I was a bit apprehensive at first, getting involved in the Literacy through Latin project as despite being an Ancient History student I had no previous knowledge of Latin. However, as soon as I entered my first class in January al nerves disappeared and over the past ten weeks I’ve had a really enjoyable time being a part of the project.
The Latin students who came up with the lesson plans were really knowledgeable and made learning Latin so fun and easy and I learnt along with the pupils. The pupils really enjoyed the lessons and all took an active part and I was blown away by how quick they picked up Latin and how much they retained throughout the weeks. On my first day on the programme he exercise was to translate a verse of an Ovid poem into English as best as they could and I was told to encourage them to make links between the Latin word and the word in English. At the table I was helping, the boys did very well in making links between the Latin word and the English word. I provided help, asking them “does that word remind you of any other words you know?” or “what do you think of when I say to you ‘oceanus’?” I was very impressed when I asked one boy if he knew what the word ‘celestial’ meant and he said “no but it reminds me of alien and E.T because he was an extra-terrestrial” and from there we managed to translate the word ‘sky’.
One of my favourite parts of the project was when the children had to make up their own sentences in Latin as they all came up with funny, unique and imaginative sentences. It was also really nice to see how much the children enjoyed writing Mother’s day poems and making Easter cards. I also noticed how proud the children were of their Latin knowledge and quick to show off some of the work they had done which was really nice to see. Sometimes the boys could be a bit chatty and over excited, but all of the children in the class were really lovely children and it was such a pleasure getting to meet and work with them and I think both myself and the children enjoyed every single Latin session this term!
I am so glad that I got the chance to be a part of the Literacy through Latin project as I met some lovely people and children, gained invaluable experience and learnt a bit of Latin too!
Written by Rebecca Watton, 11 April 2014
The Latin students who came up with the lesson plans were really knowledgeable and made learning Latin so fun and easy and I learnt along with the pupils. The pupils really enjoyed the lessons and all took an active part and I was blown away by how quick they picked up Latin and how much they retained throughout the weeks. On my first day on the programme he exercise was to translate a verse of an Ovid poem into English as best as they could and I was told to encourage them to make links between the Latin word and the word in English. At the table I was helping, the boys did very well in making links between the Latin word and the English word. I provided help, asking them “does that word remind you of any other words you know?” or “what do you think of when I say to you ‘oceanus’?” I was very impressed when I asked one boy if he knew what the word ‘celestial’ meant and he said “no but it reminds me of alien and E.T because he was an extra-terrestrial” and from there we managed to translate the word ‘sky’.
One of my favourite parts of the project was when the children had to make up their own sentences in Latin as they all came up with funny, unique and imaginative sentences. It was also really nice to see how much the children enjoyed writing Mother’s day poems and making Easter cards. I also noticed how proud the children were of their Latin knowledge and quick to show off some of the work they had done which was really nice to see. Sometimes the boys could be a bit chatty and over excited, but all of the children in the class were really lovely children and it was such a pleasure getting to meet and work with them and I think both myself and the children enjoyed every single Latin session this term!
I am so glad that I got the chance to be a part of the Literacy through Latin project as I met some lovely people and children, gained invaluable experience and learnt a bit of Latin too!
Written by Rebecca Watton, 11 April 2014