tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838882378909693892.post2135255304871255926..comments2024-02-03T10:59:00.385-05:00Comments on Toda-lly Comprehensible Latin: Rejecting a Grammar SyllabusUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838882378909693892.post-26588976644674081822018-03-16T14:14:07.899-04:002018-03-16T14:14:07.899-04:00Thanks for your comment. Glad that you read this p...Thanks for your comment. Glad that you read this post and found something of interest on which to discuss.<br /><br />To cite Bill Van Patten (of Tea with BVP fame), language is unlike any other subject area in that language is too abstract and complex to teach/learn explicitly - what is on page 32 is not what winds up in students' heads. This definitely applies to Latin. <br /><br />You are right in that there are few CI resources for Latin teachers at the moment, but as the CI Latin movement now is starting to gain some critical mass, more extensive resources will become available.<br /><br />My argument is that if we continue to treat Latin as a grammar-based language stuck in the 1st century, this is what will further the conditions of own irrelevance, as the pool of students who would normally be drawn to Latin grammar decide to take other languages which they consider to be more relevant in today's global community. I will write a future post on this. Keithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12196810680408675365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838882378909693892.post-52064634230323135192018-03-13T18:07:29.096-04:002018-03-13T18:07:29.096-04:00The kids are conditioned to view language as a sub...The kids are conditioned to view language as a subject and they need "things to learn" (which has largely been grammar and culture in Latin). The problem is resources. Many, many textbooks and workbooks that use the grammar-translation or reading methods exist for Latin learners. There are really only a handful of CI novellas accessible to intro learners, however. This, for all practical purposes, is a HUGE problem for teachers. The stress of becoming good at story-asking, the other stress that teaching in general brings to a human being, and of course, the variables of learner backgrounds (SES, trauma, etc.) make ditching grammar much less appealing to teachers. This is a not an excuse so much as a "it's not that simple" kind of statement. A final thought: learning Latin for the purpose of acquiring Latin is a much more difficult sell to a "21st century" learning community. Sure, the pure joy of it has intrinsic value; but in an ethos of teaching "transferable skills" and "transfer" it seems difficult (convince me if I'm wrong) to justify learning Latin as a purely fun endeavor without the larger transferable skills. Not to mention personalized learning, UbD, or design thinking (all of which make CI very hard). I raise these concerns only to say that in creating more accessible and acquisition based Latin learning, we may be ironically creating the conditions of our own irrelevance in future schools. Thanks as always for a thought-provoking post!Josephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02563406233597463861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838882378909693892.post-73859937360108551042018-03-13T17:05:21.060-04:002018-03-13T17:05:21.060-04:00Excellent article, Keith! This is applicable to pr...Excellent article, Keith! This is applicable to pretty much any language. Leave the grammar on the sidelines until you need it, then give it to them in short chunks. I remember being bored to tears going through all of the conjugation tables for Spanish verbs...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04890370117417623464noreply@blogger.com