Old Wine in a New Bottle: Latin
Via the ‘Net
An On-Line Demonstration
Minaz Fazal, Iona College, Ann Raia, The College
of New Rochelle
CAAS/NJCA Joint Spring Meeting at Princeton University
Saturday, April 29, 2000, 9:15-10 a.m.
The program we are demonstrating was designed as a supplement for intermediate-level Latin courses. It has been used as optional additional reading, as tutorial, and as a tool for independently honing Latin skills. It may be found at http://www.iona.edu/latin.
The program was assessed and favorably reviewed
by high school and college Latin teachers and by Intermediate Latin students
as a motivational teaching-learning adjunct to class and “fun to use.”
One high school AP Latin evaluator wrote:
| The elegance of a self-contained text, commentary, parsing document, dictionary, and study notes/questions is apparent. The split screen allows instant access to parsing information and word meanings exactly when needed. |
One traditional-age student (4th semester Latin;
Psychology major) wrote:
| The Latin computer program is a really great idea. I enjoyed working on it immensely. Working with the medium of the computer added something to the Latin translations. Being able to work away from an actual book made it a fun experience and also increased motivation. I looked forward to going on-line to translate. I think the commentary, glossary and parsing were extremely helpful and necessary. I think it can be very effective in teaching Latin, but it is best as a supplement to actual class meetings. Plus, I really liked the e-mail link, because I was able to get questions answered. |
Other On-Line Text Commentaries:
Susan Bonvallet of The Wellington School and
Judith DeLuce and Steve Nimis of Miami University of Ohio designed a collaborative
on-line project for their students. Sue writes: “One of the beauties
of a hyperlinked text is that it is structured in layers.... Extending
responsibility for the text/commentary/links to the students is collaborative
work to a higher degree than work in which students use only those resources
prepared or suggested by the teacher.” The result was a resource-rich
text-commentary to Plautus’ Aulularia, available at http://www.vroma.org/~plautus/aulu.main.html.
Donka Markus of the University of Michigan wrote on-line text-commentaries for her intermediate-level Latin students; see http://www-personal.umich.edu/~markusdd/231comf.html, developed a web page “Texts and Resources for Reading Intermediate Latin”: http://www.vroma.org/~dmarkus/, and designed another page “Computer Based Instructional Tools” at: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~markusdd/comp.html. She uses Claris HomePage (Mac or Windows) and PageMill for frames.
Dainis Zeps of the University of Latvia authored on-line commentaries to 38 Fables of Phaedrus in Latin. His texts, showcased by the Classics Technology Center, are available at http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/showcase/zepsphaedrus.html.
The Caesar Machine 2, a Windows hypertext reader for Book I of Caesar’s Gallic Wars, designed for self-instruction, may be downloaded free at http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/9963/.
Perseus Greek and Latin texts, with morphological
links to text tools, on line at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Texts.html.
Text-Commentary as Student Assignment:
John Gruber-Miller of Cornell College designed
a text-commentary assignment for his class in Introduction to Greek Literature.
He finds it an excellent way for students to demonstrate their knowledge
of the genre, meter, grammar, and cultural context of the work they are
reading. While his students do not put their work on line, his instructions
thankfully are, at http://cornell-iowa.edu/classical_studies/greek/comment.html.
Alison Barker of St. Paul’s School created a sample
commentary to Lucretius, to be used by her students for their on-line text-commentary
assignment. She writes that this simple but useful project can be
constructed in any web authoring program, using tables (for commentaries
with parallel English translations, she uses frames with “Visual Page”).
She advises limiting the assignment (e.g., ten lines of text, five links
to images, five poetic devices, five links to “connections” of any sort)
and having students share their commentaries with each other in class.
Her Lucretius template may be found at http://www.vroma.org/~abarker/commtemp.html.
Links Worth Following:
Barbara F. McManus of The College of New Rochelle
and Marianthe Colakis compiled “Useful Internet Links for AP Latin” as
part of an article for the Teacher's Guide to Advanced Placement Courses
in Latin. This is also a treasure for those not teaching AP Latin.
Its many entries are divided into subject categories. The list is
found most usefully on line at http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/aplinks.html.
For rationale and methods for using computer technology in teaching language and culture, see: Gavin Burnage, University of Cambridge. "Teachers and Technicians: working together for effective use of information technology in language and literature" at http://info.ox.ac.uk/ctitext/publish/occas/eurolit/burnage.html. Also see Sarah Porter, University of Oxford. "Introduction: technology in teaching literature and culture: some reflections" at http://info.ox.ac.uk/ctitext/publish/occas/eurolit/porter.html.
