public Schools, 1919-1942 by Theodore Michael Christou

Reviewed by: Progressive Education: Revisioning and Reframing Ontario’s Public Schools, 1919-1942 by Theodore Michael Christou Anthony Di Mascio Christou, Theodore Michael – Progressive Education: Revisioning and Reframing Ontario’s Public Schools, 1919-1942. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012. Pp. 256. While most historians and scholars of education generally take for granted that the concept of progressive education has existed for more than a century, its history in Canada has yet to be written. Christou’s Progressive Education: Revisioning and Reframing Ontario’s Public Schools, 1919-1942 attempts to address this absence through an examination of what he calls “progressivist language” during the interwar years. A former school teacher and rising scholar in the field of educational history, Christou informs the reader that undertaking this study was a very personal pursuit for him. As a teacher, he had been “accused of being a progressive on three different occasions” (p. 3), and for three different reasons. The question that lingered in his mind after each accusation was: what exactly is a progressive? This question led him to graduate school and the writing of the most in depth study of progressive education in Ontario to date. Christou uses a number of primary and secondary sources in his study, but two in particular inform the bulk of his probe into progressivist language in the interwar period: The School, an educational journal written for teachers, teacher candidates, and school administrators; and, The Canadian School Journal, the official organ of the Ontario Educational Association. From the beginning of his analysis Christou concedes that there was a confusion and lack of clarity in these journals regarding what progressive education meant (p. 36). Nevertheless, Christou is able to weave consistency and order out of the various definitions attributed to it. By probing the language used in the two journals for common themes or domains, the author identifies three: the promotion of active learning, the shift toward individualized instruction, and the progressive educator’s concerns for closer bonds between school and society. [End Page 245] Christou analyses those three themes in three separate chapters, which form the bulk of the book. Each theme is furthermore examined more closely from three orientations: child study, social efficiency, and social meliorism. In his analysis, Christou finds the birth of child-centred teaching, the rise of economic terminology and aims in education, and the promotion of critical thinking to reinforce democratic civic engagement. A single chapter highlights the opposing rhetoric of “humanist” educational thinkers (a term Christou prefers to “anti-progressivist”), who desperately attempted to hold onto a classical curriculum in an educational world where practical skills and “relevant” lessons triumphed the teaching of Latin and Greek. Ultimately, Christou points out, humanists were grasping at straws. Progressive rhetoric was “intertwined with the decline of the classical, academic model of schooling” (p. 112) espoused by humanists, which “elevated content over individual interest,” promoted “rote memorization and recall,” and encouraged teaching “that bore no relation to contemporary life;” humanist concerns were ultimately “at odds with the core sensibilities of Ontario’s progressivists” (p. 114). According to Christou, the rhetoric of progressive education would prevail, and eventually find its way into public policy as well, with a major overhaul of the curricula introduced in 1937 and 1938. Christou analyzes this overhaul through to its revisions in 1942 in the final chapter, and demonstrates how it reflected the ideas of progressive educators found in The School and The Canadian School Journal. Among the major reforms, health study was woven into curriculum, a new social studies program promised to replace the history and geography curricula, and the study of English would remove the classics from Ontario’s schools. Experiential and project-based learning would be promoted as well, and all academic undertakings would have to have actual relevance outside of the classroom. Despite keen insight combined with graceful writing, there are some limitations to Progressive Education. In concentrating on the examination of only two school journals, to what extent can we be sure that Christou’s analysis of “progressivist language” accurately reflects that with which the educational public in Ontario was engaged? Could the same educational language be found in the pages of newspapers and other...

O bem e o mal da ordem pedagógica ou das relações possíveis entre o discurso religioso e o discurso pedagógico

O presente texto apresenta o argumento - na verdade, uma aposta - de que o cristianismo produziu as primeiras práticas de ensino no Ocidente e consolidou os primeiros contornos daquilo que podemos chamar discurso pedagógico, ou seja, o discurso hoje reconhecido como aquele que permite reunir alunos em um lugar específico sob a vigilância de um mestre, regidos por um conjunto de verdades resultantes de um conflito social. Esses contornos foram possíveis a partir de quatro procedimentos historicamente produzidos: o afastamento dos aprendizes das seduções pagãs ou da vida profana; a eliminação dos prazeres que o ensino das línguas latina e grega podia favorecer; o surgimento do humanismo e do contra-humanismo pedagógico; e a transformação do demônio no duplo do aprendiz. O conjunto desses procedimentos trouxe para a modernidade um arsenal de dispositivos educacionais (ou de possibilidades) que podem, ainda hoje, se atualizar na tarefa docente e na política educacional.

Respect

Respect Barry Spacks (bio) I like it that Virgil wouldn’t presume to equal Homer’s 24 books but kept himself to a humbler 12, a modest nod toward the master. At Central High we were male, rambunctious, but scraped back our chairs and stood each time our Latin teacher, Mr. Eliot, entered the room. We’d never been told to do that, the old guy with trim mustache embarrassed, in fact—he’d gesture our gesture away—but we felt a pride of reverence: learned study, the ancient tongue, affection in face of magnificence and Virgil’s classy gesture . . . it’s called education—no noisy ovation, just respect. We’d rise, and stand. [End Page 192] Barry Spacks Barry Spacks has taught writing and literature for many years at M.I.T. and the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has published both poems and stories in periodicals, as well as two novels, eleven collections of poetry, and three CDs of selected work. His first novel, The Sophomore, has just been brought back into print in the Faber & Faber Finds series. Copyright © 2013 Johns Hopkins University Press

Introduction. The Troubadours in Italy

Introduction.The Troubadours in Italy Sarah Kay May 14, 2010, Kalamazoo, Michigan: a far cry from the medieval French midi, and from Italy too for that matter, but the occasion which first brought together these four presentations on "The Troubadours in Italy," published here in the order in which they were presented. Individually and collectively these papers contribute new insights into the fascinating story of how the Italians helped to transform a series of Occitan poets and singers into "the troubadours." In particular, they show how that story tugs at the concepts of space and time. To begin with that of space, these papers all remind us that in some respects Occitania is simply not a place. Or that rather, as Occitan became a prestige language, it came to carry its own place around with it. Everyone, says Raimon Vidal in a passage quoted by Courtney Wells, wants to participate in the production and enjoyment of troubadour poetry; one can be Catalan or Italian and still be an Occitan troubadour. Occitania is a cultural home, not a political or geographical one. Anyone can be welcomed into it, provided they can learn the language of its poetry. There comes the rub: Occitan may have universal appeal, but mastery of it requires a passage through Latin, a language which is universal in the quite different sense of being both the object and the medium of learning, and which as a gateway is therefore somewhat restrictive. Chansonnier P, as Wells affirms, is a manuscript whose remit is to provide exactly this kind of controlled access. Whereas Wells shows how P sets out to capture Occitan in the net of Latin pedagogy, Charmaine Lee documents the different ways in which its narrative texts were transmitted and consumed depending on the area where they were copied. The dynamics of Occitan stories that are typically retained or enhanced in copies made in the south of France give way, in Italy, to a more lyrical treatment in which passages with sentimental content are more likely to be copied than whole texts. This confirms them, in the eyes of Italian consumers, as more "Occitan," since narrativity is associated with Frenchness. "Occitanity," like "Frenchness," is thus [End Page 3] a generic construct, not a geographical one. By the time of Dante, Sarah Spence's paper suggests, the abstracting, lyricizing developments presented in the two previous papers have run their course; Occitan has been cut loose from any spatial anchorage to become a language of love intelligible to all those who seek to understand it. Her interpretation of the Purgatory argues, however, that in Dante's eyes Occitan is now no longer the vernacular's most universal and desirable form. In Dante's vision, moreover, the summit of vernacularity does indeed have a geography—that of a summit, no less. The "language of Si," Spence argues, can be identified with the topography and regions of Italy. But even now the sense of space that emerges is highly fungible. Sicilian and Tuscan are curiously superimposed both on one another and on Cicero's ideal of Roman rhetoric so as to achieve a new kind of (Italian) universality. The papers so far trace the detachment of Occitan from any locatable geographical home, but they do so by following a spatial continuum from the French midi down into Italy. William Paden's contribution confirms that Italian scholarship on the troubadours is grounded in the experience of contiguity and overlap; the situation of an American Occitanist is, by contrast, one of discontinuity. The trajectory from Narbonne to the Veneto or Sicily is nothing like that from Narbonne to Kansas. Whereas the Italians, Paden points out, use a variety of metonymies and mediations to claim ownership of the troubadours, denizens of Kansas who read the troubadours for the first time feel (in his words) as if they are "walking on the moon." Such disparity may strengthen Americans' appreciation of the troubadours. As Paden observes, Native American toponyms precede those of European settlers by only a short time span. The same territory is successively coded in terms of two different and linguistically remote cultures, each visible to the other by virtue of their radical separation. Is...