More wired than a Roman Internet café

July 2008 Blog Posts (17)

Alliteration and Memory

From nursery rhymes to Shakespearian sonnets, alliterations have always been an important aspect of poetry whether as an interesting aesthetic touch or just as something fun to read. But a recent study suggests that this literary technique is useful not only for poetry but also for memory.

Some of these ideas could be adapted for language learning........

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In several experiments, researchers R. Brooke Lea of Macalester College, David N.… Continue

Added by Latinum Institute on July 31, 2008 at 4:17pm — 1 Comment

Schola passes 300 members

Membership of Schola keeps increasing, at the rate of a handful of new users every day. Schola now sees more activity on a daily basis than any similar online site for communicating in Latin. The excellent work done by John Doublier, who is a translator by profession, in translating the site into Latin, has played an enormous role in its success.
http://schola.ning.com

Added by Latinum Institute on July 30, 2008 at 12:50pm — No Comments

Comics: Prometheus

I just added a new image to the ning, this time a Prometheus cartoon for those who are maybe feeling some angst about the advent of school starting again... maybe not tomorrow, but soon, soon, soon... :-)

Click on the image for a larger view...…

Continue

Added by Laura Gibbs on July 29, 2008 at 4:09pm — No Comments

one-year lecturer position at Wayne State University for Fall 08

Wayne State University has authorized a one-year lecturer position (full-time with benefits) for this coming academic year. The lecturer will teach 3 courses each semester, and the load will consist entirely of service/general education courses (Classical Civlization, Greek Mythology, and/or Word Origins).

Candidates must have at least the M.A and teaching experience; preference will be given to candidates with a PhD and experience teaching service courses.

The official… Continue

Added by Jennifer Sheridan Moss on July 25, 2008 at 8:49am — No Comments

More blog comics

Thanks to the new features here at the ning, and the wonderful technology at YahooPipes, I've been able to update my RSS feed here on my profile page so that you can see all my blog postings at the various Bestiaria Latina blogs automatically! So, instead of updating my blog status here, I can just keep adding cartoons. Here's another one with a classical theme - it's a hold up! :-)

Click on the image for a larger view.…

Continue

Added by Laura Gibbs on July 22, 2008 at 12:35pm — No Comments

David Maust's site

David Maust wrote to me about his Vergil site, which he put up to help his students.
Some of you might find it useful

http://www.maustlatin.mypodcast.com/

Added by Latinum Institute on July 16, 2008 at 3:50pm — No Comments

Is Passive learning actually Passive? - apparently not

Passive Learning Imprints On The Brain Just Like Active Learning

ScienceDaily (July 15, 2008) — It's conventional wisdom that practice makes perfect. But if practicing only consists of watching, rather than doing, does that advance proficiency? Yes, according to a study by Dartmouth researchers. They determined that people can acquire motor skills through the "seeing" as well as the "doing" form of learning.

This study, to my mind, may possibly have implications for… Continue

Added by Latinum Institute on July 15, 2008 at 5:00am — 1 Comment

Trojan Pinata

A teacher can never have enough cartoons! Here is one of my classical favorites: the Trojan Pinata!!! :-)

Added by Laura Gibbs on July 7, 2008 at 6:50pm — No Comments

Oral Lesson for the accusative case, singulars and plurals

Essential Latin: Lesson Two: The Accusative

Oral Exercises for learning the singular and plural endings of the cases in the Accusative singular and plurals.

1. Habesne musam? Vero, domine, musam habeo.

Num habes musam? Non, domine, musas habeo!

2. Habesne dominum? Ita est, domine, dominum habeo.

Num habes dominum? Non, domine, non; vero dominos habeo!

3. Habesne deos? Non, Domine, non habeo deos; vero Deum habeo.

4. Habesne regnum? Non… Continue

Added by Latinum Institute on July 7, 2008 at 2:54pm — 2 Comments

Oral lesson covering all cases, for the nominative singular and plural.

Essential Latin: Lesson One:

Evan Millner.

Oral Exercises for learning the singular and plural endings of the cases in the Nominative singular and plurals. All five declensions are covered, to be taught in one lesson.

Each question is asked to each pupil in turn. They may answer how they wish, either in the negative or affirmative, but the 'official' answer is given after they give theirs. First time round, they may simply take turns to read through, with the teacher… Continue

Added by Latinum Institute on July 7, 2008 at 1:30pm — No Comments

S_O_V innate across all languages? Useful research with applications to Latin pedagogy.

The mind apparently has a consistent way of ordering an event that defies the order in which subjects, verbs, and objects typically appear in languages, according to research at the University of Chicago.

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If the research below is true, then it will be VERY QUICK to teach our students correct word order in Latin sentences - simply ask them to ACT OUT the sentence in gestures first, after showing them… Continue

Added by Latinum Institute on July 7, 2008 at 1:30pm — 1 Comment

Correspondence

Dear Mr Whalen,

Thank you for your recent response to my reply to your open letter of June 28 2008, on the subject of the Latinum podcast.

You may be interested to know that Latinum is not the only oral Latin podcast type course available online.

There are others:

Seumas MacDonald's LinguaLatinaetGraeca

http://lingualatinaetgraeca.mypodcast.com/

Laura Gibb's various Latin podcasts ( which have been around far longer, and are far more… Continue

Added by Latinum Institute on July 6, 2008 at 10:30am — No Comments

Latinum Podcast users from 4 May to 4 July 2008

9400 unique users over this period accessed Latinum.

Added by Latinum Institute on July 4, 2008 at 7:55pm — No Comments

Italian American Groups Speak Up to Save AP Language Test

This Washington Post article is about the loss of the AP Italian exam, and references the AP Latin Exam:

Italian American Groups Speak Up to Save AP Language Test

If only we could re-animate Cicero himself, so we'd have an advocate like Mario Cuomo on our side!

Yours, Chris Ann

Added by Chris Ann Matteo on July 3, 2008 at 7:18am — No Comments

Electric Archaeology: Archaeology In, and Archaeology Of, Second Life.

I was originally supposed to be going to Dublin for the World Archaeological Congress, to give two papers. Unfortunately, life intervened and I'm not able to go. However, I will be giving one of those presentations anyway, via Second Life in the Art, Archaeology, and Technology: Current Experiments in Interpretation session.

Abstract for Electric Archaeology: Archaeology In, and Archaeology Of, 'Second Life'

"Archaeology is about material culture, about exploring the human… Continue

Added by Shawn Graham on July 2, 2008 at 4:26pm — No Comments

LOCŪTŌRIUM VIRTUĀLE SCHOLÆ

http://www.e.millner.btinternet.co.uk/languages/LOCUTORIUM.html

LOCŪTŌRIUM VIRTUĀLE SCHOLÆ

Si cyberpressōrium tuum super internexum qvī suprā appāret premis, qvadrātum vidēbis ubi "Screen Name" (Nōmen Cybernēticum) inscriptum est. Dēlē "Screen Name", in locum qvōrum verbōrum inscrībe deinceps in qvadrātō textuālī nōmen usōris tuum. Deinde preme cyberpressōrium tuum super spatíolum qvod iuxtā est,… Continue

Added by Latinum Institute on July 2, 2008 at 3:46pm — No Comments

Locutorium Scholae - New Latin Chatroom

Schola now has a brand new chatroom for Latin.

It is a matter of logging on and hoping someone else pops in - if you're online, just keep the window open - Schola now has enough users that eventually someone will pop in.

The chatroom also allows for video and microphone, or just the usual typing.

There is a link to the chatroom on Schola's main page:

No registration is needed to use it, simply type a name into the 'screen name' box, and click… Continue

Added by Latinum Institute on July 1, 2008 at 8:23am — No Comments