Latin Language I - Summer Reading Course

PLEASE NOTE the current scheduling of this course is an INTENSIVE SUMMER READING COURSE. Though the same material as the full-semester version, this iteration is ideal for students preparing to take Latin for the first time and wanting to get a leg up, or for students currently enrolled in Latin looking for extra support in their process. The pacing of this summer course is rigorous.


Course Description:
This course is designed for beginning students of Latin. Some foundational knowledge of Latin is a plus, but not required - we will start from the beginning! Classes are interactive - I ask students to repeat sentences, words, phrases, frequently! (This is best done on mute since there are delays with online classes, but when students want to translate a sentence or ask a question, of course they would unmute themselves!) Questions and observations are highly encouraged, as is participation by way of translating sentences from Latin into English or supplying answers for exercises at the end of each chapter. I incorporate English derivatives in just about every lesson. I find that this keeps Latin increasingly relevant for modern English speakers, and provides helpful connections to remember Latin vocabulary. Plus, derivatives are just fun! 

Each week we will build our vocabulary and reading skills in Latin, and every week builds on the last week grammatically. Roman culture and history come up in discussion frequently, and occasionally I mention in our schedule (below) which topics we will encounter in a given week (naturally, student questions and discussion might direct us to other topics of Roman history on other days/weeks). 

The bulk of our class time is spent reading and translating from the Lingua Latina textbook. We additionally will complete approximately 2 workbook exercises each week to solidify our grasp of the material. From time to time we will practice spoken Latin elements as well. We will also sing songs in Latin.




Here is the breakdown of chapters and weekly grammar topics that we will cover in this course:

Week 1: Chapters 1, 2, 3: Nominative, Genitive, and Accusative Cases

Week 2: Chapters 4-5: Vocatives, Imperatives, Ablatives, and Prepositions

Week 3: Chapter 6: Locatives, Place Constructions, Active and Passive Verbs

Week 4: Chapter 7: Dative Case; Full 1st and 2nd Noun Declension Charts

Week 5: Chapters 8-9: Demonstratives, Relative Pronoun, Third Declension Nouns

Week 6: Chapter 10: Present Active and Passive Infinitives, Third Declension Neuter Nouns