The Autumn 2009 issue of Classis, the quarterly journal of the Association of Classical Christian Schools, Volume XVI, No. 3, is a special edition featuring articles focusing on the teaching of Latin.
The issue opens with an excerpt from Dorothy Sayer's "Lost Tools of Learning" followed by six articles on Latin pedagogy:
1) Latin: Training Skilled Communicators (Patch Blakey, ACCS)
2) Latin: Beyond the SAT Score (Peter H. Vande Brake, North Hills Classical Academy)
3) The Best Way to Improve Any Latin Class (Timothy L. Griffith, New St. Andrews College)
4) Latin III at Westminster Academy (Michael Johnson, Westminster Academy)
5) Interdisciplinary Measures: the Integration of Latin (Ginny Kent, Covenant Classical Christian School)
6) How 'Bout Them Apples (Eric Indgjerd, The Oaks: A Classical Christian Academy)
"The Best Way to Improve Any Latin Class" is particularly interesting: "The first and most important task of a Latin teacher is to learn Latin himself." Mr. Griffith gives suggestions for a program of study for Latin teachers which includes rigorous attention to grammar and vocabulary, daily reading, and attendance at a Conventiculum.
"How 'Bout Them Apples" sings the praises of Hans Oerberg's Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata, as a text that enables teachers to teach and students to learn "Latin Latinly in the classroom." Mr. Indgjerd sympathizes with Dorothy Sayers, who grieved that classical Latin remained puzzling even after nearly two decades of study and suggests that if she had been able to use Oerberg's method, she would have found her studies more fruitful.
