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Lingua Latina Laments


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Well today was my first day of doing Lingua Latina with my son. (In a previous post- I talked about how we were at a wall with Henle, and have now combined it with LL)

 

My son hated it! He was confused, and I did a bad job of helping him understand it better. I had preread the passage a gazillion times, but I still wasn't very good at explaining it to him. He wants to know why we just can't keep translating it, like we did with Henle. I tried to explain the immersion method, be he just wasn't jumping on board with me. He agreed to try this method with me , but if it doesn't go any better than today we're sunk.

 

Has anyone else switched methods midstream? How did you get your children excited about it. Actually, I think my ds liked Henle more than I did. Sigh, I was very excited and am working hard to try and not be discouraged.

 

Cedarmom

:tongue_smilie:

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My experience is that students who are used to translating continue to do so for some time when they first begin Oerberg. They simply don't know how to read Latin as Latin, and it takes time - some months, at least - to overcome the habit and to think in Latin. So please don't be discouraged after one day! I don't remember how old your ds is, but perhaps you could let him read a little bit about the method so he understands how it works and what's expected of him?

 

The first chapter is very simple; it's there to build confidence, help students practice pronunciation, and learn some very basic grammar (masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns and adjectives in the nominative; est/sunt). Since he's already had some Henle, there will be nothing new to him in it except the method itself. Also, the storyline doesn't really pick up until the third chapter, so if he finds the geography bits dull, you can reassure him that it gets much more interesting very soon.

 

For a student who has used a grammar-translation method before, I wouldn't linger over-long in the first two chapters. If he can complete the Exercitia and the Pensa with 100% accuracy or near to it, I would move on. Believe me, new and interesting material will come along soon enough!

 

Courage! :)

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and my 11 yo son also dislikes it very much. I sensed what Plaid Dad said -- that it just doesn't come naturally to him. I'm going to press ahead and keep with it for awhile. I think he'll eventually come around. He's not super excited about Henle, but we've been at it for some time now, and he's very good at the exercises, so I know that he's got a strong foundation.

 

I've read that first chapter of LL 3 times myself, and I'm feeling more comfortable with it already. I appreciate the advice of the others to read it over and over and it will become more second nature. I hope that happens.

 

Not much advice, but know that you aren't alone as you start out with LL.

 

Brenda

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I went through this problem when I switched to LL in my small co-op Henle class. One girl was actually trying to write the translations above each line in the text. :eek:

 

I persisted - we slogged through it together, and they started to enjoy the stories. It is difficult to get students to stop trying to translate. You can't give up too soon. It takes time, as Plaid Dad said, for students to stop trying to translate everything.

 

What, exactly, was confusing your son? Was it just the fact that he was not supposed to translate? Did he understand all that he read today? You can check that by asking him comprehension questions from the Pensa, or better yet, the Exercitia booklet, which is broken down into sections just like the chapter. This way, you can test comprehension after each section. He will show understanding if he can answer your questions, orally, without having to look back at the book. You should always have a time of Q&A, where you expect him to answer your questions orally, and not just in writing.

 

Also, are you reading the stories well ahead of your ds? It is really important to try to stay several chapters ahead of your student, if it is at all possible.

 

Hang in there! Post back to share how things are going. :001_smile:

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After a while, the repetitious nature of the readings will mean that it takes less effort not to translate than to translate. Translating will become an extra unneeded step that will drop naturally. I think you can encourage that to happen by having him read the chapter aloud to you the first time through and then asking him questions about what happened in it (in English would be fine) before he has a chance to go back and reread it. Then do it again and ask some more quesitons. Then move on and do it again with the next chapter. I think after a bit, he won't need to translate. I think I went through all of high school French translating, then went to Switzerland for 6 weeks and couldn't translate because it went too fast, and then came home and discovered that I was no longer translating when I read. There was no reason at all that I needed to translate the easier French even in 9th grade; I just hadn't figured out that I didn't need to. That makes me think it is a trick of thinking, and that once you HAVE to do it, you can keep doing even at a very beginning level. I know my children have been not-translating from the very beginning. I can tell by how they answer the questions. I think that might be because the curriculum we are using forces them to do the reading without translating at first. Not translating is so much easier that I think once your son has discovered how to turn off the translating in his head, he will like the curriculum. And if he doesn't, even after discovering that, it will still have been worth doing a bit of LL just to make that discovery.

HTH

-Nan

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Thanks for the encouragement! In my perfect world land (that exsists only in my mind) I thought my son would jump up and down with joy and love the change.:001_smile: But this is not my son, and it is encouraging to hear that others struggle with the transition. I shared with my son what you all said about how it will help with his reading. Happily, he enjoys Latin, and has a goal of wanting to actually read the Aeneid. So, your messages encouraged us both to keep trying.

 

Cedarmom

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Thanks for the encouragement! In my perfect world land (that exsists only in my mind) I thought my son would jump up and down with joy and love the change.:001_smile: But this is not my son, and it is encouraging to hear that others struggle with the transition. I shared with my son what you all said about how it will help with his reading. Happily, he enjoys Latin, and has a goal of wanting to actually read the Aeneid. So, your messages encouraged us both to keep trying.

 

Cedarmom

 

Oh! Even more of a reason to stick it out with Lingua Latina. He will learn to stop turning everything into English in his head. It takes time, but it does happen! He will start to think in Latin, and not English. :001_smile:

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