chariots and writing in Latin

Ok, so we've got TAKS testing going on right now and because my classes are mixed level, I'm not able to really move ahead in the book.  So today we reviewed noun endings that we have so far (genitives in the next chapter).  Tomorrow we're watching the chariot scene from Ben Hur and I've made a sheet of vocab words so that after or while we are watching they can write sentences in Latin.  I'm going to copy and paste in the vocab here, but in all likelihood the macrons won't transfer and I'll have to redo this later.

But instead of grading, I've been messing with this and thought I would share:

The Race Track & Things Seen in It:

carcer: carcerem (M) – starting gate

Circus Maximus – (held 200,000 spectators)

curriculum (N) – race track; lap (plural = curricula)

delphīnus (M) – dolphin

imperātor: imperātōrem (M) – emperor

mappa (F) – white cloth that was dropped to signal the start of the race

mēta (F) – turning posts

ovum (N) – egg

pompa (F) – parade, procession

signum (N) – signal/sign (to start the race)

spīna (F) – barrier, spine

tuba (F) – straight trumpet

vexillum (N) – flag (plural = vexilla)

 

Chariots, Charioteers, & their Equipment:

agitātor: agitātōrem (M) – driver

aurīga (M!) – charioteer

equus (M) – horse

factiō: factiōnem (F) – company or faction (there were four:)

• russātī (M pl) – Reds
• albātī (M pl) – Whites
• prasinī (M pl) – Greens
• venetī (M pl) - Blues

flagellum (N) – whip (noun)

habēna (F) – rein

praemium (N) – prize

pūgiō: pūgiōnem (M) – dagger

quadrīga (F) – four-horse chariot

rota (F) – wheel

 

Action at the Races:

agō, agere, ēgī –  to do, drive; equōs agere – to drive horses

cadō, cadere, cecidī – to fall

collīdō, collidere, collīsī – to collide, smash to pieces

faveō, favēre, fāvī – (takes dative) to favor, support; russātīs favēre – to favor the Reds

flagellō, flagellāre, flagellāvī – to whip

iaceō, iacēre, iacuī – to lie; humī iacēre – to lie on the ground

ligō, ligāre, ligāvī – to tie (with dative or ad + acc)

occīdō, occīdere, occīdī – to kill

sūmō, sūmere, sūmpsī – to take up; habēnās sūmere – to take up the reins

verberō, verberāre, verberāvī – to beat

vincō, vincere, vīcī – to win

 ****
Ok, I'm adding to this.

So, we watched the clip during zero hour with the middle schoolers and talked about it in Latin as we watched it.  The kids got to see that it wasn't perfectly easy for me either, that I had to think about what I was saying, subject/verb agreement, etc.  We also realized that we needed some other vocab words:

sono, sonare, sonui - to sound (the trumpets)
traho, trahere, traxi - to drag
protero, proterere, protrivi - to trample
deleo, delere, delevi - to destroy
claudo, claudere, clausi - to block

and 
currus falcorum for the scythe chariot.

Then we used vir bonus and vir malus for the good guy and bad guy.

We talked about the parade of chariots, counted the chariots, talked about colors, talked a lot about drivers whipping the horses and each other, etc.  Then there were the chariot crashes, men dragged by horses, etc etc.  They were eager for more vocab.  It was so fun.  I think every movie scene watching experience should be in Latin!

So, we had a draft set of sentences at the end and started to watch it over until the bell rang.  For homework I asked them to write a nice paragraph about what they saw in Latin.  Can't wait to see the results.

More from the other classes later.

***
OK, the other classes are now done.  I still kept to very simple Latin myself while I was talking about it.  If I had *TIME*  I would sit down and write my own version of what happens, incorporating new grammar and relative clauses and such.  No matter; if I can't there's always tomorrow.

I've decided, since our week is still messed up from TAKS testing, that I would spend another day on this.  I will look at what people wrote and then we will write one together.  If I ONLY taught level 1 Latin, and I didn't have other preps and, oh yeah, a life, I would make them all turn it in and grade.  But God knows that I'm behind in grading already, I'm worn out from multiple preps, esp English, and that I don't do enough grading as it is.  So together work will have to do until I figure out a better solution.

With luck, I'll have stories each class wrote together to post tomorrow.