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Motivation Over and over again, I meet students who have taken one or more years of Latin but who have no confidence
at all in their reading ability. This is because that they are given
materials that are much too difficult to read in their 3rd semester and
later reading courses. The biggest problem is that beginning Latin
students cannot find the natural pauses in the sentences. Instead of
truly reading the Latin as it was meant to be read, they treat the
Latin like a jigsaw puzzle, shuffling the pieces around, and forcing
the pieces to fit (and giving up when that doesn't work). These
students are fighting against the Latin word order, when instead the
Latin word order should be helping them in their reading. This is no
way to learn a language! The simple syntax of Vulgate Latin is the
perfect way for students to begin to enjoy Latin word order.
That is why I created this Vulgate Latin Bible Stories website: to give
beginning students a positive Latin reading experience, online.
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Background The
3rd semester and more advanced Latin reading courses at OU focus
specifically on classical authors: Cicero, Livy, Ovid, etc. When I was
teaching in the Classics department, I offered Latin sight-reading
sessions where we used the Latin Vulgate text. Based on that in-person
experience with students reading the Vulgate text, I tried to create a
website that would provide the same kind of support for the students
working independently online that I provided in person. Here are the
features used at this website to create a supportive online environment
for students who have a basic knowledge of Latin (i.e., they have
completed a first-year college Latin course), but who still need lots
of help as they read: the text is segmented to help identify grammatical featuresdirect speech can be displayed in bold fontverbs can be displayed in bold or underlinedgrammatical commentary is provided for each storyan English translation is available for each storyaudio versions are provided for 15 of the stories
SAMPLE AUDIO
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Learning Activities These
materials are designed to be used by students working independently
online. Ideally, these stories should be able to provide supplementary
materials for any Latin teacher working with students at the
third-semester level or with more advanced students. There
is a page at the website which provides a series of study tips and
recommendations for students in how to make the best use of this online
resource: Student Study Guide. The following is a brief summary of the information provided in the Student Study Guide: Segmented Latin with English.
Start by reading the segmented text side by side with the English
translation and the commentary. For help with the Latin, look at the
way the text is displayed on the screen when you select different
styles: direct speech in bold, verbs in bold, or verbs underlined with
direct speech in bold. Segmented Latin with Commentary.
Now, put the English translation aside. Try reading the segmented text
version out loud. You may consult the commentary if you want, but try
not to look at the English translation - if you need to look at the
English translation, go back to Step #1.Segmented Latin only.
Put aside the commentary and use a blank piece of paper to cover up the
right-hand side of the Latin segmented version, covering up any
Latin-English definitions that you wrote there. Vulgate Latin.
Now you are ready to put aside the Latin segmented version and try the
Latin Vulgate text, where the breaks are based on the versification,
and with no other punctuation to help you pause. Read the Latin Bible
version out loud, trying to pause at the natural boundaries inside the
verses.
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Impact of Use on Teaching and Learning I
developed this resource because I was no longer teaching Latin at the
University of Oklahoma, but I am often contacted by students who had
heard about my Latin sight-reading groups which used these Latin
Vulgate texts. Since putting these materials online, I have received
positive emails from users of the website, although there is no formal
assessment mechanism in place.
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Tips for Teaching The Student Study Guide at the website has detailed suggestions for students. For teachers, I would strongly advocate the use of these texts for sight-reading purposes.
Especially because the students are often familiar with the plot of the
story and the characters, it makes for an enjoyable sight-reading
experience. If the story is one that you think students might be less
familiar with, you might want to provide a brief synopsis of the
story's plot and characters before you begin the sight-reading exercise
with your students. It is important to note that the segmentation of the Latin is somewhat arbitrary.
There are no hard and fast rules for how long/short to make these
segments, although some boundaries should be respected (prepositional
phrases, for example). You might find it useful to discuss this with
students explicitly, asking them to express their opinions about other
choices that could be made in the way that the text is segmented.
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Reflections I
am very glad to have made these resources available online, since there
is very little easy Latin reading material available - and there is, to
my knowledge, no other website which uses stylesheet technology to let
the user customize their Latin text display (with direct speech and
verbs in bold and/or underlined). I hope to continue to add stories to
this website and to increase the amount of audio that is available. If
you have questions or suggestions about the website, please contact me! Thank you.
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Visit mythfolklore.net to find the Fabulae Vulgatae: Latin Bible Stories project, along with other Latin language learning materials online.
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