Capitulum Quartum : Lessons Thirty Six & Seven

1. This set of lessons didn’t go quite as planned, but I was pleased with how it panned out. It was my intention that we should read through Scaena Secunda of Capitulum Quartum together, and then take a look at the vocabulary lists that I had printed out in lesson 36. However, two things happened:

   a) the students began asking questions about human enslavement in Ancient Rome, which I was interested in answering. Each answer led to further questions.

   b) when we got to the end of Scaena Secunda, the students were keen to continue with the story. We were not translating every word, but I was repeatedly reinforcing new vocabulary and grammar, especially the use of the imperative and vocative.

   The result was that reading through the story and answering student’s questions about human enslavement in Rome took around one and a half lessons (lessons 36 and 37).

2. I handed out a vocabulary list that contains all of the vocabulary introduced in Chapters 1-4. The students will be sitting a significant form test in a few weeks, that will cover Chapters 1-4. I think it is important that all students have an opportunity to ensure that they have learnt each word that they will potentially need for the test. This list, along with all worksheets, can be downloaded here.

3. I explained to the students that this list was a list of every word introduced in Chapters 1-4, and that in the lessons that follow, we will be going through the list to add meanings. I suggested that students ONLY write meanings if they thought there was a chance they would not remember the meaning without writing it down AND to write all meanings in pencil so that they could be erased once a student became confident with the meaning. We began with nouns.

Capitulum Quartum : Lesson Thirty Five

1. I began the lesson by giving back the marked tests from the previous lesson (see lesson 34) and taking the students through the correct answers. The most common mistake - which surprised me - was caused by students forgetting the meanings of ‘cur’ and ‘quia’. I was confident before the Easter holidays that students knew these words, so perhaps they slipped from their memory over the break. Some of the questions in the true and false section proved difficult for some students.

2. I told the students yesterday, that if they were unable to complete the entire test they should leave the second page of the translation undone. I chose not to include the mark for this page when calculating the mark for the test, and we now went through it together now. The first two sentences were written in such as way as to illustrate the difference between subject and object in English (word order) and in Latin (word ending). I am trying to reinforce this idea as often as possible.

3. We now read Legonium Disco Lesson 6, in which Marcellus teaches the use of the Vocative. I asked three students to come out to the front of the room. One of them scrolled through the slides, one of them read the part of Marcellus, and one of them chose students from the class to read all the other parts. Like all Disco lessons, it ends with the students putting what they have learnt into practice. Disco Lesson 6 can be found here.

4. I now asked all the students to open their textbooks to page 13, which has a picture of the characters from LLPSI, all labelled with their names. Going from right (Medus) to left (Iulius) I asked one student to greet each of them, practising what they had learnt about using names while greeting.

5. Finally, I set the students a small homework task. I asked them to read through Scaena Secunda of Chapter 4, and to determine what I would be asking somebody to do if I said “Tace!” and “Discede!” to them.

Capitulum Quartum : Lesson Thirty Four

1. Capitulum Tertium Class Test. As per previous tests, students were asked to work alone, without discussion, and to keep their eyes on their own work. I said that I was able to answer questions about WHAT to do, but not about any of the Latin itself. And that if they finished with time to spare (they had around 35 minutes), that they should check their work carefully then read their textbook. Finally, I told them that if something needed to be left undone for time reasons, it should be the second page of the final translation. All class tests can be downloaded here.

Capitulum Quartum : Lesson Thirty Three

1. The students began the lesson with exactly 12 minutes of translation time, to translate as much as they could of Capitulum Quartum Scaena Prima.

2. I put the slides for Capitulum Quartum Scaena Prima up on the board. I read each sentence and the students repeated it back to me. At the end I asked the students to hold up a hand with a number of fingers, representing a score out of five for how much they thought they understood. The most common numbers were three and then four. You can find the slides here.

3. We went through Scaena Prima another time. On this occasion I asked the students to point out anything that was new, or that they remembered seeing before but couldn’t remember the meaning of. We clarified the meaning of anything new or not completely understood.

4. Students were asked to read Capitulum Secundum for homework and determine what somebody is asking someone to do if they say “Tace!” or” Discede!”

Capitulum Quartum : Lesson Thirty Two

1. This was the first lesson of Term 2. I began by returning the Capitulum Secundum class test (see Lesson 22). We went through the test quickly - there were a few small issues.

   Note : If you are wondering why I kept the tests for as long as I did, it was because we had students out of class due to Covid restrictions at the end of Term 1. I waited until almost all students had been able to sit the test before returning it. The students were able to see their marks online during this time.

2. I next told the class that they would be sitting their Capitulum Tertium test early next week (see Lesson 34). I told them that for the first time, the test would include a completely new story for them to translate into English, that the best way to study was twofold 1) reread Chapters 1-3 of the textbook and 2) practise the chapter 1-3 Gimkit Quizzes. Finally, I told them that the True or False questions were designed to be particularly tricky in this test, and they should pay special attention to the use of the word ‘qui’ in their revision. Gimkit Quizzes can be accessed here.

3. We now played a fifth round of Recte/Prave. This round was about numbers. I asked the students to write the numbers 1-3 into their books in Latin, explaining that the exact form changes based on the gender of the noun (which can be determined by its ending). In round 5 we looked at every slide - single, double and triple - with me asking “Quot x sunt?”. So, taking oppidum as an example, three turns went like this:

Teacher: quot oppida sunt?

Student 1: Unum oppidum est.

Teacher: Quot oppida sunt?

Student 2: Duo oppida sunt.

Teacher: Quot oppida sunt?

Student 3: Tria oppida sunt.

I made it clear that this would be tested in the upcoming Capitulum Tertium Class Test.

4. Students were now asked to read Scaena Prima of Capitilum Quartum. I pointed out to them the illustrations in the margins, and added that they shouldn’t worry if not every word made sense. I asked them to reread Scaena Prima if they finished it.

Capitulum Tertium : Lesson Thirty One

1. Today was the last day of term, so I brought the students back to the library for another game of Tumultus. Observations: Far more time was spent playing the game, rather than learning the rules. Students had to be reminded occasionally about the Latin Rule (see Lesson 28), but as I moved between the groups I heard a good deal of Latin being spoken. I was also pleased to see players making an effort to match the grammatical gender when attaching potion cards. I finished the lesson wondering whether the time spent playing is worth this particular type of exposure to the language. I’m still entirely unsure as to how to measure that. I have just about finished work on a new game, Pecunia, to be played alongside Chapter 4. The rules are far simpler, which I think will be an advantage. It’s also cooperative rather than competitive, which will be a nice change of pace.

Capitulum Tertium : Lesson Thirty

1. We began the lesson by rereading Capitulum Tertium lines 69-82 together off the board. We last read this section of the chapter together in lesson 23 (see Lesson 23). Once again, I asked the students to provide English translations of the sentences containing relative pronouns. The illustrated version of Chapter 3 can be found here.

2a. We now did an activity named Suspicax (Suspicious). Suspicax is designed to drill the use of the relative pronoun in increasingly complex sentences, modelled only on sentences seen in Capitulum Tertium. The questions, along with a space to write an answer, are provided on a worksheet (all worksheets are available here). The five slides that the students look at to answer the questions can be found here. There is a slide for each ‘ludus’.

2b. We played through all five ‘ludi’, one at a time. The method we used was the same for each ‘ludus’. We looked at the slide and determined what was being said. Then we looked at the questions on the worksheet. We studied the example question(s), and ensured that these were understood by all. Then students wrote answers to each question in that ‘ludus’, modelled on the sample answer(s). Once that was done, we marked that ‘ludus’ together before moving on to the next one.

3. Finally, students were given time to reread the lines 69-82 of the textbook on their own.

Capitulum Tertium : Lesson Twenty Nine

1. Students began the lesson working on Capitulum Primum : Pensum B, which were collected for marking. The students were asked to use the worksheet that was printed on the back of Pensum A. They were told that they could look through the textbook as much as they wished, but not through their exercise books or other resources. All of the worksheets mentioned in this blog can be downloaded here.

2a. recte/prave Round Four: We now played another round of recte/prave (see Lesson 25), which is proving to be both popular and effective. For this round I brought along the pink Amogus - named Roseus - and introduced the word accusat. I put the adjective improbus on the board - in its various forms - and asked the students how it changed when it became the object/accusativus/palm punch form.

2b. For round Four, we used only the singular form of each word. I asked, depending on the slide “Quid/Quem/Quam accusat Roseus?”, to which each student responded, for example, “Roseus cibum improbum accusat". The slides for recte/prave can be found here.

3. Students were now given time to reread Capitulum Tertium, Lines 1-68. They were asked to pay special attention - and even punch their hand into their fist - whenever they read an object/accusativus form.

Capitulum Tertium : Lesson Twenty Eight

1. This lesson the students gathered in the library to play Tumultus, the rules I which I explained the previous lesson (see lesson 27), in groups of four or, if necessary, three.

2. I told the students that there was an expectation that they would take every action in Latin. Note: There is a page of the rules that explains exactly what the player should say as they take an action. We introduced the Latin Rule, which is: for an action to work, it must be expressed in correct Latin. If the player uses incorrect Latin, the other players should help them to correct it. However, if a player makes no attempt to use Latin, that action automatically fails, and they must move on to the next part of their turn.

3. Despite the rules overview in the last lesson, students spent a good deal of this lesson working out the rules. Tumultus is a relatively complicated game for players who have not encountered this type of game before. I was available to answer questions, and between answering questions I watched play and reminded groups of the Latin Rule. As the lesson progressed, players began to understand the rules better, and I was hearing an increasing amount of correct Latin being spoken. I decided that we had time - and that it was worth the time - to return to Tumultus in a future lesson. I explained this to the class.

Capitulum Tertium : Lesson Twenty Seven

1. I began the lesson by handing back to the students the Capitulum Primum : Pensum A sheets that had been completed and collected last lesson (see lesson 26). I had pre-organised the students into groups of four, by drawing a symbol on their returned sheets; ⌽, ⎅, ⌲, ⌾ or ⍦. The students found the other three or four students with the same symbol and created groups from them. (Each group was designed to contain at least one person who had made zero errors in Pensum A).

2. The students were now given 10 minutes to correct as many errors as possible from their group’s sheets. The students were encouraged to not mindlessly change answers but to try and understand why the correct answer was correct. I explained that students who had made no (or few) errors seemingly understood what was required of Pensum A, and I encouraged them to teach the other students, and the other students to learn from them. I walked around the room listening, and answering questions where required.

3. Students were now asked to come to the front of the room for a rules explanation of Tumultus, a card game that we would be playing the next lesson. They were told that rather than coming to the classroom, that they should go to the library, where I had booked tables so that the games would not encroach upon each other. The rules of Tumultus are relatively complicated - especially for those who have not played a similar type of game before - and I thought it was worth taking a chunk of class time to explain them. Tumultus and its rules can be downloaded here, and printed out. Each game also requires a die and four counters (although these can easily be created by the players).

Capitulum Tertium : Lesson Twenty Six

1. Students were asked to take out their recte/prave sheets from previous lesson (see Lesson 25).

2. recte/prave Round Three : Round three is the same as round two, only a new adjective is used - parvus a um. Explain that while the images look “magnus” on the screen, they are in fact very very small. As in round two, questions alternate between singular and plural. Note: Students were told that this practice would assist them in the next activity. recte/prave slides can be accessed here.

M: Quid est?

D1: Rosa parva est.

M: Quae sunt?

D2: Rosae parvae sunt.

3. Students were given a worksheet on which to complete Capitulum Primum Pensum A. They were given about 15 minutes to engage with this activity. I told them that accuracy was more important than speed, but they should try to do as much as they could correctly. They were to work alone, although they could ask me questions. They could look through their textbook freely - but not their exercise books. The sheets were collected for marking. All worksheets can be downloaded here. Note: I printed this with Pensum B on the back, to save paper. We will use this in a future lesson. Observations: There was a true spectrum of results. Some students made no or almost no errors, showing a firm understanding of this concept. Others made enough errors that it was difficult to know whether the correct answers were as accidental as the incorrect, and others clearly did not yet have a working knowledge of this concept.

4. There were about 5 minutes left at the end of the lesson, so we repeated a vocabulary game from a previous lesson (see Lesson 23, item 1). Here is a picture to jog your memory.

Capitulum Tertium : Lesson Twenty Five

1. For the first ten minutes of the lesson, the students read Capitulum Primum of Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata. I asked them to begin reading it again if they finished. There were a few questions during that time.

2. Each student was given a scoring sheet to play recte/prave. The goal of recte/prave is to orally drill Latin morphology, while keeping the class focused despite it is not being their turn to respond.

3. Firstly, I’ll explain the score sheet. There are two large areas labelled “recte - correctly” and “prave - incorrectly”. (These words are introduced, I think, in Chapter 15). The game is played in rounds, and in each round each students answers one question. When the student answers the question, the remainder of the players must quickly decide whether they answered recte or prave, and put a marker down on their own sheet. The teacher then announces recte or prave - then repeats the correct answer. If the player chose correctly, they give themselves one point, added to the large box for that round (there is space for 20 rounds). At the end of the round, the marks can be totalled and written in the small box.

4. I’ll now explain the parve/recte slides. I’ve created a set of slides - you can see them here - that have images of ‘things’ that appear in the first few chapters (and a few additional animals). I intend to use these images to orally drill morphology, as expressed above. Each noun appears three times: with one, two and three examples. Only the single image has the noun itself written on the slide. Here is an example:

5. recte/prave Round One : In round one, only the slides with a single example are shown. The three possible forms of optimus are written on the board, and the question “Quid est?” is asked. The student must respond with the appropriate form of optimus. For example:

M: Quid est?

D: Cuniculus optimus est.

6. recte/prave Round Two : In round two, slides alternated from one image to two images. The basics for making nouns and adjectives plural was added to the board. Note: It is helpful to warn the students that they will NOT see the Latin word in the plural pictures. If they are going next, they should look carefully at the singular form and prepare their answer in they head.

M: Quid est?

D1: Cuniculus optimus est.

M: Quae sunt?

D2: Cuniculi optimi sunt.

Note: Students had mixed success in Round Two responding correctly. Players were quite good, however, at judging whether other students had responded recte or prave.

Capitulum Tertium : Lesson Twenty Four

1. For this lesson we went to the computer labs to play Gimkit. The students played four games : Capitula 1-3 Quiz, Capitulum Secundum Pena, Capitulum Primum Pensa and .Capitula 1-3 Quiz again. We played a variety of modes - Humans vs Zombies, The Floor in Lava and Infinity Mode. All of the Quizzes can be played as one player games here. However, if you want to set up a multiplayer game, you can go to Gimkit and search for my kits - they all start with “Q LLPSI”.

Capitulum Tertium : Lesson Twenty Three

1. We began the lesson with a new game. The room was split into left and right, two competing teams. Each person in the team was allocated a number from 1 to 11 (there were 22 students in the room). One pair came out at a time. I wrote a single word on a small whiteboard, and held it up so that everyone (except the two competitors) could see it. These words were all ones I had introduced signs for (see lesson 20). The students all mimed the words - the first of the two students out the front who guessed it won a point for their team. We played 11 rounds, to give each student a chance to compete.

2. I asked the students to reread the notes on the ‘relative pronoun’ that they had copied into their books (see Lesson 21).

3. I put the third and final part of Capitulum Tertium up on the board, and we read it together. These slides can be accessed here. This part of the chapter contains numerous examples of the relative pronoun. I ask students to translate these examples orally into English. I was able to give most students a sentence to translate - there are that many examples! - and I could feel confidence and understanding increasing as they translated more and more examples. Note: I believe there may well be a downside to this type of translation exercise - a risk that students will also resort to English in their heads whenever they meet a relative pronoun. I decided that in this case, it was worth that risk. But this may only suggest a current inability to come up with a better way.

4. I reminded the students that next lesson we would be meeting in the computer labs to practise on Gimkit.

Capitulum Tertium : Lesson Twenty Two

Introduction: This was the lesson of the Capitulum Secundum class test. I wrote the following on the board, and explained to the students upfront how I wanted them to spend the lesson. Here, however, I will explain each in turn. Note: I told the students that this was a strictly “no speaking” lesson - that if they had a question about the test they could come to the front and ask me. If they had questions about any other (non-urgent) matter, they should write them in the backs of their books to ask another time.

1. Test: The students were told that they could have as long as they wanted to complete the test - there was about 35 minutes of class time. They were told that they should hand their test in whenever it was completed, and take a copy of the rules for Tumultus to read through. Class tests can be downloaded here. Note: the first tests were handed in after about 20 mins. Some students used the entire time allocated.

2. Rules: Students were asked to hand in their tests upon completion, and take a copy of the rules for Tumultus. Tumultus is a four player card game in which players use fighters to battle, and bards to heal. It has been designed to reinforce the vocabulary and grammar of Capitulum Tertium. You can download a copy here. The students were told that they could read the rules thoroughly, or just skim them through quickly. We will be playing the game in a few lesson’s time.

3. Read: The students were asked to return the Tumulus rules to the pile once they were done with them, and to take out their text books and read silently. They were free to reread a chapter, or to try reading ahead. Some took the opportunity to look through the book and explore the many images and diagrams.

4. The Bell: At the end of the lesson, students returned any material they were still working with (the test or rules) and headed off to their next lesson. Valete!

Observations: I was pleased with the results in the test. Every student achieved full marks on the first page, and the average mark (out of 60) was in the mid to high 50’s. I was left feeling that more focus is needed on noun and adjective morphology, and have begun work on a new activity - recte/prave - which will involve oral drills. More on this soon.

Capitulum Tertium : Lesson Twenty One

1. I reminded the students that they have their class test next lesson (see Lesson Twenty).

2. We again took the roll using the new method (see Lesson 20). I will stop mentioning the roll unless we make another change.

3. I warned that this lesson might seem somewhat repetitive, especially coming so soon after the last lesson, but I asked them to trust that this would help their Latin develop. I explained that we were going to read the first two parts of Capitulum Tertium together, using the signs that we had learnt yesterday (see Lesson Twenty). Once again, I read the story and used the signs, with the students mimicking both. I noticed that as we went along, more students began to read and sign WITH me, rather than AFTER me. The illustrated version of Capitulum Tertium is available here. Observation: I actually don’t think that the students found it as repetitive as I had feared - I think they enjoyed seeing that what they had learnt by investigating the comic, transferred across to their textbook story. Note: I hope to attach a video of myself reading this story, along with the signs, shortly.

4. At the beginning of the reading we had a short discussion about the words scaena and persona. Otherwise everything in the first two ‘scenes’ was already familiar through our reading of Bellum Civile. The use of the hand symbols, together with the images and the words themselves, assured that the text was well understood. Note: When we begin Capitulum Quartum, I do intend to have the students encounter the story FIRST through private reading from the text without doing any pre-teaching. This will hopefully demonstrate to the students how well the structure of the book itself teaches the students to understand what is being communicated.

5. I asked the students to open their books and write down the heading - Relative Pronoun. I asked them if they already new what a relative pronoun was, but no one volunteered a correct answer. It wasn’t my intention to get bogged down in an explanation now, so I simply asked them to copy down the following into their books, changing colours where I had, and taking note that the word in yellow was a ‘relative pronoun’. I didn't find a need to talk much about this. There were a couple of questions, but more to confirm understanding. I made sure to use the nominative ‘palm forward’ hand symbol as I read through the sentences.

6. I asked the students if they were ready to add an extra level of complexity to this. There was general agreement. I wrote the following on the board, and again asked them to copy it out. I could tell that not everyone understood it, so I said that as long as everyone understood the first set of slides, we were fine, and that there was still plenty of opportunity to unpack what the second set of notes meant. That being said, I did make some effort to explain it, and some students certainly understood. Again, I used the accusative ‘fist punch’ hand symbol as I read through the sentences.

7. We had a few minutes left at the end of the lesson, and it just happened to be the Ides of March, so I showed the students a few Ides of March Legonium posts, and a few Among Us posts (which they were far more interested in).

Capitulum Tertium : Lesson Twenty

1. Before the lesson began, I explained that we were going to make a slight change to the way we mark the roll. Up until now the students have been responding to their name with ‘adsum’. Today I asked them to alternate, with every second person responding ‘hic sum’. I explained the similarity of meaning, and then compared it with adest and hic est, which they met in Bellum Civile.

2. I told the students the date of their upcoming Capitulum Secundum class test. Note: It will be during lesson 22, giving the students a few days notice. I asked them to take out the two sided sheet I had given them, which contains two of the questions that they will be seeing on the test (see Lesson Sixteen). I reminded them of the family tree question, that requires them to write sentence. They can write simple sentences such as “Iulia est femina.”, or more complex sentences, such as “Claudius est pater Decimi Claudiaeque.” All class tests can be downloaded here.

3. I asked the students to flip over the paper to the other page. I explained that it contained sections of the Capitulum Secundum Pensa A and B, and that this question would appear exactly how it appears here in the class test. We spent around 5-10 minutes filling this question out together, with students offering suggestions.

4. I explained that I expected the students to do about 20-30 minutes of preparation for this test at home. I made two recommendations. a) reread Capitulum Secundum from your textbook. b) practise the Capitulum Secundum Gimkits, including the Pensa Gikmit. Gimkits are available here.

5. I asked the students whether it seemed strange to them if I said “Me is happy!” or “Jenny saw I at the theatre”. You could almost feel their discomfort. I tried the same thing with she and her, he and him, they and them. All the students recognised that only one seemed right. I then briefly explained the concept of subject and object. Every time I said the word subject - or any of the words that were a subject - I held up the palm of my hand. Any time I said the word object - or any of the words that were objects - i lightly punched my fist into my other hand. Note: These are symbols that I learnt many years ago at Rusticatio (SALVI) for visually depicting the nominative and accusative cases.

6. I put Bellum Civile up on the screen, the comic that the students had read together in the School library (see lesson nineteen). You can find these slides here. I now read through the story again, with the students repeating words or phrases after me. This time, however, I introduced physical actions for a large part of the vocabulary, and students were not only repeating the words, but also the actions. Where necessary, I paused when introducing a new sign to remind the students of the meaning of the word. All the signs are done silently, except for cantat, where the students are encouraged to sing a note. When we met respondet and interrogat, I explained that these words look so much like their English equivalents that no sign was needed. I used the nominative and accusative signs throughout. In the images at the end of the post, Beth demonstrates the symbols used for the various words.

7. I said something along these lines to the students: “The story we have been reading contains a good deal of violence, of characters striking each other. We are somewhat used to seeing violence in Super Hero stories. In chapter three of our textbook, however, violence occurs in a different context - in the context of a family. Siblings hit one another, and parents hit children as punishment. I can completely understand if you feel uncomfortable reading this type of story in class. And so, if anyone feels uncomfortable with this, you can either email me to let me know, or speak to someone and have them email me. No explanation is required. We don’t HAVE to read this story. “ Note: Teachers and students all have a School email, and can communicate via that School email where necessary.

Capitulum Tertium : Lesson Nineteen

1. This lesson was quite different to our usual lessons. For a start, I booked some space in our school library - five tables - so that the students could spread out into five small groups of four.

2. Each student was given a copy of a comic book entitled, Bellum Civile; I have made a class set, that I hope to use year to year. This comic closely follows the plot of LLPSI Capitulum Tertium - although with out the domestic violence (more on this later) and a better ending - mea sententia. You can download the comic here and view it online here.

3. Each group was also given a ‘visual dictionary’ to share. This can be downloaded along with all other Worksheets, here.

4. The only instruction the class was given was to read the comic together and try to understand every word. Some groups works solidly for 30 minutes, others for less. Near the end of the lesson, one student translated the entire comic out loud in real time. I needed to explain “Cur?” and “Quia.” to every group, but it was always met with an ‘aaah, that makes sense.’ No one needed ‘me’, ‘te’ or even ‘eum’ explained. Some even deduced the meaning of ‘iam’, which I thought was impressive.

Capitulum Secundum : Lesson Eighteen

1. I began by reminding the students that their familia books are due soon. Note: Some of the books have already started to come in, and they look great!

2. At the end of the last lesson (see Lesson Seventeen) I asked the students to note anything that they had not understood in the reading. The word ceteri came up more than any other thing. I wrote ceteri, ceterae, cetera up on the board, explaining that they all meant other. I then added a noun to each, to give them context. One student did ask if the multiple endings had something to do with gender, and I said yes, and that we would be returning to this at the end of the lesson. I finished by pointing out the meaning of ‘et cetera’, thinking that they would all stand on their tables and shout ‘o captain my captain’ but was sadly disappointed.

3. I explained to the students that they were going to do another translation activity (their second so far), translating Latin into English. I wanted to collect these, to check their understanding, so I gave them a worksheet on which to complete their translation. I gave them 1 minutes to read the instructions (see below), then ask any questions, then another 15 minutes to translate. Many finished right on the 15 minute mark. I made it very clear that finishing was not necessary. All worksheets can be downloaded here. Note: I’ve looked over their translations, and I am extremely confident that - so far - they are understanding what they are reading.

4. While the students were working on their translations, I wrote a short list of words up onto the board, and got the last section of Capitulum Secundum ready for us to read together. I said that as we read through it, I wanted them to write what they thought might be an appropriate English equivalent for each of the words on the board. You can access the Capitulum Secundum slides here. Note: Some students remembered seeing these words from Gimkit. It seems that a few students have been using Gimkit semi-regularly on their own.

5. After reading through the text I called out each Latin word, and the students responded by calling out an English equivalent. I’d say there was at least a 90% success rate. Interestingly, the word that caused the most trouble was one they had met in chapter one - with many students calling out “vocabulary” instead of “word” for vocabulum.

6. I asked all of the students to take out their text books. I have an older copy of the book, so I made a HUGE point of saying to one of the students “meus liber antiquus est, sed tuus liber est novus.” which they all understood. I asked them to turn to page 10, and pointed out that at the end of every single chapter there is a handy summary - GRAMMATICA LATINA - of “some of the things” introduced in the chapter. We read through the Singularis et pluralis entry for chapter 1 and Masculinum, femininum, neutrum for chapter 2. I felt that for many of them, this tiny summary set in stone much that they had gathered by osmosis.

Capitulum Secundum : Lesson Seventeen

1. We started off the lesson with a speaking exercise. I asked the students to take out the family tree I gave them last lesson (see Lesson Fifteen) and I wrote the following on the board. I went around the room and asked the first half of the students a question like “Quis est Claudius?” or “Quae est Claudia?” to which they responded as the board suggested:

2. I told the second half of the class that they would be receiving a more complex question, something along the line of last lesson’s "‘cuius mater/pater/filia/filius est x?”. For the last two students, I saved up “cuius uxor?” and “cuius maritus?”, which is not in their text, but which we have been using.

3. I asked the students to reread the notes on ‘servi and ancillae’ (see Lesson Fifteen) which they had copied into their exercise books, and declare if anything didn’t make sense to them. There was a question about the phrases ‘numerus servorum’ and ‘numerus ancillarun’ wich allowed us to revise those expressions.

4. We now put the second part of Capitulum Secundum up on the board and read it together, again with myself reading the teacher’s voices and the students reading Apollo and Diana. When the new word “quot” appeared, I asked the students to use the response to the question to determine the meaning of quot, which they were able to do. The slides for Capitulum Secundum are available here. Note: During the reading of this section I became concerned that it perhaps ran a little too long to be read in one sitting, but the students didn't appear to mind terribly.

5. I asked the students to hold up their hands showing how much of the text they felt they had understood, out of ten, on their fingers. I would say the average was nine, with quite a few tens and nothing less than an eight.

6. The students now reread the same section from their textbook, writing down anything that they did not understand in the “nondum intellego” section at the back of their books. We then shared the things we did not understand. I am increasingly trying to have other students respond to these uncertainties.

7. We finished the lesson with a game of Pictionaria. The expanded set now includes words from Capitulum Secundum and “i piscatum”, although I only left in the more memorable words from that game. We used the same rules as last time - one student draws a card from the deck, then draws that image on the board while other students guess in Latin what they are drawing. When a player guesses correctly, they take a turn. Note: Some students tended to just shout out whatever Latin words they knew in fast succession, which was kind of good in itself but not in the spirit of the game. I will consider having a “one guess each” rule the next time we play. Pictionaria cards can be downloaded here.