I originally organized this material for a workshop that I offered at the 2001 Annual Institute of the American Classical League, and I have subsequently adapted it for general use on the internet. This material has stemmed from my work as the Coordinator of Classical Languages at Montclair State University and as the Academic Advisor to those students seeking NJ state certification in Latin teaching. In addition to my current position at MSU, I have also been an instructor in the Latin programs at Boston University, Louisiana State University, and Marshall University, and I have taught Latin from a number of different textbooks: Wheelock’s Latin (Harper Resource), Intensive Latin: First Year and Review (Carolina Academic Press), Reading Latin (Cambridge University Press), Ecce Romani (Longman or Prentice Hall).
Because I now teach at a university with a student population varied in their pre-collegiate academic preparation and because a number of my colleagues are committed to using a textbook that employs the “reading method,” I have selected the Ecce Romani series as the required text for our language program. I am currently working on a number of projects that address what I consider to be the major weakness of this book - students do not receive enough exposure to authentic Latin texts in the initial chapters of the series.
Thus, I have developed the following ten techniques for those teachers at all levels who wish to add authentic Latin poetry to their first or second year language classes. The “techniques” are not developmental in nature. In other words, they can be used independently of one another. For those teachers who are under various institutional time constraints, it may be feasible to adopt only one or two of these strategies. Nevertheless, I firmly believe that even a slight exposure to authentic Latin texts in the initial year of language study can greatly enhance the students’ overall educational experience in our discipline.
