tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6742475.post6581301099778741652..comments2023-06-01T09:09:04.165-04:00Comments on CAMPVS MAWRTIVS: How do you make kids care?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6742475.post-87921001527784227542007-10-23T05:00:00.000-04:002007-10-23T05:00:00.000-04:00Great question; I am teaching 7th and 8th grade La...Great question; I am teaching 7th and 8th grade Latin elective, which is pass/fail, so the great motivator, a grade is missing. It doesn't help that my classroom is about 115 degrees when the sun is shining.<BR/><BR/>I am using Lingua Latina, which the kids generlly like. The upside of Lingua Latina is that it is very basic and scaffolds beautifully. The downside is that much of the grammar is imbedded and it assumes (wrongly) that students know grammar in their native language.<BR/><BR/>I have a self-selecting bunch of kids, meaning they all asked to be there. I do find though, that they like to work on culture projects. I have done web quests in the past which were popular. This year I am doing a poetry project, which I think will be fun (but then I am a well-known geek). <BR/><BR/>My best advise is mix things up a bit and show a your passion for the language. Kids sense that and can also be a big motivator.BillBlogXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04150135935566402022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6742475.post-85993840299205347092007-10-21T19:41:00.000-04:002007-10-21T19:41:00.000-04:00Hi Dennis,I teach Latin in Sydney, Australia, and ...Hi Dennis,<BR/><BR/>I teach Latin in Sydney, Australia, and I've always found that derivations are unbeatable when it comes to raising the interest level. Best of all is when they connect a (Latin) word they already know with an English word that looks fairly dissimilar at first glance.<BR/><BR/>I sometimes put together worksheets of dummy English passages full of derivations "on a theme", for them to pick out the derivs and explain the connection in meaning to the Latin word. Here's my little effort for "*specio" and its compounds, for instance:<BR/><BR/><B>From the passage below, find ten words derived from <I>specio</I> or its many compounds (given on page 73). Then choose five of them, and explain the connection in meaning between the Latin word and the derivation.</B><BR/><BR/><I>The chief police inspector, Mr. Needa Klugh, raised the prospect of special forces being used to combat the drug gangs so conspicuous in the inner cities at the moment. He condemned the violent aspects of their operations. "These people have no respect for the public. They despise them, in fact," he said. He was circumspect about the police's chances of putting the ringleaders in prison, however. "We have to put this into perspective," he said. "We have to be respectful of these people's right to pay kickbacks...sorry, their right to a fair trial. Can you edit that last bit please?"</I><BR/><BR/>Cheers,<BR/>Mike.Mike Salterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08133817212055957800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6742475.post-28638461133795508912007-10-17T14:18:00.000-04:002007-10-17T14:18:00.000-04:00Hi Dennis -This is Eliese... I'm now teaching all ...Hi Dennis -<BR/><BR/>This is Eliese... I'm now teaching all the 7th and 8th grade Latin classes, as well as the Latin 2 class for the high school girls (2 seniors, 1 junior, 3 sophomores), at a private Catholic school in north Jersey. I think that sometimes I expect too much of them too, perhaps only because I naively assume they know things - English vocabulary, Roman history and culture, whatever - which apparently most modern 12/13 year olds have not yet encountered.<BR/><BR/>My 7th graders love making connections between Latin and English/Spanish/French words. The majority of them also take French and it makes things much easier for me to try to explain what I mean by verb conjugation when they've already seen it in a modern language. I also have several native Spanish speakers who get excited when they see connections (ex. "cena"). I began the year by teaching them what we mean by a romance language, how Latin got into those parts of Europe, and how Latin is part of our language. What they really want to know is how the Romans could understand their own spoken language (because the structures are at present to their minds "too complicated" for oral application). Unfortunately I've also been asked if the Italians still speak Latin and if they wear togas, and if those who live in Rome are called Romanians.<BR/><BR/>Since we use Ecce Romani (ugh), I made a powerpoint about Roman roads and transportation for the 8th graders to ease them back into the book after the summer. I think this was the biggest hit of the semester thus far - perhaps it was just the visual that was "cool." Strangely enough though, even my weaker 8th grade sections get more excited about the grammar when they themselves can write it on the board.<BR/><BR/>My Latin 2 class wants to talk about food. I made them write their own dialogue (between a coquus and a hospes in an inn), and I had them read an adapted version of the Curse of Atreus, which was a hit if only for the gross factor. These two activities were not necessarily connected but I think the Atreus story may have influenced one of the group's dialogues a bit... I've also done some Catullus with them (although it's a bit beyond their skill level at this point). I also had a couple powerpoints about Roman epitaphs and tombs, Roman inns, and Pompeian graffiti. Again, I think the visual reinforcement of the Romans as real people (!) was interesting for them.<BR/><BR/>Sorry this is so long - but that's my experience so far. Although I sometimes find myself thinking "do they understand what I'm saying" or "am I boring them," I find especially with my 8th graders that they enjoy the challenge of being given real grammar (which they did not get last year, especially because of the stupid text).<BR/><BR/>ElieseAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com