Facebook Groups

There are some very helpful facebook groups that are geared towards Latin teachers and students of Latin. These are mostly closed groups, so please let me know if you need me to approve your request to join.

Latin

Link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/151139654975878/

This is a group of Latin teachers who share ideas, events, and other pedagogy related items.

Latin Teacher Idea Exchange

Link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LatinTeacherIdeaExchange/

This is a group of Latin teachers who, as listed, exchange ideas.  Often the debates about pedagogy get heated, but there are some great resources for comprehensible input.

Learning Latin

Link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LearningLatin/

This is a group of teachers and students with ideas about learning Latin. Often this includes asking questions about vocabulary and grammar.

Classics Confidential

Link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/107369449284953/

This is a fun, international group of Classics enthusiasts who post stuff about classics.  I especially enjoy the articles and conferences that are posted by people all over the world.

 Roman Army Talk

Link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RomanArmyTalk/

This is a fun website all about Roman army stuff.  I have found posts on Roman battles, especially those of Caesar, and about the armor and weapons of the Roman army during the late republic, to be very helpful for teaching AP Latin.

North American Cambridge Classics Project (NACCP)

Link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/137750056237616/

This is a great resource for teachers of the Cambridge Latin Course. Materials, assignment ideas, and webinars specific to the series are posted here. 

Latine Loquamur

Link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/198852903462006/

This is a fantastic Latin speaking group!  There are Latin phrases and sentences everyday, which is great for those of us who do not get an opportunity to speak Latin. 

Latine gaudeamus

Link:

And it is not a group, but I recommend following Classical Wisdom Weekly. It has great posts related to the Classics, which I often share with my students in class.


Link: https://www.facebook.com/ClassicalWisdomWeekly

Practing forms: Magistrula

Magistrula is one of my favorite websites. This website allows students to practice their conjugation and declensions charts while getting immediate feedback. Students can create accounts on this website so that they can track their own progress, and teachers can login and send assignments to students who have accounts on this website.  I have been assigning my students charts to do as homework using certain parameters (eg. first and second declension charts, third declension charts without neuter, etc.).  I also like that there is an option for macrons or no macrons, depending on whether or not you teaching students to use them.  There are also sentences that students can compose, which I am just starting to use with my Latin 1 students (with limited parameters for what they know).  I'm very impressed by this website.  It is quick and easy for students to use, although we found that it is a bit small to use on devices other than a computer. I often give assignments on magistrula for homework or as a quick warm up or exit ticket.

Link: https://www.magistrula.com/latin

Michigan War Studies: Battles in Julius Caesar

I have been using this site for years to teach Caesar's De Bello Gallico.  For a visual learner like me, it provides the must needed visual of battles from the works of Julius Caesar. I find that these are very helpful, and my students also often find them to be helpful resources.

Link: http://www.miwsr.com/2008/20080502.asp

Roman Roads: Orbis

This Orbis website by Stanford is fantastic if you want to have students learn more about travel in ancient Rome, such as when to leave, how far away different cities are from Rome, and provincial locations.  I used it with my students for a travel brochure project and a Roman travel creative writing assignment, and I found it very useful!

Link:  http://orbis.stanford.edu/

Latin Apps Part 5: Latin Parser

The Latin Parser App would be especially helpful for students translating authentic Latin for the first time.  It gives students the English translation, the root word, and possible meanings.  This would be especially helpful for students who just need a little extra help on translating.  However, it gives a lot of information, so I would not necessarily suggest that this would be a useful for app for more mature Latin students.

Link:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/latin-parser/id660002366?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Latin Apps Part 4: Latin Scansion

The Latin Scansion app, by the Pericles group, is a great way for students to learn about scansion. Students can just touch long and shorts, and they are corrected immediately. Students can do any of the first 209 lines of the Aeneid. The practice can also be accessed here online for students without a smart phone. I find this is particularly helpful for my students that need some extra help with scansion to get a lot of practice from the convenience of their phone or tablet.

Link to App:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/latin-scansion/id892589009?mt=8

Link to Practice: http://www.practomime.com/scansion/game/#/home

Latin Apps Part 3: Montessori Roman Numerals

My students always love to learn about Roman numerals (and get very confused when I ask them for Arabic numerals, which they think of as just "normal" numbers).  The Hundred Board Extensions-Roman Numerals is a fun way for students to master Roman numerals by playing games on their phone or tablet.

Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hundred-board-extensions-roman/id537440117?mt=8

Latin Apps Part 2: NLE Practice App

The NLE Practice App is a great resource for Latin students that are studying for the National Latin Exam.  While it is not truly an app, it is an easy format to view on the computer and on smaller devices.  Students can pick their level and go through questions quickly and easily on their phones or tablets.   It is a very convenient study tool. When I have extra time in class, I can just ask students to go through a certain number of questions as an exit ticket.

Link:  http://quiz.nle.org/

Latin Apps Part 1: SPQR

SPQR was the first Latin app that I found that was very useful both as a Latin student and Latin teacher.  It can also be found on the wonderfully named website, romansgohome.com. My students like the searchable Latin dictionary, Lewis and Short.  There are also Latin texts, including Catullus, Caesar, and the complete works of Vergil in Latin and English, which my AP students find especially useful. Additionally, there is the huge history The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire by Gibbon, historical articles about ancient Rome, pictures of Roman archaeology, Latin quotes, a grammar test, a Roman numeral converter, and, my favorite, an old Comic Latin Grammar with very interesting (old-fashioned) comics and rhymes to learn Latin. This is a great resource for students to access easily on their phones.

Link:  http://romansgohome.com/

Online Maps Part 2: Caesar De Bello Gallico Maps, Dickinson College Commentaries

While these are really videos of maps, they are narrated, highlighted maps from Google Earth of Gaul with a narrator giving the Latin of Book 1 of Caesar's De Bello Gallico.  My students found that these were a great resource for understanding Caesar 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, and 5.24 with both the visual and Latin spoken aloud.  

Caesar 1.1

Caesar 1.2

Caesar 1.6

Caesar 5.24

Online Maps Part 1: Purpose Games

It always astounds me that my students do not know about geography of the modern world, much less the ancient world (if I had a denarius for every time a student told me Troy was in Greece...).  To attempt to remedy this situation, I have my students learn the geography of the ancient world, learning the modern names at the same time, in an attempt to teach this.  I often use A Roman Map Workbook by Elizabeth Heimbach, which is a wonderful resource for both the maps and appropriate readings and questions about the maps that draw upon Roman history and culture.  However, I wanted to add an interactive element to these maps.  I stumbled upon Purpose Games, which suited all my needs for creating an interactive map game to help students with maps.  They can time themselves and challenge each other with maps, which helps especially with my more competitive students.  My Roman World Map is labeled as such on the site, and I will be adding a map of Gaul soon. This site provides a fun way for students to study for a map quiz.

Link: http://www.purposegames.com/

Comprehensible Input for Latin Part II: TPR for the First Ten Hours

This worksheet by veteran teacher and long time advocate of Comprehensible Input, Bob Patrick, has been a great resource for me. His ideas of how to introduce vocabulary for retention are right on target with second language acquisition research. I used his ideas, in addition to my textbook, to play vocabulary "games" with my students, acting out words, drawing them, giving commands (Simon says), etc.  Since I started doing these vocabulary activities with TPR and Comprehensible Input, my students have increased their vocabulary tremendously. 

Link: http://www.wheelockslatin.com/tutorials/TeachingMethods/miscellany/BobPatrick_TPR_10Hours.pdf

Comprehensible Input for Latin Part 1: Todally Comprehensible Latin

No, Todally is not a typo.  Keith Toda created this website to introduce Latinists to comprehensible input with speaking Latin. He outlines his methods of teaching in a way that is insightful and easy to understand.  Most importantly for those of us who wish to try using comprehension input (and total physical response storytelling), he includes a list of stories in his story library to get you started.  He also goes through some ideas for activities using comprehensible input.  Since second language acquisition demonstrates that giving students comprehensible input is a very effective tool for language teaching, I will be trying to incorporate some of these stories and activities into my own lessons in the future.

Link to website: http://todallycomprehensiblelatin.blogspot.com/

Link to story library:  http://todallycomprehensiblelatin.blogspot.com/p/story-library.html

Latin Online Free Resources Posted by the Examiner: A Timely Article!

Just as I have been compiling my list of online resources, it would appear that great minds think alike!  This article by the examiner compiles free Latin courses and resources.  These are the ones that I found most helpful for my high school students:

Link to article:  http://www.examiner.com/article/free-latin-classes-and-resources-for-all-ages

Latin Online:
Although there are some great Latin lessons for beginners that may help with Latin 1 students and students reviewing at the beginning of Latin 2, the best part of this were the Latin lessons from the Linguistics department at the University of Texas, with nearly line by line analysis of the grammar and vocabulary for each.  These heavily glossed lines would be great to use with mature Latin 2 students or Latin 3 students just beginning to read Latin.  I think I will recommend these lines to some students for extra practice. 

Link to Latin Online:  http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/latol-0-X.html

Ellen McHenry's Basement Workshop:
There are some fun games posted on this website that would be helpful for reviewing and/or learning specific vocabulary.  These would probably be most useful at the Latin 1 or introductory level course.

Link to Ellen McHenry's Basement Workshop:  http://www.ellenjmchenry.com/homeschool-freedownloads/latin-games/index.php

This website also linked to another website called Learn Latin Online, which listed more e-books, games, and worksheets, geared towards homeschool students but could also be used in the classroom. I was especially intrigued with the idea of using Latin crosswords and word searches.  This site also had links to many of the sites listed in the article.

Link to Learn Latin Online:  http://www.atreks.com/learn-latin-online-worksheets-e-books-games-books/

Latin for Mountain Men:

Despite the title, this site had an original take on introducing different Latin concepts, including examples of these grammar concepts in the context of primary Latin sources. I will definitely look over this site next summer when I am planning on introducing concepts in Latin 1 and Latin 2 to hopefully give more context to these lessons.

Link to Latin for Mountain Men:  http://mysite.du.edu/~etuttle/classics/latin/learnlat.htm

You Tube Part III: Latin Language Course for Latin Speaking

This series of Latin videos by Evan der Millner, the Latin Language Course, is something that I would like to start incorporating with my lower level Latin courses right away.  It takes the same approach as Rosetta Stone and other language learning tools, but for Latin. Second Language Acquisition scholarship supports the idea that repetition through speech and connecting words to pictures or physical objects helps learners to acquire vocabulary more easily than through their primary language or simple memorization of word lists. 

Link:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE2082980BC4165A8

You Tube Part II: Tutubus

Although some of these lessons were designed with the Cambridge Latin Course in mind, Tutubus is a great resource because of its lessons on constructing Latin sentences.  Many of my students struggle with how Latin sentences are constructed because they are so accustomed to English word order, and these help students to under it a bit better.  Additionally, there is a video series called "Learning Latin with Vergil."  Although I have not yet used this series, I would be tempted to try it with my Latin 1 students next year as a good jumping off point from a more cohesive storyline than a traditional textbook.

Link:  https://www.youtube.com/user/TuTubusLatinus

You Tube Part I: Latin Tutorial

For teachers interested in flipping the classroom, there is really no need to reinvent the wheel. A high school teacher from Maine named Ben Johnson has created a number of helpful videos for Latin students to review a vast number of grammar concepts called Latin Tutorial. I use these videos mostly to either introduce my students to a topic that I am covering in class or to review a topic that we have already covered.  Most of my students like to watch videos, and the motion and voice over on the powerpoint presentation keeps it interesting.

Link:  https://www.youtube.com/user/latintutorial/featured

Reading Comprehension Part I: Comics for Comprehension

One way I like to have students demonstrate comprehension is through comic strips.  Students will often read a Latin passage and create a set of drawings that illustrate what happened in that passage, either in Latin from the passage for the novice students or simple Latin summary sentences for more advanced students. Students can choose either to draw their own comics, or they can use online comic creators.  Some of my students download the app, bitstrips, to work on.  Others use a comics website such as bitstrips to create their comics.  Students often find it fun to look up images to use, and they can put the Latin caption right onto the comic.

Link:  http://bitstrips.com/create/comic

Help for Reading Latin: Online texts and aids Part IV: Dickinson College Commentaries

If your students are reading Caesar's De Bello Gallico (the AP Selections), Ovid's Amores Book 1, Cornelius Nepos' Life of Hannibal, Sulpicius Severus' Life of Saint Martin of Tours, or Lucian's True Histories Book 1, you are in for a treat!  This website, hosted by Dickinson College, has commentaries, running vocabulary, and even some videos about these texts.  There is also an Aeneid online commentary in the works.  This website has been incredibly useful for my students. I even used this website in lieu of a textbook for a very mature AP Latin class as they were reading through Caesar. There are also lists of the most common words in Latin and Greek that can be grouped by declension, conjugation, semantically, etc., which my students found very helpful.  There are audio files for all of De Bello Gallico, which some of my auditory learners have found useful.  Additionally, there are links to Greek and Latin grammars. There is also a list of electronic older textbooks with sight passages, which I found helpful for AP review and review with my more advanced students.

Link: http://dcc.dickinson.edu/

Help for Reading Latin: Online texts and aids Part III: Perseus

I've always thought of Perseus as the original technology tool for Classics.  This website, created by Gregory Crane at Tufts, has been around since I was in high school.  It has been reworked since then, but continues to have a vast collection of texts in Latin and in Greek. There is a searchable library of Greek and Roman materials (as well as other materials, which I have not searched yet).  All the words of the texts have hyperlinks to dictionary and parsing entries, and many of the texts are linked to English translations (usually not completely literal, older but informative translations). Some texts even have linked commentaries.  I would recommend this for mature students because younger students may be tempted to copy the non literal translations as their own work.

Link: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/