World Language

Communications

Benchmark Course Objectives Examples

  1. Greet and respond to greetings.
2. Introduce and respond to introductions. / Latin I
Latin II
Latin III
Latin IV – V
Latin I
Latin II
Latin III
Latin IV-V / Students will:
  1. learn simple greetings and use them at the beginning and end of each class.
Students will:
  1. read and use Latin greetings as used by soldiers in the Roman army.
Students will:
  1. read letters and plays written by Roman authors, recognize and translate the different types of greetings.
Students will:
  1. read Roman poetry, recognize and translate greetings.
Students will:
  1. introduce themselves to other students in Latin and to ask another student his/her name.
Students will:
  1. read Latin stories and recognize and translate introductions.
Students will:
  1. read authentic Latin letters and plays and translate introductions.
Students will:
  1. read authentic Latin poetry and recognize introductions.
/

Students in Latin I begin and end each class with Latin greetings.

Students in Latin II translate stories about the Roman infantry that include greetings and their responses.
Students in Latin III read the letters of Cicero to his best friend Atticus. They learn to recognize the salutations and valedictions used in letters.
Students in Latin IV-V translate Catullus 31 in which he addresses his homeland Sirmio and Ovid’s “Tristia” in which he addresses Augustus and asks for permission to return from exile.
Students in Latin I introduce themselves to the class and respond to simple questions.
Students in Latin II briefly interview other students in Latin. Common questions involve favorite hobbies, classes and teachers. Students then explain the likes and dislikes of the person that has been interviewed in Latin to the entire class.
Students in Latin III-V read authentic Latin
literature in which characters are introduced
and described .

Benchmark Course Objectives Examples

  1. Ask and answer questions.
4. Make and respond to requests. / Latin I
Latin II
Latin III
Latin IV-V
Latin I
Latin II
Latin III
Latin IV-V / Students will:
  1. listen to recorded Latin stories and answer comprehension questions.
  2. ask and answer questions about family members, occupations and maps of the Roman Empire.
  3. master question words - quis, quid, ubi, cur, quo modo, nonne, num.
Students will:
  1. read Latin stories and answer comprehension questions.
  2. master Indirect Question clauses.
Students will:
  1. ask and answer questions about the Commentaries of Julius Caesar and the letters of Cicero and Pliny.
  2. ask and answer questions about the ancient Roman Forum, the city of Rome and the Roman Empire.
Students will:
  1. ask and answer questions about the poems of Ovid, Catullus, Horace and Vergil.
Students will:
  1. write a Latin letter using polite phrases, e.g.Si placet tibi, Ago gratias tibi, ita vero, minime.
Students will:
  1. respond a Latin letter.
  2. master the verbs - volo, nolo.
  3. master Indirect Command clauses.
Students will:
  1. demonstrate reading comprehension by answering simple Latin questions about the authentic Latin prose passages that they have read.
Students will:
  1. respond appropriately to more complex questions about authentic Latin poetry that they have read.
/

Students in Latin I Listen to and read a story about the Caecilii family from Pompeii in 79 AD. They then respond to oral Latin questions asked about this family.

Students in Latin II complete readings and exercises that teach imperfect and pluperfect subjunctive and their use in indirect questions.
Students in Latin III question the strategies of Julius Caesar in his Gallic campaign.
Students in Latin IV-V ask and answer questions in Latin to learn the identity of a famous classical character whose name has been taped to their back.
Students in Latin I write a letter to Saturn in scroll form. The letter requests gifts for the festival of Saturnalia. This letter is graded on creativity, noun and verb endings and adjective agreement.
Students in Latin II respond to the letters written by Latin I students, using the same criteria.
Students in Latin III respond to questions about Pliny’s letters to Trajan. In these letters Pliny requests advice on how to govern the province of Bythinia.
Students in Latin IV-V read Virgils’ Aeneid, Book I, to analyze Venus’ request to Jupiter and his response. Venus reminds Jupiter that he has promised to make her son Aeneas the founder of a new race.

Benchmark Course Objectives Examples

5. Express likes, dislikes and feelings
6. Express Needs
7. Express Agreement and
Disagreement / Latin I-II
Latin III-V
Latin I
Latin II-V
Latin I – II
Latin III-V / Students will:
  1. Appropriately use the verbs amo, volo, nolo cupio plusthe infinitive.
  2. Use adjectives such as: laetus, tristis, occupatus, felix.
  3. Use adverbs such as bene, optime,
male, pessime.
  1. master noun/adjective agreement in order to express emotions.
Students will:
1. read odes, epodes and lyric poetry.
  1. read and translate clauses of Purpose and Fearing
  2. Formulate likes, dislikes and feelings towards various literary texts and authors.
Students will:
  1. Appropriately use constructions such as necesse est, debeoandvolo plusinfinitive
  2. Appropriately use si placet tibi, ago gratias tibi.
Students will:
  1. Appropriately use Passive Periphrastic and Dative of Agent.
Students will:
1.Appropriately use : ita vero, minime, paene, semper, saepe, numquam
2.Determine if statements are true or false
Students will:
1. Appropriately use Indirect Statement.
  1. Translate passages from Cicero, Pliny and Petronius and then formulate opinions about the validity of Roman authors’ opinions.
/ Students in Latin I create brief Latin sentences, using proper case and verb endings, to describe their own personalities.
Students in Latin II briefly interview other students in Latin. Common questions involve favorite hobbies, classes and teachers. Students then describe the likes and dislikes of the person who has been interviewed to the entire class in Latin.
Students in Latin IV-V translate the poetry of Catullus to discern the tone and mood of the poet using sounds word order and word choice. Class time is set aside each day for students to discuss their own opinions of the poem and the feelings evoked by the poet.
Students in Latin I read Latin stories about farm life in Roman Britain. Rufilla, a wealthy Roman woman living in the provinces, expresses many needs.
Students in Latin III, after mastering the passive periphrastic, read and translate a Latin story about the requirements of public and private life in ancient Sparta.
Students in Latin III, after reading some of Emperor Trajan’s responses to Pliny, discuss whether they agree or disagree with the way in which the problems of Provincial governors were handled.
Students in Latin IV-V translate Catullus’ Carmen 49, either an incredibly laudatory or invective poem. Students form opinions about the tone of this poem using word choice, word order and figures of speech to back up their answers.

Benchmark Course Objectives Examples

  1. Give and follow directions
9. Provide and obtain information and knowledge. / Latin I
Latin II
Latin III
Latin IV-V
Latin I
Latin II / Students will:
  1. Create and execute commands for use in a classroom situation, e.g. Ambula ad fenestram, currite ad ianuam.
  2. Use and follow negative commands.
  3. Add direct and indirect object pronouns to their commands.
Students will:
  1. Recognize and use Indirect Commands.
Students will:
  1. Read the letters of Pliny and Cicero, which give directions to family members and friends.
Students will:
  1. Read the epigrams of Martial and poetry of Horace, which give advice for day-to-day living.
Students will
  1. Learn to count from 1-20 in Latin and use Roman numerals.
  2. Recognize nominative, genitive, dative, accusative and ablative endings for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd declensions.
  3. Recognize present, imperfect, future, perfect and pluperfect tenses, active voice.
  1. Use Roman numerals from 1-1000.
  2. Recognize the nominative, genitive, dative, accusative and ablative of the 4th and 5th declensions.
  3. Recognize present, imperfect, future, perfect, pluperfect and future perfect tenses in the active and passive voices.
  4. Recognize imperfect and pluperfect subjunctive in active voice.
  5. Compare adjectives in the positive, comparative and superlative degrees.
  6. Work with Temporal clauses, Conditional clauses and clauses of Purpose and Result.
  7. Use present, perfect and future participles.
/ Students in Latin I play a form of “Scipio Says” using lists of commands that they have created.
Students in Latin II translate passages about the life of a Roman legionary. The daily requirements of life are explained using indirect commands.
Students in Latin IV-V translate Horace’s “Carpe diem” in which he commands his readers to share his Epicurean philosophy of life.
Students in Latin I respond to comprehension questions based on the reading selections.
Students in Latin II write synopses, active and passive, indicative mood.

Benchmark Course Objectives Examples


10. Obtain new information and knowledge. / Latin III
Latin IV-V
Latin I
Latin II
Latin III
Latin IV-V / Students will:
  1. Use present, perfect and future infinitives.
  2. Recognize imperfect and pluperfect subjunctive in the passive voice and present and perfect subjunctive, in active and passive voice.
  3. Read and write Ablative Absolute, Passive Periphrastic and Ablative of Agent.
Students will:
  1. Recognize figures of speech, i.e. anaphora, assonance, asyndeton, anastrophe, chiasmus, litotes, synchesis, polysyndeton and zeugma.
  2. Continue to work with previously learned grammatical concepts and recognize them within the poetry that is being read.
Students will:
  1. Sing songs in Latin, which provide an introduction to Roman culture, numbers, case and verbal endings.
  2. Read and translate Latin stories that provide background information on cultural topics, e.g. gladiators, Roman comedy, eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.
Students will:
  1. Read Latin passages that deal with ancient Alexandria, and Roman Britain.
  2. Locate and organize information to research Roman culture through the use of books, journals and the Internet. Read Latin passages that deal with ancient Alexandria, and Roman Britain.
Students will:
Read authentic Latin passages that deal with early Roman heroes, government during the Roman Republic, Roman provincial government, the Roman army, and Roman dinner parties.
Read Latin poetry from the Golden age of
Roman poetry. / Students in Latin III translate passages from Caesar’s Gallic Wars with an eye not only for vocabulary for identifying verb tenses and noun cases.
Students in Latin IV-V translate passages of poetry, identifying the figures of speech found and their effect on the meaning of the passage.
Students in Latin I and II sing teacher-developed songs that to reinforce tense and case endings.
Students in Latin II visit the MFA to tour the collection of Roman amphorae. They collect information with the idea of later their own amphora.
Students in Latin III translate parts of the “Satyricon” to gain a better understanding of lavish Roman dinner parties.
Students in Latin IV-V visit Medieval Manuscripts sites on the Internet. They collect information which will help them create their own manuscript.

BenchmarkCourse Objectives Examples

11. Describe, Compare, Contrast
12. Explain, Interpret
13. Narrate / Latin I-V
Latin I
Latin II
Latin III
Latin IV-V
Latin I
Latin II-III
Latin IV-V / Students will:
  1. Write short sentences or poems in Latin that describe themselves or a character from a Latin story.
  2. Analyze Latin stories to compare and contrast characters and customs.
Students will:
  1. Read a Latin story and interpret the motivations of a character.
  2. Explain actions on a poster or comic strip.
Write Latin sentences to describe a character in a story.
Translate the letters of Pliny and Cicero and the Commentaries of Caesar and interpret the motives and beliefs within each one.
  1. Translate numerous Latin poems and analyze them for theme, mood, tone, sounds and figures of speech.
  2. Recognize, explain and interpret content and meter of the authors that have been read.
Students will:
  1. Read aloud in Latin with proper pronunciation and appropriate expression.
  2. Act out skits in Latin.
  1. Students recount the events of a reading or video.
  2. Read aloud with more accurate pronunciation and meaningful phrase grouping.
Students will:
  1. Read poetry aloud with attention to such features as metrical structure, meaningful phrase grouping and appropriate voice inflection.
/ In Latin I students write short sentences of description using the correct endings on nouns and adjectives.
In Latin II students write sentences which describe people in the class, using the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives.
Students in Latin III write an essay comparing the Roman army to the Gallic army.
Students in Latin IV-V write 5 line Latin poems, using nouns, adjectives, verbs and artwork to describe a character from one of the readings.
Students in Latin I and II interpret a character’s actions through the cartoons that begin each chapter.
Students in Latin III are read the Annales of Livy and interpret his motives for writing these stories.
Students in Latin IV-V learn 3 meters – dactylic hexameter, elegiac couplet and hendecasyllabic. They then scan the lines of Ovid’s Metamporphoses to interpret the mood that the author intended.
Student in Latin I perform skits in Latin to dramatize different scenes from the text.
Students in Latin II sing Latin songs and read aloud Latin passages to perfect their pronunciation.
Students in Latin III create a Latin fairy tale containing 6 newly assigned vocabulary words.
Students in Latin IV-V read passages of Ovid’s Metamorphoses using the correct meter and intonation.

BenchmarkCourse Objectives Examples

  1. Solve Problems
15. Read and Discuss Authentic
Literature / Latin I-II
Latin III-V
Latin I-II
Latin III
Latin IV-V / Students will:
  1. Appropriately use Roman numerals.
  2. Group Latin words together to form a correct sentence.
  3. Solve Latin crossword and word puzzles.
When using a dictionary, use context and logic to choose among possible word or phrase translations.
Suggest possible solutions to a socio-cultural problem, an interpersonal conflict or a political clash.
Students will:
  1. Memorize and discuss Latin Sententiae used in English.
  2. Read and translate Latin tomb inscriptions.
  3. Translate short, highly glossed Latin poems.
Read authentic Latin prose passages that deal with early Roman heroes, government during the Roman Republic, Roman provincial government, the Roman army, and Roman dinner parties. The Roman authors Livy, Pliny, Julius Caesar, Cicero, Tacitus and Petronius are all read.
Read selections from the poetry of Catullus, Horace, Martial, Ovid and Vergil. / Students in Latin I solve math problems using Roman numerals/Latin numbers.
Students in Latin II solve word problems that involve the characters in the readings.
How did the Romans engineer and construct catapults that not only had distance but also accuracy?
Students in Latin III construct mini-catapults that fire marshmallows. These catapults are judged for authenticity, distance and accuracy.

Students in Latin IV-V discuss the civil war preceding the reign of Augustus and the ways in which interpersonal problems were handled.

In Latin I and II students are responsible for 120 Latin phrases used in English and are expected to use these phrases in their own sentences.
In Latin III students translate Tacitus’ account of the fire in Rome during the age of Nero and draw personal conclusions about whether or not Nero was to blame.
Students in Latin IV-V translate Catullus’ Carmen 85 “Odi et Amo.” They discuss the word choice, word order, sounds and tone. It is then compared to Smokey Robinson’s “You’ve really got a hold on me,” set to that music and sung by the class. The class then strolls to the song as they sing it.

Culture

BenchmarkCourse Objectives Examples

  1. Identify Cultural and Linguistic
Characteristics
17. Compare and Contrast Cultural and
Linguistic Characteristics, Identifying
similarities and differences. / Latin I
Latin II
Latin III
Latin IV-V
Latin I / Students will:
  1. Analyze Latin readings to discover ancient cultures and attitudes in Pompeii and Roman Britain.
  2. Read Latin fables to compare ancient morals to those of today.
Students will:
  1. Analyze Latin readings to discover cultures and attitudes in ancient Alexandria and Rome.
  2. Watch films to identify and describe cultural characteristics e.g. occupational and gender roles.
Students will:
  1. Analyze Latin readings to discover ancient cultures and attitudes in the times of Cicero, Caesar, Pliny, Tacitus and Petronius.
Students will:
  1. Read poetry by Horace, Ovid and Catullus, that identifies the acceptable behaviors of the day.
Students will:
  1. Analyze campaigning, elections and political systems of the Romans and of their own society.
  2. Compare ancient and modern school, theater, sports, houses and families.
  3. Discuss the cultural diversity of the Roman Empire.
  4. Learn to recognize root words in English taken from Latin.
  5. Compare the use of the 5 cases in Latin to those of the 3 cases in English.
  6. Decline English pronouns and conjugate English verbs and compare the structure of the language with Latin.
  7. Identify the principal Roman gods and heroes by their names, deeds and spheres of influence.
/ In Latin I students are constantly encouraged to identify Latin root words used in English words and to draw conclusions about the meanings of words due to these roots.
Students in Latin II read and translate several chapters about the multicultural society of ancient Alexandria. Comparisons are made to the turmoil that still exists in that part of the world today.
Students in Latin III translate the histories of Livy which personify the Roman virtue of Pietas. Students compare Pietas to the attitudes of today’s American society.
Students in Latin IV-V translate “the City Mouse and the Country Mouse” by Horace and compare the life of a farm worker to that of a wealthy citizen.
Students in Latin I role-play a mock election from ancient Pompeii, using campaign managers, placards and graffiti. They then compare ancient and modern elections.

BenchmarkCourse Objectives Examples