The First Thousand Words in Latin book contains lots of modern day scenes, with Latin words around the outside that correspond to items within any given scene. The reader is prompted to look for various objects, actions, or people, which each have next them an (f), (m) or (n) depending on if the word is feminine, masculine or neutral.
This book is designed for children, but it would normally require a teacher with some experience in Latin to guide them through the book as there are pictures, rather than a conventional ‘question and answer’ comprehensive-type textbook layout. Each scene is relatable, form the domestic such as a typical child’s bedroom to a toy shop, to a town. This focuses on a more visual based learning type, as well as encourages any student to say the Latin word aloud.
I used the first scene, which displays a typical modern day home, as a resource for my class of 25 year 7 (11-12 year olds) students in order for them to learn about masculine/feminine word changes. This meant that using this book offered quite a practical challenge as it meant I had to firstly photocopy one scene, tip-ex over all the (f), (m) and (n) then photocopy it again to create a blank document for the students to fill. The nature of photocopying meant some words at the bottom were cut off, which I had to fill out manually in pen.
The resources were well received by the class. They seemed preoccupied throughout, with the scene offering a chance not only to simply fill in ‘f’ or ‘m’ but also connect arrows to the corresponding objects. It also initiated discussion about how the Latin word for ‘Compactus Discus’ was created, given that Romans didn’t actually have CD players! The resource clearly served its purpose in demonstrating word changes in objects they were familiar with. I created a further exercise that built on this, asking them to use these objects to describe their own bedroom.
Written by Harvey Richardson, 25 March 2014
This book is designed for children, but it would normally require a teacher with some experience in Latin to guide them through the book as there are pictures, rather than a conventional ‘question and answer’ comprehensive-type textbook layout. Each scene is relatable, form the domestic such as a typical child’s bedroom to a toy shop, to a town. This focuses on a more visual based learning type, as well as encourages any student to say the Latin word aloud.
I used the first scene, which displays a typical modern day home, as a resource for my class of 25 year 7 (11-12 year olds) students in order for them to learn about masculine/feminine word changes. This meant that using this book offered quite a practical challenge as it meant I had to firstly photocopy one scene, tip-ex over all the (f), (m) and (n) then photocopy it again to create a blank document for the students to fill. The nature of photocopying meant some words at the bottom were cut off, which I had to fill out manually in pen.
The resources were well received by the class. They seemed preoccupied throughout, with the scene offering a chance not only to simply fill in ‘f’ or ‘m’ but also connect arrows to the corresponding objects. It also initiated discussion about how the Latin word for ‘Compactus Discus’ was created, given that Romans didn’t actually have CD players! The resource clearly served its purpose in demonstrating word changes in objects they were familiar with. I created a further exercise that built on this, asking them to use these objects to describe their own bedroom.
Written by Harvey Richardson, 25 March 2014