Teaching Latin when Kids don’t know English Declension Teaching Latin when Kids don’t know English

Why is there an instructional gap? Latin Instruction has not changed greatly since Wheelock’s Latin was introduced in the 1950’s The curriculum presupposes a level of student English competency that is no longer realistic

The basics of Latin declensions Latin in an inflective language and therefore uses declensions Decline : to give in prescribed order the grammatical forms of (a noun, pronoun, or adjective )

Student Frustration English speaking students may have profound difficulty with this concept, as English relies on word order and conjugation. And to make matters worse: Textbooks define declensions in terms students will not understand

Example of a Declension Chart Nominative Subject Genitive dependant Dative Indirect Object Accusative Direct Object Ablative Prepositional Clause Vocative Speaking

What Words do you think 9th graders will understand? Nominative Subject Genitive dependant Dative Indirect Object Accusative Direct Object Ablative Prepositional Clause Vocative Speaking These charts are worse than useless for many children who are completely overwhelmed by words they do not understand.

Don’t blame the Children English Instruction has changed. Terms such as indirect object, subject, object, and preposition are not understood by most children that enter your classroom

How you can help You must change your instructional materials to better fit your children’s understanding For example I have modified the declension chart to make it easier to understand

A simplified declension chart Nominative The thing doing the action of the verb Genitive Ownership, like an ‘s in English Dative A thing that is receiving something, like “to” Accusative The thing that the verb is being done to Ablative With, of, etc. Vocative Speaking

Ways to Teach Declension Charts Children often struggle with the first declension. They have two main difficulties: 1) What case should each word be? 2) What are the case endings?

English Samples, Scaffolding I teach declension by first having the students work on English sentences. They must circle the verb and define the cases for the remaining words The girl gives the rose to the master’s slave. Nominative Accusative Gen Dative

Why do I need to teach kids English if I am a Latin Teacher? This allows children to focus on what they know. It prevents the “oh no this is LATIN !” fear from materializing. I give a test just on English sentences to boost confidence and check for understanding. Do not assume a child knows the difference between a noun, verb, and adjective.

Case Endings For case endings I pretend to be drunk and rambling “ a, ae, ae, am,a” Which is pronounced similar to the phrase “ I, I, Am, A”. The plurals are easy to remember “ Ae, arum, is, as is.” Which becomes the drunkard phrase “ Aye, rum is as is.”

Summary Students may not understand traditional English terms used to define declensions in Latin You must modify your curriculum to allow for this gap in knowledge Build up English Comprehension before forcing Latin translations