Researching the Affects of Conversational Latin on Student Perceptions

[Adrianne LaFrance]

I'm currently working as a Fulbright Scholar in Leipzig, Germany researching this question. I've pulled in a lot of literature relating to linguistic anthropology, especially the "Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis" of linguistic relativity, and now I'm looking for input from the classics side of things. If anyone can provide any resources, or personal input on their experiences with teaching or learning conversational latin, I would be greatly indebted. See the attached file for my full, original research question.

[Arianne Kahn]

Hi,

I teach in a program in Georgia that is a spoken Latin program, and I'm one of three teachers in that program. There is a second school in the district that also uses spoken Latin. As a student of the grammar-translation method, I have little but praise for the spoken method. It's true that the kids don't necessarily end up equipped with phrases like "ablative of duration of time" or "locative accusative," but they also have a better understanding of the language. I think that until you get into a deep study of any language, students in general (and certainly most high schoolers) don't tend to relate a language to its people's way of thinking, but speaking the language has so many other benefits that I'm convinced it's worthwhile. If you ever want to talk about this (or if you'd like to speak to any of those other teachers), I'd be happy to have a conversation with you about the benefits and deficits of the program, and how it affects any number of factors in the students' education. My primary e-mail address is [e-mail], and that's probably the easiest way to contact me. I'm also on Facebook. Feel free to send me a message either way if you'd like. Best of luck with your project.

Cheers,
Arianne Kahn