DearJameel:
>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. . .
>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.
Eons ago when I was 14 I began the study of Latin under the
tutalage of Catholic nuns. As prurient as it now sounds, the promise of
reading parts of major classics which exposed such things as Dido and
Aeneas were wont to do was a major motivation at our all-boys prep school.
I suppose that (even in the UK?) the same factor would be useful if merely
hinted at as a future reward for plowing through amo, amas, amat,
vocabulary lists, and Gaul is divided into three parts. Even in 1999 I
find my current crop of 14-year olds able to navigate the whole of the
_Odyssey_ in prose English for the same kinds of titillation. The very
bright also are convinced of the appeal in becoming a member of a small
elite group of American English speakers who can read Latin and modern
foreign languages. For the latter I call up daily newspapers on the net in
French and Portugese, etc. so they can see headlines from around the world
in our corner of it. (My classroom computer is projected large for the
whole classroom to see at once.) For the former I use modern language
cognates with Latin to show its usefulness in vocabulary study and the
promise their developing knowledge holds for high scores on the SAT, etc.
I also show my freshmen the allusions such characters as Mercutio make to
classical couples (when chiding Romeo about Roseline) demonstrate how a
character they regard as obscenely cool knows his Latin and Greek.
John Dwyer
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