Vicipaedia

Have you tried Vicipaedia?  It's the Latin version of Wikipedia.  You can practice your Latin skills with contemporary Latin in a variety of subjects.

Here is the link:  http://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagina_prima

Have fun!

Living Latin

Should Latin be the official language of the European Union?  Read the following WSJ article to find out:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303755504579207862529717146

National Latin Survey

Let your (Latin-loving) voice be heard!  Take the National Latin Survey:
http://www.nationallatinsurvey.com/

THE "PERTINENCE" OF LATIN

A fellow teacher shared this amusing cartoon with me.  Isn't it funny how the subjects that have the most relevance are the ones that must justify themselves most frequently to the students who, uneducated and inexperienced, do not see their importance?  Math and Latin.  All the other academic subjects fan out like spokes on a wheel from the skills and habits of thought developed in these two classes.

How many times has a math teacher had to explain the relevance of calculus to a class of dumbfounded high-school juniors?  And yet, calculus got us to the moon and created 3-D gaming and computer animation.  How many times has a Latin teacher had to explain the central importance of a "dead" language to a class of cynical sophomores?  And yet, Latin gave us 90% of our academic vocabulary and the science of meaning (the grammar) of our language.  What could be more "pertinent" to our students?

How many times has an English teacher had to justify his subject to a classroom of freshmen who "already know English"!  What specific "current event" can that English teacher find in the news that would be "pertinent" to the roots ("pertinent," from the Latin pertinēre "to relate to, to concern"), the words, the grammar, the rhetoric of the native language of his classroom?  In reality, aren't all current events really pertinent to English?  to Math?  to Latin?  Aren't they all predicated on the abilities developed by those subjects?

When speaking of relative value, what is more important:  Knowing the words (the Latin verba) of our language, mathematical and linguistic, the very building blocks of our thoughts, or knowing that Boeing needs to replace the batteries on the new 787?  Of course, news is important, but news/current events are constantly changing, while the ability to think, to reason, to solve the battery problem on the 787, is eternal.

The Latin teacher is ever hopeful that students, and fellow teachers, will see that Latin, and Math, and English, are evident in each and every current event that happens to catch the public's eye today, but is forgotten tomorrow.  Like a comic in the newspaper.

10-DAY PLAN

Here is a link to the 10-day plan for Latin, English II, and AP Language and Composition while I'm in Italy:  https://docs.google.com/a/msvl.k12.wa.us/file/d/0B1UYsG_pQ0dIa1had3cxZUNYTWc/edit

Please help Mrs. Hale to locate resources, turn on the projector, and stay on track with the plan.

HARLEM SHAKE

My classroom. No Latin, but perhaps Mars' salii acted like this!

CATO!

 
  Meet Cato. "Carthago delenda est!"

DISCIMUS DOCENDO

The title of this blog means "We learn by teaching."  All teachers know this to be true.  You never learn a subject as well as when you must explain it to others.  This explains one of the methods of learning.  But what about its purpose?  How do we respond to the cynic who says knowing the date of the fall of Constantinople is irrelevant to the "21st Century Skills" students need to succeed in today's world?

My response is: Discimus ad docendum.  This addresses the fundamental need for knowledge in our culture and the need to transmit our culture, our heritage, and our wisdom to another generation.  In short, this means "We learn in order to teach."  Too many of us have abdicated the job of teaching to professionals.  To those with credentials.  To those with specialized degrees.  We forget that all of us are teachers.

Why should you learn?  To pass it on to others.  Your language is important.  Your history is important.  Your culture is important.  And algebra is important, too.  Learn it so that you can teach it.  You may not be a paid teacher, but for your children (one day?), for your neighbor, and for your family you should be ready to pass on what you have learned.

-Mr. K

BLOG UPDATES

AKA "Where did everything go?"

You will notice a few changes to the blog in the next few weeks. First, the helpful videos and tutorials for the Lingua Latina per se Illustrata series will be housed on a new blog at llpsi.blogspot.com (for those of you who don't know, LLPSI stands for Lingua Latina per se Illustrata; the abbreviation is pronounced "La-Lipsy.")

The 50 Percent Latin blog will now house materials specific to Mr. Klomparens' classes and to the promotion of Latin in general.