One of the first things, I teach students is that adjectives match the nouns. They have the same gender and case as the noun they describe. For the first half of the year, this means that they have the same ending. I tell them to look for words that have the same endings. This means they go together. Yeah, I know. But I strongly believe as Emily Dickinson wrote:
Tell all the truth but tell it slant -- Success in Circuit lies Too bright for our infirm Delight The Truth's superb surprise As Lightning to the Children eased With explanation kind The Truth must dazzle gradually Or every man be blind — Or, to paraphrase the last line, quite a few become discouraged, confused, and drop Latin. Not as poetic but perhaps you see my point. I use Latin Insults to help students see that the adjectives must match the nouns. I teach students to say, "You are a bald, foolish peasant " and other silly insults. They LOVE this. You may wonder if students ever use the Latin Insult Creator to be rude or seriously insult another student. No, they don't. Partly because the insults are so ridiculous and partly because I warn them that anyone using these insults to be truly be mean will have their insult sheet confiscated and not be able to participate in the activity. As they really want to participate in this activity, this is a serious consideration for any would-be bullies in your class. As you'll see if you access it on the drive, students have to pick two adjectives and a noun, make sure the adjectives match the noun in gender and then insult someone in the class. That person, once insulted has the option of insulting them back or insulting someone else. This usually continues until everyone has had a turn.
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