Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Tarheel Reader Update!

There are now over forty free Latin stories available at the Tarheel Reader website! Latin is now listed as an available language in the sidebar menu, along with French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Italian, Swedish and Hebrew.   

Tarheel Reader began as a collection of online, illustrated books targeted toward accessibility, especially for the disabled.  (Teachers in special education will likely find this an excellent resource for creating "Social Stories.")  

Students who are visual learners will especially enjoy these stories. Photographs are available from Flickr through Creative Commons licensing.  (Photographs that permit such derivative usage are typically tagged on Flickr.)

Some of the tales are simple, such as Karen Budde's Poeta et Milites, Bob Patrick's Arbores Magicae, and AnnaPMagistra's De Lupo in Pelle Ovis.

Others are more advanced, based upon the poetry of Horace, Ovid and Catullus.

Latin language authors have started to tag their work as "easy," "beginning," "intermediate" and "advanced." This will help readers choose books at the appropriate reading level.

Many of these online books have been written by Latin teachers and professors.  Some have been written by students, with the assistance of their instructors.  

The books are viewable online or downloadable in a variety of formats (Flash, Powerpoint, etc.)