Description and Objectives

Course Description and Objectives

Course Description and Objectives

The objective of this course is to understand how the Romans and their Greek influences used language to shape our modern ideas about literature, art, education, government, and family life. Students will read and imitate the language of original source material, supplemented by work with Latin derivatives, resulting in increased fluency in reading and writing in English.

 

Topics Covered

• Greek and Roman use of language in myth, social mores, and politics.
• Early and modern Christian, dramatic, and philosophical use of Latin.
• Vocabulary and fluency development.
• Development of creative and analytical writing skills based on imitation of source texts.

Textbooks

Textbooks

• • Selections from Greek, Roman, early Christian and modern authors, including Ovid, Plutarch, Cicero, Justin Martyr, Magna Carta, Keats, and Kipling.
  • Augustus, by John Williams
  • Each student is required to bring his own dictionary and thesaurus to every class.

 

Course Requirements

Course Requirements

• Completion of all readings and assignments by if not before the given due date.
• Timeliness and active class participation (these together are a graded assignment).
• Evidence of care in preparation for written, oral, and performance assignments
• Maintenance of the source binder, which will contain all assignments and class notes as well
• Each student is required to bring their own dictionary and thesaurus to every class.

 

Assignments 

Types of assignments include:

• In-class seminar discussions
• Derivative research and use
• Imitation of language use in source texts
• Binder notes
• Timeliness and class participation (cumulative quarter grade).

 

Assignments are pass/fail, and quarter grades are determined by the percentage of passed assignments. Deadlines will be generous, to allow for rewrites and redos, but no credit will be given for late assignments. It is the sole responsibility of the student to communicate any exceptional or prohibiting circumstances.

Successful Students

Successful Students

• Successful students will be on time and prepared to engage the material. They will
•  They will come to class with binder, thesaurus, dictionary and other texts as required and will always have pencil at hand
• They will foster habits of creative initiative and a collaborative spirit.

 

Additional Resources

Exam

• The exam for this class will cover all quarter material. Detailed explanation will be given in review classes before the exam.