Bestiaria Latina: Zoo

Take a virtual field trip to a Latin language zoo! Laura Gibbs has done it again, creating an online bestiary of animals. Each entry in this menagerie includes the Latin name of the animal, alternative terminology, a photo, plus links to Latin language stories and proverbs! You can even add a Latin Zoo widget to your blog or website!

Latinum Has a New Home

Evan Millner has set up a new website for his Latinum project, which was previously somewhat difficult to navigate. The new website organizes the various parts of the course by difficulty level, making it easier for learners to follow the sequence of the lessons.

Prepping for the National Latin Exam

Karen Moore at the Latin Alive! blog just posted a link to a new online prep test program to help students prepare for the Level 1 National Latin Exam.

Joyful Latin Learning!

Are you reading Justin Schwamm's Joyful Latin Learning blog? If you aren't, you really ought to be! This is an interactive web project with the aim of building a collaborative and "joyful learning community" focused on Latin and the Roman Empire. Building on the principles of Paideia and the Trivium, as well as integrating the two main pedagogical approaches to Latin, Joyful Latin Learning aims to create and share content and stories with a wide online audience.

Teaching Classical Languages: A New Online Electronic Journal

We have just received an exciting new announcement from John Gruber-Miller, professor of Classical and Modern Languages at Cornell College and the author of When Dead Tongues Speak: Teaching Beginning Greek and Latin.

Teaching Classical Languages is a peer-reviewed electronic journal dedicated to exploring how we teach (and how we learn) Latin and Greek. It is meant for all who teach Latin and Greek, graduate students, coordinators, and administrators. Teaching Classical Languages is the successor of CPL Online and is sponsored by the Classical Association of the Middle West and South.

The mission of Teaching Classical Languages is to provide accessible, high quality research that offers Latin and Greek teachers immediate classroom applicability and long-term theoretical approaches that can help them become better teachers. As an electronic journal, Teaching Classical Languages has a unique global outreach. It offers authors and readers a multimedia format that more fully illustrates the topics discussed, and provides hypermedia links to related information and websites.

The first issue offers innovative articles about social networking in the Latin classroom, using music in beginning Greek, and core vocabulary in beginning Greek textbooks. All three articles take advantage of online publication, offering screen shots, audio of the songs, handouts for the classroom, or appendices that list the common core vocabulary in two popular Greek textbooks.

Andrew Reinhard, "Social Networking in Latin Class: A How-To Guide"

Georgia L. Irby-Massie, "'That Ain't Workin'; That's the Way You Do It': Teaching Greek through Popular Music"

Rachael Clark, "Greek Vocabulary in Popular Textbooks"

Teaching Classical Languages welcomes articles offering innovative practice and methods, advocating new theoretical approaches, or reporting on empirical research in teaching and learning Latin and Greek. Please take a moment to take a tour through the new journal and spread the word.

Look Up Latin Words and Make the World a Better Place!

It used to be that Latin students and teachers could only dream of owning a copy of A Latin Dictionary: Founded on Andrews' Edition of Freund's Latin Dictionary: Revised, Enlarged, and in Great Part Rewritten by Charlton T. Lewis, Ph.D. and Charles Short, LL.D. Retailing at $240, this authoritative reference has been out of reach for most poor but proud Classicists, who have had to make do with a school or departmental copy.

Now, Latin students and teachers can consult Lewis and Short whenever they want! And they don't have to carry around a five pound book either!

Latin teacher and entrepreneur Clint Hagen of A Third Way Technologies (a3w) has created a wonderful new version of this Latin dictionary, Glossa, which has both web-based and desktop capabilities! And it's free (thanks to a Creative Commons license), though the author does ask that you consider making a charitable donation to one of his favorite worthy causes, if you find the software useful.

The content of the dictionary is in the public domain, having been published in 1879, but until recently only available as a rather unwieldy tome! Web 2.0 has led to the creation of Glossa, as well as other virtual versions of this venerable reference (notably Lexidium for the iPhone/iPod Touch).

According to A3W's homepage, "Glossa combines a unique interface with a commitment to full exploration of a Latin word's possible meanings. The type-ahead suggest feature allows words to be found easily as you type, and the database gives you full definitions of words, including examples from Latin literature and etymologies. The sidebar shows you where you are in the dictionary, giving you the ten words before the current entry and the ten words after." This is a wonderful feature, building in the look and feel of a traditional dictionary, while adapting it to modern technology!

You can even hyperlink to dictionary entries, which I think will definitely also prove quite useful!

magnĭfĭcē! (the adverbial form of magnĭfĭcus, courtesy of Glossa!) Well done, A3W! (Glossa even supplies macrons and breves!)

Visit A Third Way Technologies and try it out for yourself!

Cambridge School Classics Project Update

The Cambridge School Classics Project Stage Activities continue to be unavailable, but it sounds as if they will be back in mid-November, albeit with a small fee for schools and home users who wish to use the online resources. Schools will be charged a modest per annum fee ($30 per school) plus a small user fee ($2) for each student, enabling students and staff to access the Cambridge activities from home and school. Homeschooling families will pay a $10 charge per user per year. For full details see the Stage Activities site.

Second Annual Terence Awards Announcement

Details of the Second Annual Terence Award competition have been released. The Terence Award bestows cash awards and book vouchers to those junior high, high school, and university students whose videos are deemed to most convey Classics in a way that is informative, entertaining, or both. Last year the contest was open only to those living in the U.S., but this year a category of "Foreign Film" has been added for non-US citizens living outside of the US and its Territories.

Prizes are awarded in the following categories:

• Best Picture, Junior Prize (junior high, high school, or homeschool student(s) ages 11–18 at the time the film was created)
• Best Picture, Senior Prize (college or university students aged 18+ at the time the film was created)
• Best Foreign Film Prize (all levels, students who are non-US citizens living outside of the United States and its Territories at the time the film was created)

The Best Picture and Best Foreign Film prizes recognize excellence in student filmmaking which include exceptional creativity, superb writing, acting, and production of a movie with Classical themes including, but not limited to history, mythology, and/or culture. Movies may be set in any time period (past, present, future, or a combination thereof) and can be live-action, animated (including machinima), or a mix of live action and animation. The use of Latin and/or Greek is encouraged, but not required. Subtitles may be used.

• Best Use of Latin in a Film Prize (all levels, Classical, Medieval, Vulgate, etc.)
• Best Use of Greek in a Film Prize (all levels, Homeric, Classical, or Koine)

The Best Use of Latin/Greek prizes celebrate excellence and creativity in the integration of Latin and/or Greek into a student-created film. To be eligible for these prizes, the films must contain Latin/Greek subtitles and/or Latin/Greek spoken dialogue or narration.

A single film can win both a Best Picture prize and a Best Use of Latin/Greek prize. The Best Foreign Film prize-winner is also eligible to win Best Picture (Junior) or Best Picture (Senior).

Winners will also have their videos featured on the eClassics homepage for one month, and will be designated as a Terence Award-winner for all time.

The grant to fund cash prizes for the Best Picture winners (Junior and Senior) and Best Foreign Film is made through Excellence Through Classics (ETC, a standing committee of the American Classical League for the promotion and support of Elementary, Middle School and Introductory Classics Programs). Winners of Best Use of Latin/Greek will receive vouchers for free books from Bolchazy-Carducci.

Winners will be announced at the American Classical League Summer Institute on June 27, 2010, and will be simultaneously posted on eClassics and on various Classics discussion lists.

To obtain full details on the contest rules and how how to enter please contact Andrew Reinhard, Director of eLearning at Bolchazy-Carducci, at areinhard@bolchazy.com.

The deadline for submissions is May 30, 2010. Videos may be entered either electronically or by postal mail. Late submissions will not be considered. Submissions cannot be returned.

There is no entry submission fee.

Legible Latin

Legible Latin is a Latin dictionary and text reader software package written by Thomas McCarthy and available from Perlingua Language Tools. With it, you can analyze text for reading. Seven well-known texts come with Legible Latin (Caesar, Cicero, Sallust, Vergil, Livy, the Gospels and the Gesta Romanorum) or you can paste in your own text or retrieve it from an online source. The program also includes a "macronizer" for adding macrons to Latin text. The dictionary utilized by Legible Latin is based upon Whitaker's Words, but you can also look up words through the program's interface with dictionaries on the internet (via the Perseus Project or a dictionary of your own choosing). Legible Latin is free and comes in all three flavors, Windows/Mac/Linux. Legible Latin is produced by the same company that brought you SightWords.

Peregrinatio and Tarheel Reader

Visit Peregrinatio, Anna Peregrina's new blog where she is currently providing details and links about the online books that she has created using Tarheel Reader. Her books review vocabulary from the Cambridge Latin Course. She'll continue to update her blog as she creates more mini-book reviews and activities. (Latin currently leads all languages, except English in the foreign languages section with over 300 online books!)

I'm sure Anna Peregrina will think of other things to add to her blog too!

Latin for Children

Evan Millner has added a new component to the Latinum course, entitled Latin for Children, which offers short lessons (typically one minute maximum) introducing Latin through the Direct method , which is also sometimes called the Natural method or Immersion method. These lessons utilize flash animation and audio language.

(Find out more about Latin language teaching methodologies.)

Another Cool Classics Tool!

Poeta Ex Machina is a cool tool that allows you to listen to Latin poetry chanted, creating mp3s from any text in any meter. Not surprisingly, it was created by Lee Butterman, who also designed NoDictionaries, a wonderful online vocabulary engine which helps users increase their reading fluency! You'll need to provide the scanned meter (directions here). You can toggle macrons and elisions in the passage if you'd like to view them as the Poeta recites.

For those of you just beginning Latin, it is possible to enter just one word in order to hear its proper pronunciation.

Free Latin for the New Millennium Webinar Coming Soon

Bolchazy-Carducci will be presenting a free Latin for the New Millennium Webinar on September 17, 6-8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, with information about both volumes of their new Latin curriculum,. which combines both a grammar-based and reading-based approach.

Methodological Considerations for Learning Latin

Evan Millner, creator of the Latinum Course, a complete multi-level audio course for Classical Latin, based upon the 19th century textbook "A Practical Grammar of the Latin Language for Speaking and Writing Latin," has a few tips for those of you who wish to learn this ancient language. He's outlined some of the considerations that you need to keep in mind when studying a new language in his brief article "A Learning Methodology for Latin." He also has written a couple articles about an interesting technique, based upon an ancient Roman method, the Method of Loci, for remembering and internalizing the declensions and conjugations, important concepts of Latin grammar.

Dual Source Vocabulary Tool

For those of you interested in Latin word frequency, Laura Gibbs points out that James Dee of the University of Illinois at Chicago has created A Dual-Source Database of Word Frequencies in Latin. Many of you are aware of Gonzalez Lodge's The Vocabulary of High School Latin and Paul. B. Diederich's The Frequency of Latin Words and their Endings, two often-consulted statistical counts of Latin vocabulary and morphological end forms. Professor Dee's database combines the two and provides the result in Excel spreadsheet form and plain text.

Winged Sandals Returns!

Winged Sandals, which was on hiatus for some time, appears to have returned! Winged Sandals is an educational Greek mythology website produced by ABC, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, in partnership with The University of Melbourne's Centre for Classics and Archaeology. Greatly missed by many Latin and Classics teachers, Winged Sandals features stories about the ancient Greek deities, online games, ideas and templates for offline activities, a "who's-who" database, historical background, animations, and downloadable "goodies" like wallpapers, e-cards, and screensavers.

Cambridge School Classics Project Down

Latin teachers on the various lists and forums have been reporting that the free web-based Cambridge Latin Course activities on the Cambridge School Classics Project have been made "temporarily unavailable" to a lack of funding to support the site. Efforts are underway to find a solution.

Meanwhile, if you are looking for alternative, interactive websites where students can find Latin quizzes and activities, Richard Popek has compiled a significant number of activities at the Quia website, specifically keyed to Cambridge:

Unit 1: http://www.quia.com/pages/4editionunit1clc.html

Unit 2: http://www.quia.com/pages/4editionunit2clc.html

Unit 3: http://www.quia.com/pages/4editionunit3clc.html

Unit 4: http://www.quia.com/pages/4editionunit4clc.html

Also check out these additional sites:

• Quia Shared Latin Activities You can search for activities based upon specific textbooks by doing a keyword search. Nearly 3000 activities have been created!!!
• Flashcard Exchange: Latin Also tagged for search, with many textbooks represented.
• Wheelock's Latin Exercises 40 chapters worth of activities from the University of Victoria
• Magic Words Based upon vocabulary from the Cambridge Latin Course. Similar to refrigerator magnets! Located at Andrew Wilson's Classics' Pages. Also try Wordsquare Challenge. If you spend some time looking through the thousands of pages at Andrew's site, you'll find lots of cool stuff!
• Minimus Games Some Flash games based upon Barbara Bell's Minimus!
• Alvares' Experimental Javascripted Teach Yourself Some Latin Noun and verb drills, with accompanying vocabulary list, not keyed to any specific textbook in particular.
• Laura Gibbs' Latin Crosswords and Roman Sudoko Laura has too many wonderful resources to mention here, so check her Daily Roundup.
• Kentucky Educational Television Ideas for games that can be played without a computer. (Imagine!)
• Latin Per Ludos Illustra More ideas for enjoying language, without a computer!
• Ology World Mythology games and activities based upon the popular "Ology" series of books.
• Transparent Language has a few online sampler games too.
• FlashDash Latin from Classical Academic Press

Find more at the Latinteach Quizzes and Games Resource page.

Latin 2.0 Personal Learning Networks

As part of Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers' Summer Webinar Series for Latin Teachers, Laura Gibbs will be presenting "Latin 2.0: Personal Learning Networks" on Thursday, July 30, 6:00-8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Wondering what all the Web2.0 fuss is about? Curious about blogs, tweets, wikis, widgets and nings? This webinar will provide a hands-on introduction to the world of Web2.0 as it is changing the face of Classics, Latin, and Greek online. Participants will look at the the free, easy-to-use tools that allow educators to put content online without any specialized training: create a blog, build a wiki, share your photos and Powerpoints online - instantly, for free. Visit WebClassics.pbwiki.com to find out more, and help plan this webinar to make it more useful for you!

To register, please visit http://www.bolchazy.com/webinars.html. Tuition is $99.00 for the live, interactive session. If you have any questions about how webinars work, technical specs, and the like, please email Andrew Reinhard, Director of eLearning, Bolchazy Carducci.

Two Upcoming Webinars for Latin and Classics Teachers

JULY 14, 2009 BARBARA BELL

"TEACHING LATIN TO YOUNG CHILDREN" WEBINAR

Barbara Bell, the acclaimed British author of the popular children's Latin series Minimus, has been named to the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours List for "those who have gone the extra mile to make a difference to the lives of people around them." Bell received her MBE for her work as "a classics teacher at Clifton High School in Bristol, who has raised the profile of the subject and increased its accessibility."

Barbara Bell will be visiting the USA in July and you have the opportunity to meet her, even if you can't make it to any of the cities that she will be visiting! Barbara will will be participating in a free online webinar on July 14th. To register, please visit Cambridge's US website for complete details on how to participate:

http://www.cambridge.org/us/education/classics/events.htm

JULY 16, 2009

ROSE WILLIAMS "MAKING ROOM FOR HISTORY IN A BUSY LATIN CLASS

Rose Williams will be leading a webinar in Bolchazy-Carducci's summer series for Latin teachers on July 16th, 6-8PM Eastern: "Making Room for History in a Busy Latin Class". Rose will give a brief overview of Roman history for use very early in the first term which can be used as an outline for the overall study of Latin. Various historical materials that can be woven into your lesson plans will be presented.

Webinar attendees may submit questions and suggestions in advance of the session, and will be asked to submit ideas for using these materials in their respective teaching situations after the seminar. Before the webinar beings, each participant should search his/her text or teaching plan for advantageous areas for integrating history materials.

If you would like to attend, please RSVP to info@bolchazy.com or register online at http://www.bolchazy.com/webinars.html. There is a $99.00 charge for the two-hour,live session. By participating in this session, you may qualify for professional development credits.

Meet the Author of Minimus Latin in Pittsburgh in July!

A WORKSHOP FOR TEACHERS
sponsored by
Excellence Through Classics: Elementary/Middle Levels -
THE AMERICAN CLASSICAL LEAGUE

in collaboration with local, state, national, and international organizations including the Pennsylvania Classical Association, The Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Wayne State University, Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, and the Primary Latin Project

JULY 22 - JULY 24, 2009 - PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA

SPACES STILL AVAILABLE FOR THOSE

WHO WISH TO ATTEND!

Elementary and Middle School teachers will learn creative ways to bring the ancient past into the present through history, culture, language, art, food, fashion and technology. No previous background in Classics is required. Certificates of attendance will be issued and ACT 48 Credits provided for Pennsylvania Teachers.

WEDNESDAY - July 22, 2009 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM TOUR, TEA WITH LUNCH & CLASSICS TALK Following a tour, and tea with lunch, our Guest speaker Barbara Bell, Director of the Primary Latin Project in the UK and author of Minimus: Starting Out In Latin and Minimus Secundus will speak briefly about tea customs in the UK and will present a Classics talk in the Gilfillan Farmhouse at 1950 Washington Road, (Upper St. Clair) Pittsburgh, PA 15241. Built circa 1857 in the Greek Revival Gothic Architectural style, the Gilfillan Farmhouse is an historic landmark.

THURSDAY - July 23, 2009 10:00 AM - 3:30 PM THE MUSEUM AS A MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESOURCE Includes multiple presenters in collaboration with the Carnegie Museum of Art at 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. Highlights will include:

• Minimus: Starting Out in Latin Training Session for Teachers by Barbara Bell
• A Fashion Show of Ancient Costume by Norma Goldman, a scholar in ancient costuming and Pittsburgh native
• Hands On Technology and Archaeology with Andrew Reinhard of Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, and
• Art, Mythology, Ancient Coins by Zee Ann Poerio of Excellence Through Classics. (includes lunch in Museum Cafe.)

FRIDAY - July 24, 2009 9:00 - 2:00 PM CLASSICS WORKSHOP & BOOK FAIR

• Book talks by Barbara Bell, Norma Goldman, and James R. Clifford, Jr.
• Interactive technology presentations and classroom activities by Andrew Reinhard and Zee Ann Poerio
• Ancient Roman Military Exhibit by George Metz (Gallio Velius Marsallas) of Legion XXIV at the Barnes & Noble at 301 South Hills Village Mall, Pittsburgh, PA 15241 (Includes boxed lunch.)

Participants will receive free resources, giveaways, lesson ideas, and be eligible for door prizes at each event. Please visit the ETC website for updates and complete list of speakers. Contact Zee Ann Poerio - zee.poerio@gmail.com - for more information or to request a registration form. Registration is $25.00 for each event.