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LINGVA
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Course Synopsis and Student Learning Goals: Welcome
to first year Latin! In spite of what you may have heard, Latin is not dead; it
is alive and well, and you are proof. It is also a myth that 'You can't speak
Latin.' Of course you can speak Latin - why would Romans have developed a
language they couldn't speak? You can and will speak Latin this term –
useful for all those moments when you want to appear exquisitely learned and do
not want all within earshot to understand every word.
This course will continue your introduction to a language
that served a tiny village on the
This will not always be a pure translation class - we will
vary exercises, learning styles, and material frequently, from discussion of
topics in English to presentation of short texts in Latin. We will try to laugh
often, even when we're working hard. During this semester, you will be reading
some original Latin or slightly adapted sentences from famous poems (epic,
comic, and satiric) and prose (speeches, histories, philosophy). You will learn
foundational elements of Latin grammar and syntax, and we will spend significant
time discussing the roots of English grammar as a support to our learning of
Latin grammar. You will also enhance your English vocabulary while learning the
meaning of Latin vocabulary, and you will begin to understand some of the most
important principles of Roman life and society.
Course Requirements:
Texts:
Susan C. Shelmerdine Introduction
to Latin, First Edition Revised (Focus, 2007) ISBN: 1585102709
John C. Traupman Conversational
Latin for Oral Proficiency, 4th edition (Bolchazy-Carducci,
2007) ISBN865166226
Class Participation: ATTENDANCE IS REQUIRED. Beginning the second
week of class, you will receive a daily grade for participation in class that
suggests your level of preparation on material covered (A, B, C, D or 0) and
your involvement in class activities. Participation includes questions,
exchange of ideas, and responses to directed or general questions from the
instructor or others. An absence from class for ANY REASON must be counted as a
0 since you cannot participate if you are absent. Four (4) absences or your
lowest participation grades will be dropped, no questions asked, at the end of
the term allowing 1 week of class days for illness, family matters, etc. In
general, I do not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences for
purposes of daily participation grades, but PLEASE always contact me by email
or phone before class if you MUST be absent on a given day. I want to know when
and why you need to miss class, and make sure that you don't
get too far behind.
It is important to understand that participation can include
informed questions, requests for further explanation, offering to answer
specific questions, or any contributions that foster learning in the classroom
environment.
The Conversational
Component of this course is a requirement, but you will only be graded on the
conversational materials within your class participation grade. There will be
no tests specifically on conversation, but I may include some elements of our
conversations on quizzes or exams.
GROUP WORK PROVISO: I will utilize different groupings of
students from time to time in class to facilitate peer learning and review. Be
prepared any given day to form groups quickly and efficiently as instructed.
I encourage those of you who benefit from group study to
create a working study group for out-of-class work.
HOMEWORK PROVISO - I
generally check homework by asking questions of students in class or asking
what questions you have. There is no way we will translate every word of every
assignment in class. Homework may include exercises and readings from Latin to
English or English to Latin, either in the Shelmerdine
text or supplementary exercises found at http://www.leakyroofproductions.com/index.html
or in the Conversational Latin text, as well as reading of grammatical
explanations, review of vocabulary, and other assignments. When possible, the
answers to significant unfinished assignments will be
posted on Blackboard; some supplementary exercises with answers are
available at http://www.leakyroofproductions.com/index.html
for self-study, including self-correcting exercises on vocabulary, word forms
and translation. On THREE to SIX occasions, without prior notification, I will
ask to see your written homework exercises from the Shelmerdine
main text. I will merely examine your assignment for completion and the attempt
at every sentence of the exercises; you will correct them in class after this
check. The total grades for these simple checks will amount to 3% of your total
grade; this check is not designed for busy work or bookkeeping purposes (I
would rather not do it), but I have found by experience that Latin homework
sometimes slips to the back burner, and if that happens, you risk falling
behind in your language process which builds daily. If I find that this
admittedly juvenile method is unnecessary and that the class is completing
homework assignments on time, I will consult with the class and roll this 3%
grade into another portion of your overall grade. DAILY HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS
ARE THE ONE TYPE OF WRITTEN WORK ON WHICH I ENCOURAGE YOU TO WORK WITH OTHERS,
BUT MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING FOR YOURSELF BY THE TIME YOU GET TO A
QUIZ OR EXAM.
TUTORING – a tutor will be available for consultation
on material covered in this course. I will provide her hours and contact
information and you will meet her the first day of class.
Quizzes: Up to 12 quizzes will be given as listed on the syllabus
(I may, by consultation with the class prior to quiz day, decide to omit a
couple of quizzes, especially later in the term, if we need more time to deal
with topics before quizzing on them. A few times during the term, these quizzes
may be take-home format to allow for more thorough answers or translation or to
facilitate other in class needs. These
will always be administered at the END of each class session listed on the
syllabus (generally at the end of each week not including an Exam), so that
additional time spent on quizzes by individuals does not impact the entire
class moving on. Quizzes will usually consist of translation from Latin to
English and some form identification and will cover material learned from the day
of the previous quiz to the end of the session prior to the quiz. The lowest
quiz grade will be dropped at the end of the term, so makeup quizzes will
generally not be given. If a quiz is scheduled, and if you absolutely cannot
make it to class that day for legitimate reasons, and you contact me
appropriately before the class in question, I will consider whether you may
take the quiz at another time (Nota bene: OVERSLEEPING IS NOT A LEGITIMATE EXCUSE). Absence for
religious holidays also requires notification of the instructor prior to the
absence. Again the basic rule is to keep the line of communication open.
Tests: You will take three major term exams as listed on the
syllabus. These will test grammar recognition, word forms (morphology),
translation from Latin to English, and reading comprehension and the formats
will be partially derived by consensus of the class. Absence from a test FOR
ANY REASON is very serious and may result in a much more difficult makeup test
AT THE INSTRUCTOR's DISCRETION (I always reserve the
right to refuse to give a makeup exam) - again, absence from a test for serious
illness or other legitimate reasons demands prior notification of the
instructor, at which time I will consider whether you may take the same exam at
an alternate time. That said, if you show signs of being very studious and make
solid progress through the term, but you are obviously ailing so badly on a
test day that your performance would be unrepresentative of your regular work,
please speak with me and arrangements can usually be made for a makeup time
– be fair with me and I will extend you the same courtesies.
Final Exam: Of necessity, tests in language courses are always
comprehensive (Grammar forms and vocabulary don't go away,
they just may disappear for a while and return suddenly). The final will be
even more so. I will cover the last quarter of
the class material in some detail on the final, but there will also be a fair
amount of review material from throughout the term.
ACADEMIC HONESTY AND WRITTEN WORK – I cannot stress
enough (and you will see more mentioned about this below) that every piece of
work you turn in for a grade must be yours and yours alone. Cheating, whether
in class or out of class, is a punishable offense at
Grading: Your final grade will be determined as follows:
|
Final Exam |
26% |
|
Average of Test scores |
36% |
|
Average of Quizzes |
18% |
|
Class Performance & Participation |
17% |
|
Homework Check |
3% |
I must insist on a firm grade scale as
follows: 93-100 A, 90-92 A-, 87-89 B+, 83-86 B, 80-82 B-, 77-79 C+, 73-76 C,
70-72 C-, 60-69 D, 0-59 F. I especially reserve the right to consider borderline
grades as falling on either side of the divide that seems most appropriate
given all grading circumstances (i.e., a 92.5 or even a 92.9 cannot
automatically be assumed to round up, though I may determine that a student's
overall performance may warrant such rounding). Consult me about your progress
in seemingly nebulous areas such as class participation, etc. I am always
available for questions about your grade, even though you may not see it posted
in the Blackboard grading system.
Other Expectations:
Suggestions for Success:
1) ALL written work to be turned in for a grade must be
pledged with an affirmation of your adherence to the Student Academic Honesty
Code as described at this site.
2) Make sure that you regularly
consult your binghamton.edu email and Blackboard, as these are the most
efficient ways for me to disseminate information to everyone enrolled in this
class.
3) My only real pet peeves in classroom demeanor are CELL
PHONES (turn them off), chronic tardiness, sleeping in class (even in early
morning classes, folks), and not informing me and others affected if you have a
schedule problem.
4) I guess the next closest thing to a peeve is my
frustration with being unable to read the minds of completely silent
students. Part of the joy of the classics is sharing what you think about
it - whether good or bad. There's always something that deserves discussion,
and the whole class can benefit from your insights. And (this is the lesson
I've had to learn over time), if you're a natural talker, know when to balance
your contribution with that of those around you. Be sensitive to the silences
that sometimes occur - someone may be thinking deeply. I have toyed with the
idea of using email chat rooms to help out those who are more inclined to
silence, but I continue to believe that oral human communication is a most
valuable gift and tool for all aspects of modern life, just as it was for the
even more orally oriented cultures of the ancient world.
5) Keep on your syllabus. This class will allow little time
for catching up if you fall behind. The syllabus daily assignments are a guide and a goal. If you find
yourself unable to get through the assigned readings and exercises, let's
discuss it as a group or individually - work with others, divide the load and
then make sure you teach each other. I prefer to have a plan, and try to find
the best way to get there. CHECK YOUR SYLLABUS FREQUENTLY FOR ANY CHANGES I MAY
NEED TO MAKE ALONG THE WAY.
6) Bring all the appropriate books each day they are
required by the syllabus (to be safe bring BOTH books EVERY day). Try to mark
up your book as little as possible with answers, but often with extra info that
helps you understand. On longer readings, such as passages, do not bring your
fully written translations into class with you and read from them (I had to be
broken from this habit 1st term freshman year by being called down in class. It
worked). Show that you understand what you read or that you have questions
about what you read.. Make vocabulary and grammar
notes while you read, and you can bring that to class with you if necessary. Rereading
through an assignment shortly after leaving class is the absolute best way to
see if you really understood what was going on with the changes suggested
there. Nothing is worse than recalling the incorrect interpretation that you
worked so hard on before class better than the corrected interpretation or
deeper interpretation that you take away after class simply because you spent
so much more time on the former and not enough time on the latter.
7) Extra Credit - fuhgedaboutit!!
(Someone burned me long ago abusing extra credit. I'm afraid there is no
antidote for my allergic reaction to requests for extra credit). On the other
hand, you get personal extra credit for every thing you learn above and beyond
the call of absolute duty, so look at the bigger picture.
8) Final Grades are an assessment of your whole performance.
I like to create many components to a grade as an evaluation of a complete
student. I tend not to curve (unless something is clearly wrong with the
grading apparatus) in order to preserve my overall sense of student performance
and aptitude for the assignment of the more important final grade. I do
consider improvements in problem areas as part of what shows your increased
aptitude.
9) Enjoy learning Latin. Let's make our time in class
productive, but also, as often as possible, interesting, enjoyable and thought-
provoking. We will talk frequently about the way Romans and Greeks thought and
lived to try to understand what they are saying to us. We will not sit in a
dull translation session 4 days per week. We will change exercises and engage
in discussion of ideas often.
Pursuant to this end, please feel free within reason
to bring coffee or other legal stimulants for these early morning sessions - we
will agree to meet in locations other than the room when weather and lesson
needs permit - Latin and Greek schools often met in a stoa/basilica
or under a tree, in the open air - we should do no less.
10) One day there may be a suggestion 10, but right now, I
don't have one and there were 9 Muses, so we will leave an ennead of sage
Starks suggestions for student success - maybe suggestion 10 should be to
practice saying that 10 times fast.