FĀBULAE MĪRĀBILĒS:

CREATING A CLASS STORYLINE IN LATIN I!

Christopher Buczek, Ph.D., ACL Institute 2017, Grand Rapids, MI

E-mail: ; Twitter: @magisterb480

Essential Questions:

  • How have I incorporated a student-centered curriculum into my Latin I class?
  • How can one “untextbook” while still using a textbook as a basis?
  • What are some simple activities one can implement using comprehensible input?

What started this idea?
  • Latin I students last year created the Dennis and Debra characters for my Iter Mirabile novella
  • ACL Institute 2016 - several presentations on CI
  • Express Fluency 2016 - Justin Slocum Bailey’s teacher workshop
/ MAXIMUS ET CLARISSA
  • Using Keith Toda and Justin Slocum Bailey’s first story templates, we started the year with “Maximus Gorillam Vult”
  • Stressed common verbs: est, vult, habet, it
  • Students created the characters and ran with the idea

Full Text and Teaching Materials! / Basic Latin I Unit Structure
  • Maximus et Clarissa Chapter
  • TPRS, Storyasking
  • Story Surveys, questionnaires before each chapter
  • Reflections post-reading
  • Roman culture story based on the text of Latin for the New Millennium
  • Comprehensive Assessment

Basic Plot of Maximus…
  • Maximus likes Clarissa, who raises chickens on her father’s farm (in Rome, although it is a very anachronistic and weird alternate Rome)
  • The evil Janicknack (named after a student in the class) wants to steal the chickens, because he works at Chick-Fil-A
  • Maximus and Clarissa go to war with Janicknack
  • Much craziness ensues
/ LIST OF CI ACTIVITIES
  • Dictatio
  • 4-Word Picture Story
  • Read and Draw
  • Draw 1-2-3
  • Student Questionnaires
  • Find the Sentence
  • Quis Dīceret? (Who would say?)
  • How would they respond?
  • Word Chunk Game
  • Reading Comprehension Guides
/ Fābulae Latinitās
  • Limiting vocabulary, not grammar
  • As a result, there are several elements of “harder grammar” such as subjunctives, gerundives, participles, etc.
  • High-frequency vocabulary is commonly used
  • Word order is varied throughout - does not always follow “subject-object-verb” like in many textbook readings
  • 313 total lexical items; 3,929 words

PLUSSES/DELTAS
Plusses:
  • Generally positive student feedback
  • Plot twists kept it engaging and compelling all year long
  • Students read nearly 4,000 words of comprehensible Latin
  • Unsheltered “harder” grammar
Deltas:
  • Hard to limit vocabulary
  • Listening was difficult for students
  • Creation is time-consuming
  • Pop-up grammar lessons could be more efficient
/ LINK TO THE POWERPOINT PRESENTATION, MAXIMUS ET CLARISSA MATERIALS, AND MOVIE PROJECTS:
bit.ly/2smEdIa / What about Latin 2 & 3?
LATIN II:
  • They read all of Iter Mirabile Dennis et Debrae and made several standalone class stories (Marina et Travis, Ken et Jen, sequels to the Dennis and Debra saga)
  • Latin I and II made Character Booklets for their respective stories
LATIN III:
  • Embedded/tiered readings of authentic texts (Catullus, Martial, Phaedrus, etc.)
  • One Word Image stories; Class Storybook Final Project
  • Story Listening with mythology and novellas