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I posted this the other day to the Ecce Romani list which I lurk on. Thought it was worth putting here:
***
I usually only lurk in this group, but I have to make a comment here. Before
I dive in about my love of macrons, let me add that I don't *require*
memorization--that's just nitpicky grading I don't have time for--except on
noun endings and verb endings.
With that said, *I* make sure that there's not a word in the book (er, ok,
and for me that book is actually CLC) that I don't pronounce accurately and
that I can't spell correctly with macrons included without looking.
ALL of my vocab flashcards have macrons. THEY ARE IMPORTANT. HOW ELSE WILL
you know how the word truly sounded to the Romans?
Our profs have gotten so lazy they don't teach this aspect well. I've been
very frustrated with the number of new teachers (and experienced ones) who
don't know accurate pronunciation or how to divide and accent a word at
sight. I have a colleague who is impressed that I can pick up a text--sight
unseen and read fluently and beautifully. My question is, why can't she?
Why can't others.
HOW IT SOUNDS MATTERS.
Read the beginning of Wheelock's Latin where Rick LaFleur is discussing HOW
to learn new vocabulary, that it is important to learn it with the macrons,
to copy them accurately but more importantly to HEAR the sound of the word.
If you learn to say it correctly then you can WRITE it correctly. It won't
be a matter of where the little long mark goes, it will be a matter of WHAT
THE WORD SOUNDS LIKE.
I have been known to give extra credit on some assignments that require
writing in Latin if all the macrons are present. I do encourage writing it,
using it and my good students do it. But I can't grade every tiny little
thing. Not all the time. But my students know that it is important. VERY
IMPORTANT.
I occasionally do dictation, and it's about making sure students HEAR the
long vowels and HEAR the short vowels.
I could gush on, but I won't.
***
If you are a future teacher reading this, take a look at this document:
http://www.txclassics.org/OralExam.pdf
This was developed by the TCA nearly 20 years ago, I'm betting. It's an excellent document but so many people are freaked out about pronunciation that no one put it into place.
I personally thing THE UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES should require this as some sort of EXIT TEST for future teachers. But I've been fighting this battle for years. "Oh, we don't have enough applicants anyway! We'd just scare them away!" Yeah, right, like we need more teachers that can't read Latin. There's too many of that variety already.
And I'm not trying to be mean. The simple fact remains that STUDENTS SHOULD NOT HAVE TO SUFFER at certamen because their teacher never learned to read well outloud.
THE LANGUAGE IS MEANT TO BE HEARD, NOT READ SILENTLY! Romans did NOT read silently! THEY DID NOT!!!!! So what the hell are we doing?
"John, translate the next sentence into English. Mary, you'll do the one after that."
Oh please. And at the college level.
Is anyone teaching how to read from left to right in word order? How to read aloud with fluency? I still read ENGLISH books aloud to my children, and one is now in middle school. (Harry Potter reads well outloud!)
And yet, Latin is to remain some mental gymnastics? It's not a real language?
If you haven't ever read Dexter Hoyos' _Latin: How to Read it Fluently_, order it now from CANE (Class. Assoc. of New England). (Google it.) It'll be the best $10 you'll ever spend.
***
I usually only lurk in this group, but I have to make a comment here. Before
I dive in about my love of macrons, let me add that I don't *require*
memorization--that's just nitpicky grading I don't have time for--except on
noun endings and verb endings.
With that said, *I* make sure that there's not a word in the book (er, ok,
and for me that book is actually CLC) that I don't pronounce accurately and
that I can't spell correctly with macrons included without looking.
ALL of my vocab flashcards have macrons. THEY ARE IMPORTANT. HOW ELSE WILL
you know how the word truly sounded to the Romans?
Our profs have gotten so lazy they don't teach this aspect well. I've been
very frustrated with the number of new teachers (and experienced ones) who
don't know accurate pronunciation or how to divide and accent a word at
sight. I have a colleague who is impressed that I can pick up a text--sight
unseen and read fluently and beautifully. My question is, why can't she?
Why can't others.
HOW IT SOUNDS MATTERS.
Read the beginning of Wheelock's Latin where Rick LaFleur is discussing HOW
to learn new vocabulary, that it is important to learn it with the macrons,
to copy them accurately but more importantly to HEAR the sound of the word.
If you learn to say it correctly then you can WRITE it correctly. It won't
be a matter of where the little long mark goes, it will be a matter of WHAT
THE WORD SOUNDS LIKE.
I have been known to give extra credit on some assignments that require
writing in Latin if all the macrons are present. I do encourage writing it,
using it and my good students do it. But I can't grade every tiny little
thing. Not all the time. But my students know that it is important. VERY
IMPORTANT.
I occasionally do dictation, and it's about making sure students HEAR the
long vowels and HEAR the short vowels.
I could gush on, but I won't.
***
If you are a future teacher reading this, take a look at this document:
http://www.txclassics.org/OralExam.pdf
This was developed by the TCA nearly 20 years ago, I'm betting. It's an excellent document but so many people are freaked out about pronunciation that no one put it into place.
I personally thing THE UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES should require this as some sort of EXIT TEST for future teachers. But I've been fighting this battle for years. "Oh, we don't have enough applicants anyway! We'd just scare them away!" Yeah, right, like we need more teachers that can't read Latin. There's too many of that variety already.
And I'm not trying to be mean. The simple fact remains that STUDENTS SHOULD NOT HAVE TO SUFFER at certamen because their teacher never learned to read well outloud.
THE LANGUAGE IS MEANT TO BE HEARD, NOT READ SILENTLY! Romans did NOT read silently! THEY DID NOT!!!!! So what the hell are we doing?
"John, translate the next sentence into English. Mary, you'll do the one after that."
Oh please. And at the college level.
Is anyone teaching how to read from left to right in word order? How to read aloud with fluency? I still read ENGLISH books aloud to my children, and one is now in middle school. (Harry Potter reads well outloud!)
And yet, Latin is to remain some mental gymnastics? It's not a real language?
If you haven't ever read Dexter Hoyos' _Latin: How to Read it Fluently_, order it now from CANE (Class. Assoc. of New England). (Google it.) It'll be the best $10 you'll ever spend.
