Allegria, Latino freakos (!que vos permitte) :^)

Io ha trovate un pagina ubi un inseniante professor in Charlotte
N.Carolina
ha ponite omne su lecturas in latino, pertinente a Wheelock's Latin
Grammar!

<http://english-www.hss.cmu.edu/langs/guide-to-wheelocks.txt>

Il es possible copiar lo in toto--io lo trova multo pedagogic (ma
infortunatemento
io ipse es un laico). Isto es Dr Grothe's introduction.

Sig.


Subject: Re: Latin Textbook

   I call the guides "Study Guide to Wheelock," and have made them
   available for free use to anyone who'd like use them.  I think
   the answer to your question, therefore, is "Yes."  I sent them
   up so they could get some good beta-testing.  So far as I'm
   conncerned they can be copied and sent anywhere.

   Dale A. Grote
   [log in to unmask]
   Department of Foreign Languages
   UNC Charlotte
   Charlotte, NC 28223
   704-547-4242

---

12/30/92

PREFACE TO MY COLLEAGUES


Wheelock's Latin is now, and probably will be for sometime in the
future, the
most widely used introductory Latin book used in American colleges and
universities.  And with good reason.  His exclusive emphasis on the
details
of Latin grammar squares with the general expectation that students
acquire a rudimentary, independent reading ability in real Latin after
only
two semesters of study.  Surely Wheelock has its drawbacks and
limitations,
but it is still the best text around.

      A growing difficulty with the book has become apparent in recent
years, a problem that is entirely external to the text itself: students
are
less and less able to understand his explanations of Latin grammar
because
their grasp of English grammar is becoming more tenuous.  This
obsolescence hardly comes as a surprise, since the main outlines of
Wheelock's grammar were set down in the forties and fifties, when it was
safe to assume that college students were well versed in at least the
basics of English grammar.  We may lament this change, write heated
letters
to school boards and state legislatures, but all this is of little help
when
confronted as we are with classrooms filled with beginning Latin
students
who have never learned the difference between a participle and a
pronoun,
or who have never heard the word "case" in their lives.

      As the years went by, I found that I was required to dedicate
unacceptable amounts of class time to discussions of elementary
grammatical concepts and to redrafting Wheelock's explanations into
forms
my students could understand, leaving less time for actually confronting
Latin in the classroom.  The results were predictable: it became nearly
impossible to complete the forty chapters of grammatical material in two
semesters.  The third semester had to be called into the service of the
basic grammar of the language, thus reducing the reading we could do and
delaying the feeling of mastery and independence that drives students on
to read more.

      Slowly, I began to compile a rather extensive body of notes and
exercises designed to teach the basic grammatical concepts to students
of
Latin, as they needed them, while learning Latin from Wheelock, and to
slow
down and recast Wheelock's treatment of the grammar into language which
they could understand on their own.  My intention for these notes was to
get the repetitive transfer of basic information out of the classroom,
so
that we could spend more class time reviewing, translating, and
drilling.
These notes, therefore, represent nothing more than what I found myself
repeating year after year in front of a class.  By setting them into a
written text, however, and removing it from the daily classroom agenda,
there is no doubt that I have greatly increased the productivity of
class
time.  Whereas I previously struggled to finish twenty chapters in a
semester, my first semester class now easily finishes twenty-seven
chapters in the first semester, with time left over for some connected
readings. In the second semester, we have time to do considerable
amounts
of extended reading after the forty chapters of grammar have been
covered.

      There is really nothing miraculous about this increased
productivity.
In fact, it was to be expected.  Previously, students, who could make
neither heads nor tails of Wheelock, relied on my in-class presentations
to
explain Latin grammar to them.  After the grammar was explained, they
would
review their classroom notes, and begin the chapter exercises, without
ever having read Wheelock, which had been replaced by my lectures.  In
essence, then, I was doing their homework for them, but I was doing it
in
class, not outside of class.  By removing basic grammar from the class
by
putting it into a workbook, I only transferred the time spent on
learning
Latin grammar outside the class, and freed up time in class for drilling
and
taking specific questions.

      An unexpected, and admittedly self-interested, advantage I reaped
from these printed notes was that students who tend to fall behind, or
to
miss class (and fall behind), had a body of notes which they could use
on
their own to catch up, and -- perhaps more importantly -- to which I
could
refer them when they came knocking at my door to find out "if they'd
missed
anything important in class."  Previously this presented a real moral
bind.
Either I spent hours reteaching the class (or classes) for them, in the
(usually vain) hope that they would reform once they had been set up on
a
sure foundation, or I sent them away uninformed, knowing that things
would
only get worse for them because they couldn't possibly draw the
information they needed from Wheelock by themselves.  Now, I refer them
to
my notes, express my willingness to answer their specific questions
after
they've worked through them, and send them on their way, hoping for the
best.

      Here's how I've incorporated these notes into my syllabus and
classroom routine.  In the first place, going through my notes for each
chapter is entirely optional.  I make no assignments from them, nor do
we
use class time to go over any of the exercises they contain.  Instead, I
merely assign the Practice and Review sentences of, say, Chapter 5, for
the
next class period.  How the students learn the material in Chapter 5 is
entirely their affair, though I do recommend they read my notes.  If,
however, a student can understand Wheelock perfectly, then s/he is under
no obligation to read my presentation of the chapter.  Most students do
read my notes instead of Wheelock.  After reading my notes, I recommend
that they read Wheelock's chapter, which provides a compressed "review"
of
what I leisurely set out in my chapter notes.  For an added review and
translation exercises, I also recommend that students work through
Wheelock's Self-Help Tutorials before turning to the specified
assignment.
After so much preparation, students regularly find the sentences quite
straight-forward.  In class, then, after a verbal review of the
important
concepts in the chapter, we work quickly through the sentences, then, in
the
time remaining, we sight read either from the Sententiae Antiquae, or
from
the book 38 Latin Stories designed to go along with Wheelock.  My class
covers three chapters per week -- one chapter per day, since we meet MWF
for an hour and half.  Classes meeting five times per week, of course,
would
divide the material differently.

      I would like to stress again that I don't claim to have created
anything new, revolutionary, or destined to reshape the way Latin is
taught for the next 25 years. Perhaps I do have one claim to
originality,
insofar as my book combines a grammar text and workbook, but I hardly
think
that's worthy of much note.  I merely believe that I have put together a
study guide which will help teach Latin from Wheelock more efficiently
by
making more classroom time available for direct contact with the
language
itself.  The text is not meant to intrude directly on classroom work.
It is
for students use at night, by themselves, to prepare for classes and
exams.
I myself designate the book as an optional purchase and make it
available
at a nearby copy store, and at first a substantial fraction of my class
doesn't buy it.  After three weeks, however, nearly all of them have a
copy.
My students, at least, find the book very helpful, and frequently make
remarks about it on their course evaluations.  For what it's worth, here
are their remarks from last semester.

      "The book the instructor made that goes along with Wheelock's book
      provided a much better understanding of Latin."

      "His notebook that went along with the Wheelock book was also
      immensely helpful.  The explanations were thorough and easy to
      understand."

      "The workbook that he created to go along with the text helped a
lot
      in the understanding of the work."

      "Dr. Grote's handbook for the class is a great teaching tool and
      helped students be prepared for class."

      "Grote's handbook -- especially helpful."

      "He supplies a handbook written by him that helps a great deal in
      learning Latin."

      "Dr. Grote's book was very helpful!  His explanations are
elaborate
      and very clear.  I'd vote for publication!!" [Emphases in the
original]

      I'm providing you draft of my book for the usual reasons.  I would
appreciate your making the text available to your students -- as I do --
at
a copy shop and calling their attention to it.  Would you please take
note of
their reactions, positive and negative, and send them along to me during
or
at the end of the semester.  I would greatly value, of course, any
remarks
you would care to make about my presentations. Since I'm preparing the
copy
myself, any corrigenda you spot would save me a lot of embarrassment.
If
you have any questions I've left unanswered, please don't hesitate to
contact me.


Dale A. Grote
UNC Charlotte
Department of Foreign Languages
Charlotte, NC 28223
(704) 547-4242
[log in to unmask]