Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Free Dickinson Workshop: Active Latin in the Classroom: Strategies for Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced Students

Milena Minkova and Terence Tunberg (University of Kentucky, Lexington) will be presenting a free Latin workshop at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, USA on Saturday, November 7, 2009, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

"Active Latin in the Classroom: Strategies for Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced Students"

"Oral and written Latin expression can enrich the experience of learning Latin for students at any level. Our goal as classical language teachers is to impart the ability to read original texts written in those languages, and we maintain that judicious use of active Latin as a complement to reading serves that goal. We are also convinced that the active use of Latin can complement a wide variety of methodologies for teaching Latin now in use, including the inductive, reading-oriented approach, as well as the analytical, grammatical approach."

The presenters will offer some background material, and will address some of the theoretical questions which arise from teaching strategies that involve the active use of Latin. Moreover, participants in the workshop will take part in an extensive range of activities involving spoken and written expression, which any teacher can employ, and which are designed for various levels of students ranging from beginners to the advanced. As the “capstone” to these activities, the presenters will show how using active Latin complements and enhances the reading of Latin texts for those students who have reached the level where they can begin to read unadapted Latin works.

Prof. Tunberg has published extensively on the history of Latin prose styles from Cicero up to and including the Renaissance. He is also keenly interested in the practice of Latin prose composition in modern Latin study and has won prizes for original Latin prose in international competitions. He founded in the mid 1990s the Conventiculum Latinum, an annual summer immersion workshop in spoken Latin held on the campus of the University of Kentucky. Today the Conventiculum Latinum draws 60-70 people each year from many parts of North America and the world, and it is the largest and longest-running seminar for active Latin in North America.

Prof. Minkova is the author of The Personal Names of the Latin Inscriptions from Bulgaria (Peter Lang 2000), among other books. With Prof. Tunberg she has written Readings and Exercises in Latin Prose Composition (Focus, 2004); Reading Livy’s Rome. Selections from Livy, Books I-VI (Bolchazy-Carducci, 2005); Mater Anserina. Poems in Latin for Children (Focus, 2006); and Latin for the New Millenium, An Entirely New Introductory Course on the Latin Language (Bolchazy-Carducci, 2009).

The workshop is free of charge, but preregistration is required. For more information, or to register, please contact Mrs. Barbara McDonald (mcdonalb@dickinson.edu). Pennsylvania Act 48 credit is available.