I was originally taught Latin from the Cambridge Latin course and loathed it. We all knew that it was making up weakly fictional events to peddle history to us and despised it for its palpable designs upon us and its palpable failure to be honest about those designs. Then in the fifth form (I was about 14) a most excellent dinosaur took us over (David Miller), who wore sandals even on the coldest of February days and made us learn subjunctives on the hottest of June days. He told us when he thought we weren't thinking and got cross with us unless we thought about the construction of sentences (his limbs would writhe with pain). He gave us lots of verse to translate. I wouldn't do the kind of thing I do it if weren't for him. The standard argument against this sort of rigour is that it is hard on the less motivated or less able students. That didn't tally with my experience: anyone who tried he encouraged and anyone who tried at all and could grasp that there was a logical pattern underneath what they were reading respected him greatly and the language.
Colin Burrow, Fellow and Tutor, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge CB1 4AR tel: 01223 332483 web: http://www.english.cam.ac.uk -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Caroline Butler Sent: 04 November 1999 08:20 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: VIRGIL: Latin and 12 year olds Dear Jameel I teach Classics at Winchester College, which might be one of the schools your bright 12-year-olds are trying to get scholarships to. I'd be interested to know why they find Latin unappealing - in my experience the very bright tend to be switched off by the lack of intellectual rigour in courses such as the Cambridge Latin Course, which de-emphasises the analytical, 'mathematical' aspect of the language. What I think is most exciting for this type of group is getting difficult things right - which I know will make me sound a total dinosaur. But I expect they enjoy Maths for that reason! Do e-mail me personally with any concrete details which might help me give more targeted advice. Caroline Butler >Dear all, > >I am a Classics graduate faced with a challenge. I have recently agreed = >to tutor some very bright 12 year olds in Latin in order to boost = >scholarship opportunities at various schools in GB. The reason their = >parents have sought outside help is that Latin at school has not proved = >appealing enough! My job would be to enthuse as well as to edify. Do = >any of the mantovani have any experience in teaching this age group or = >have any ideas which might serve to catch the attention of a bunch of = >kids convinced that Latin is uncool? I have only a handful of ruses but = >I think I'm going to need a whole lot more. > >Thanks=20 > >Jameel Jesani ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
