1) Choosing a Roman name – My name is _____ (Nomen mini est) – Salve!/ Salvete! – How are you? (quid agis?) and responses (optime!/ bene!/ haud male!/ male! And pessime!) – Vale!/Valete! /Give the students time to decorate their Latin Club notebook.
2) Family Vocabulary – teach the students the words for mother, father, sister, brother, grandmother, grandfather, etc. in Latin. Have students make a family tree in Latin.
3) Read the cartoon “Who are you?” Discuss parts of speech, and have students figure out the parts of speech of the words in the comic. Read “The Birthday Party” and translate “Lepidina arrives at the party.”
4) Tell the students the story of Perseus and Medusa. Have them memorize the present tense forms of sum. Roman Food: Discuss what Romans would have for a dinner party (they’d always start with eggs and end with apples, and garum a fish sauce was very popular). Have the students translate: “The Governor is Coming!” and “Dinner for the Governor.”
5) Discuss adjectives in Latin. Give the students a list of adjectives. Have them describe themselves using sum/non sum and an adjective. Then have students describe their partners, then their magister. You could also project pictures and have the students describe them in Latin. Lastly, teach the students a few animal names (vespa, balaena, cuniculus, delphinus, equus and porcus) and have the students describe each of those animals.
6) Tell the students the story of Icarus and Daedalus. Verbs: Singular and Plural: teach the students the difference between a singular verbal ending (-t) and the plural verbal ending (-nt). Havce them switch plurals to singulars and singulars to plurals. Learn the personal endings –o, -s, -t, -mus, -tis and –nt and practice telling who does the action of each verb with exercise 3 on page 16. Students should then translate the comics “What are you doing?” and “Pandora Settles In.”
7) Tell the students the story of Pandora’s Box. Teach the students vocabulary for the parts of the classroom. Have the students identify pictures of classroom objects that you either hold up on sheets of paper or project on a screen. Break the class into two teams. Have them race to label the items in the classroom in Latin.
8) Have the students translate the comic “A Writing Lesson” and “Rufus Don’t Touch.” When finished tell the students the story of Echo and Narcissus. You could show them a video of the story if you wanted to.
9) Teach the students about the Roman Conquest of Briton. Then read “Britons are best!” and “Romans are best!” Talk about adverbs in English – what letters do they end in? Then discuss adverbs in Latin? – what letters do they often end in?
10) The Roman Empire: Provinces. Teach the students 15 different provinces in the Roman Empire. Teach the students the expression “Ubi est ____?” and have them point to the places on a map. I can provide you with blank maps of the Roman Empire, if you would like to have the students label and color the maps.
11) Have the students read “Let’s Go Shopping” on pages 33 and 35. Complete “A Day in Eboracum” on page 37 by having the students say who bought each item. Review what nouns, verbs and adjectives do. Complete the “Grasp the Grammar” quiz on page 36. Review personal endings in Latin. Have the students play the DEAD FISH game to practice forming present tense verbs.
12) Tell the students the story of Actaeon and Diana. The Roman Army: Have the students read “Be Careful, Rufus,” and “Do as You’re Told!” Tell the students about what a normal Roman soldier’s outfit and armor would look like, then tell them about how a Centurion’s costume would differ from other soldiers’ garb.
13) Teach the students how to form singular and plural command forms. Play “Simonus Dicit” with the students to get them understanding the commands. Then have students be take turns being Simonus and giving commands to their classmates. If time, tell students about the Trojan horse and how Odysseus and the Greeks outsmarted the Trojans (if you do not get to this, start with it next class).
14) The Roman Baths: Tell the students about the basic layout of the Roman baths. Explain how hypocausts worked. Have the students read “Time for a Bath!” on page 46.
15) Review what an adverb is in English. Discuss what endings adverbs usually have in English. Talk about what ending adverbs usually have in Latin. Do Grasp the Grammar exercise 1 on page 47 to practice with adverbs. Tell the students the story of Odysseus, Polyphemos and the Trick of Nobody.
16) Read “Who’s Who” on page 53, and discuss how you can tell the different army officers apart. Then read “You Look Lovely” on page 59. Roman Clothing: Discuss the basic clothing that a Roman man, a Senator, and a Roman woman would wear. Teach the students what a conjunction is in English, then practice combining Latin sentences using QUOD, ET, SED, and TAMEN to make the sentences longer.
17) Teach the students about the Creation of the world, and review the Titans and the Olympian Gods. Read the comics “Rufus is Ill” and “All’s Well That Ends Well.” Teach the students what a direct object is and that a direct object ends in –m in Latin. Complete exercise 5 on page 74 matching the characters with their actions.
Special Events:
- Saturnalia Celebration
- “Hercules” Showing
- Lecture on Greek and Roman Heroes
- Planetarium Show
- Olympic Games for Parents’ Day