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.
