Monday, September 11, 2006

Some tips for Latin I and Latin II students:

1) Begin your homework within a day of leaving the classroom. If you wait, you will quickly forget what you learned in class.

2) Repetitio est mater studiorum. Repetition is the mother of studies. Drill, drill, drill yourself at home. Language must come from inside you, from the very bones; it's not something you can learn in a vague way or something that you can learn just for a test and then forget. Constant drill will put the words and forms inside you.

3) Vocabulary may be second to learning the forms, but is vital. Make the vocabulary your servant, and you will rule in Latin.

4) Second year students: memorize the four part of the verbs and know why you need to know them.


Latin III students:

Don't be dismayed by the new text. Learn the vocab.--you know most of the words--and pay attention to the review. Use the test sheets I gave for homework on the week of Sept. 5--12 as a grand review of the language to the passive tense of the verbs. BE SURE TO KEEP MEMORIZING THE PRINCIPLE PARTS OF THE VERBS.

English History students:
As you read, you need to learn. The P-H text in particular is quite important both in terms of history and literature. Don't make the mistake of frivolously reading parts of this book on history, etc. It's a grand accompaniment to your history text.
When it comes time for our first poetry memorization, just go over it again and again. It will eventually come. It is important to see what language was 800 years ago, to see what your English ancestors did with language.

All students: put yourself into your classes--not just mine, but all the classes you're taking. You have a wonderful opportunity to expand your knowledge of the world and its ideas. Excelsior (that's Latin for "Higher).