Blog Posts - LATINA HILARA

February 8, 2016

2/8/2016

Today, on this second snow day of the year, I added the first of hopefully a series of more than slightly ridiculous videos. Domina Magistra teaches the Latin songs that I have been singing to my class for years. The production is amateur and I can't sing worth a damn, but hopefully it will be humorous and somewhat instructive.

February 2, 2016

2/2/2016

I wrote the first blog on the new tab, " Writing in Latin with Students." It's a general overview of how to set up successful writing assignments. I taught English for many years and I have found that the same assignment parameters that made students really want to write well in English also apply to Latin.

February 1, 2016

2/1/2016

I added a new story to the "Stories for Beginning Learners" folder. This one is called "Verus Amor" and is about a relationship gone bad - giving presents labeled for someone else. It was written to practice the genitive case - particularly the possessive. My seventh graders thought it was pretty funny. Some of them tried to skim ahead so that they could see how it turned out, which is always a good sign. The following day we acted out a simpler version of the story. I orally narrated it and students will take turns playing the roles and adding sound effects to the story. That was a hit and the students were clearly following along. Here is the link to the folder. The same link can be found on the tab, "Stories Not in Your Textbook."

January 10th 2015

1/10/2016

Well, technically it's almost January 11th since it's nearing midnight. I just got done writing a version of the Pardoner's Tale from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in Latin. If you don't know this story - it's grimly compelling. It's for the mid-level student and as it is hot off the press, no doubt there are mistakes that I will gradually edit out. Here's the link in the meantime to the folder. The same link can be found on the tab, "Stories Not in Your Textbook."

January 10, 2019

1/10/2016

Today I added a new game to the "White Board Activities" blog. It's called Respondete and it's another never fail activity. It also has the benefit of falling within the parameters of "Comprehensible Input" for teachers interested in implementing more of that kind of pedagogy.

December 13, 2015

12/13/2015

You may have noticed if you have been here several times that the website has a new look. Perhaps you haven't. Don't worry about it. If it wasn't my website, I probably wouldn't have noticed either. I have enough trouble noticing whether or not I'm wearing two of the same colored socks. Anyway, it does. This is because the old template was displayed on phones and tablets looking as if it was designed by a demented hamster. Pictures I had carefully placed in the text were flung to one side and text color kept reverting to gray. After importuning the augers at Weebly Help Desk for several weeks without resolution, they told me I needed to choose a new template - one that was "responsive." So after spending most of the evening re-adding all the pictures from the old site, I think it looks pretty good. Hope it has solved the problem.

December 7, 2015

12/7/2015

Two things - I added a new game under "Card and Board Games" entitled Slap and Grab. It is tried and true - a never fail game with students of all ages. Secondly, I enabled Google Ad Sense in the margins. There will never be pop-ups or ads that cover any text on this blog. (Who doesn't hate that?) I hope however that a few ads placed to the side aren't too distracting. Frankly, it's revenue and I kinda need some. If an ad pops up in the margin advertising something you might actually want to buy, and you click on it from this site, I get a small monetary hiccup. Please don't click constantly on the ads. Google hates that and will remove this blog from their advertising.

November 21st, 2015

11/21/2015

Today I added a blog about the importance of using flashcards as part of the curriculum. I put it in the "Beginning Activities" tab. Flashcards are immensely useful and enjoyable for students. While not technically a game itself, I hope this information will be useful to new teachers.

November 16th 2015

11/16/2015

Today I finished a long blog entitled "Order Matters." It is based upon a paper that I presented at C.A.N.E. If you are casting about for a way to approach Latin grammar or are finding that the order in your textbook promotes more confusion than understanding, take a look. It is under the tab, "This I Believe" or just click on the brown words.

November 6, 2015

11/6/2015

Today I added another blog under Kinetic Activities entitled "Considite." It was a game I had used for many years but then forgot about. I used it recently and suddenly remembered why it had been a part of my repetoire. No props, no preparation - how did I forget about this one?