Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Teaching Latin?

I was wondering how many people learned Latin in school? The idea of teaching Latin to children as young as third grade is a big part of the Classical Education movement, that a lot of homeschoolers of gifted children subscribe too. Our family is not a homeschooling family, but I did learn Latin when I was in school. As a parent, I would rather my children learn Spanish.

Here are some of my reflection on learning Latin, as well as those of some of my friends from the San Diego Seminar program:

http://teachingmybabytoread.blog.com/classical-education/latin/

I did, from age 11-16 (i.e. starting at the beginning of senior school, to taking O level in it, in the UK). Loved it, loved it. Would have enjoyed continuing it to A level (age 18) but for reasons that still seem good, couldn't fit it in. I'm still jealous of my DH who did take it to the next stage, though, and am reminded of this several times a month; it's that relevant. What hooked me in the first place was learning a language logically, with more focus on rules than on learning to stumble through basic conversations about essentials (I was a mathematician, after all!). What I loved later was the literature. We studied Book 4 of the Aeneid as our set book for O level, and that meant we really read it: understood every word [some chunks were not examinable, but we did it all in class], could translate, discussed the use of language and the themes, put it in historical context etc. In the MFL I did to the same age, we got nowhere near such discussions of such important literature; even in English literature, I didn't meet all of the same depth of study. It helped that I was very lucky in the teachers I had: I remember three Latin teachers and they were all fantastic.

My DS will start Latin at age 8 (it's still a standard compulsory subject i n UK prep schools). He is likely to add ancient Greek a few years later, which will make both me and DH green with envy :-)

[ETA: looking at your page, I'm struck by the fact that nobody mentions any Latin literature. How long did you actually study Latin? I tend to think that the 5 years I took is about the least that's really worthwhile; I don't think I'd be nearly as keen on its being taught as a hobby subject or just for a year or two, as sometimes happens.]

I did, and I loved it too.

I studied Greek by myself and I really liked it. Never took Latin, but absorbed it via my GF. Both languages are at the root of most Western learning and languages.

As far as Romance languages go, French is the best one to learn.

If you're near Wisconsin you can learn it from the Pope's former(?) chief Latinist, Reginald Foster: http://frcoulter.com/latin/

I only stuck with Latin two years myself, so I never did get to translating real literature. That's interesting that it is still mandatory in UK prep schools. For the Wisconsin person out there, did you hear that the SENG conference is going to be there in 2012?

The third semester I studied Latin in college was my first semester studying Italian. By the end of that semester, I knew more Italian than Latin, so I switched. I suspected that the ancient Romans had another language to do their actual thinking, since I figured all the grammar rules would get in the way of figuring anything else out. Learning Latin in elementary school would certainly be more effective than waiting until college (or 7th grade, for that matter).

Personally, I think that Latin instruction is over-represented in American schools and colleges. Cuneiform, Arabic, and Chinese are all underrepresented, as far as the relative utility of applying the languages versus availability of instruction.

As a history teacher, I do point out the Latin and Greek roots to my students ("Peninsula comes from the Latin paene insula, which means "almost an island"). As far as teaching it to them as a language, I do think it makes more sense to teach them Spanish. Depending on where they live, they may have many more opportunities to practice in an organic way and a better chance of the language opening up a new world to them.