Greek: Curriculum Options?

[organicmom3]

I hope I'm posting in the write forum....

 

My son who will be in 8th next year wants to take Greek. I absolutely do not know any Greek nor do I have time to learn or teach it! So.....I'm assuming Rosetta Stone will be the way to go, but I want to be sure I'm not overlooking any options. I need a good curriculum that will not need my involvment. Is Rosetta Stone my only option? I wouldn't want to spend any more money than I would on Rosetta Stone....

[LarrySanger]

There is no Rosetta Stone ancient Greek, only modern Greek. If there is one for Attic Greek, I want to know about it!

[redsquirrel]

What kind of greek? If he wants modern Greek then Rosetta stone is a choice. If he wants Koine Greek (biblical) then maybe check out "Hey Andrew, Teach Me Some Greek!" There is also Elementary Greek. There is also Homeric Greek and I think there is only one program for that. I can't remember the name.

 

My son very much wants to learn Homeric Greek. We did a year of book 1 of Hey Andrew and then we did the first half of Elementary Greek. Now, I am just waiting for him to get a little bit older so we can have a go with the Homeric Greek resource.

 

And I am prob getting my Ancient Greek classifications incorrect, please forgive. Mostly, I know that Koine Greek is not the kind my son wants to learn and I have to figure out how to teach the other kind, lol.

[~Amanda~]

What kind of greek? If he wants modern Greek then Rosetta stone is a choice. If he wants Koine Greek (biblical) then maybe check out "Hey Andrew, Teach Me Some Greek!" There is also Elementary Greek. There is also Homeric Greek and I think there is only one program for that. I can't remember the name.

 

My son very much wants to learn Homeric Greek. We did a year of book 1 of Hey Andrew and then we did the first half of Elementary Greek. Now, I am just waiting for him to get a little bit older so we can have a go with the Homeric Greek resource.

 

And I am prob getting my Ancient Greek classifications incorrect, please forgive. Mostly, I know that Koine Greek is not the kind my son wants to learn and I have to figure out how to teach the other kind, lol.

 

What is the Homeric Greek resource?

[organicmom3]

Well, I'm sure we'd prefer biblical greek....I think. But I'm sure Rosetta Stone is probably modern and I need to accept whichever form I can get in a curriculum that he can be totally independent with...and if that has to be modern, then so be it.

[Embassy]

If it is ancient Greek that you want and you don't want to be involved I might do classes through Lukion. http://www.lukeion.org/greek.html

[Dmmetler]

My DD is using Athenaze (very, very slowly), using a variety of online resources. She did Hey Andrew through vol 3 first, but got very, very bored with the slow pace (it's a spiral, and adds words one at a time. She got frustrated when, in almost 2 years, she could only read (as she put it) sentences that didn't make much sense like "I see the sons of men and angels". Athenaze has her reading from the first lesson-it's similar to Cambridge Latin in that it's immersive from the start with a lot of history built in, and grammar is introduced after seeing it in context. Most of the resources I've found online are from college classics departments.

 

There's no real instruction on decoding, the Greek Alphabet, transliteration, and all the other things that kids' Greek texts seem to spend an entire book on-it's all in one preface at the beginning, and that's it. If your DS wants an introduction to the Greek alphabet and phonetics, he can either work through something like Greek Code Cracker (fun and entertaining-but maybe too young for an 8th grader) or find plenty of resources online.

[Amy Jo]

What is the Homeric Greek resource?

 

A Reading Course in Homeric Greek (2 books, high-school level I believe). I have the revised 1st book and the original 2nd book. I'm pretty sure an answer key is available.

 

Clyde Pharr's book - available free on google books and textkit, or revised on Amazon (the original has the lessons refer to the explanations in the back, the revised version seems to have it all in the lessons, and looks easier to use).

 

Beetham's book - I'm going with this one myself. It's inexpensive and includes the answers. It needed someone to set it up better - there is little whitespace - but otherwise I like it the best.

 

Those are the three I know of. You might check out the greek study email list for more ideas.

[LarrySanger]

The following is based on one year of Greek in college (we used Athenaze as our text!). My understanding is that there are four kinds of Greek that people study to any degree:

 

Homeric - the language of Homer - most universities introduce ancient Greek with Attic rather than Homeric Greek.

 

Classical/Attic - the Athenian dialect, the language of the golden age of Greece. Studied by students of classics. The reason this is preferred in universities is that it is the language of the great Greek philosophers, as well as Herodotus, Thucydides, and the great dramatists.

 

Biblical/New Testament/Koine Greek - the language of the New Testament, of the Hellenistic period, from when Greece was ruled by Rome. Studied by Biblical scholars. I believe that if you learn this, it isn't so hard to learn Attic, and vice-versa.

 

Modern

 

Athenaze (which teaches Attic Greek) does not strike me as being an easy text to use for anybody who isn't studying with a teacher. But that aside, I think it's a great text. I learned a lot of Greek from it very quickly.

Edited March 7, 2012 by LarrySanger

[crazyforlatin]

A Reading Course in Homeric Greek (2 books, high-school level I believe). I have the revised 1st book and the original 2nd book. I'm pretty sure an answer key is available.

 

Clyde Pharr's book - available free on google books and textkit, or revised on Amazon (the original has the lessons refer to the explanations in the back, the revised version seems to have it all in the lessons, and looks easier to use).

 

Beetham's book - I'm going with this one myself. It's inexpensive and includes the answers. It needed someone to set it up better - there is little whitespace - but otherwise I like it the best.

 

Those are the three I know of. You might check out the greek study email list for more ideas.

 

Honoria gave a helpful response to a question I had about Homeric Greek.

 

OP, I'm not really involved with helping DD with Greek, but I do read the textbook and check answers for her. It's her favorite subject, so it's one area in which I don't need to provide any motivation. We use Elementary Greek and will be finished with the series in a few months. Your son should be able to study Koine Greek using EM1-3 independently and should be able to finish it within a year. I think the other programs geared towards elementary kids may not be suitable for your son. EM is a friendly introduction to Koine Greek, incremental and gentle. After that point, maybe he can decide whether to continue with Koine (using a different text) or another Greek dialect. Or, as Wehomeschool suggested, enroll in an online class. If DD were older, I would strongly consider this, but for her, it would move too rapidly.

 

Also, First Form Greek from Memoria Press should be coming out soon. It's Attic with some Koine, I believe. I would really like to take a look at this and may use it with Athenaze.

 

If you click on the link above, you will find a link to a workbook on Homeric Greek that almost seems to make studying this dialect possible.

[bolt.]

I've been a bit of a lurker, since I haven't started homeschooling yet.

 

But I registered just to answer this question. You might want to check out this curriculum (for adults and children). I've done it to refresh my own Biblical Greek, and it was much better than the first way I learned it.

 

http://www.biblicallanguagecenter.com/books-products/koine-greek/

 

For the first 10 lessons, you basically listen to audio that describes little pictures until they make perfect sense and you begin to actually digest the language. Then you get into the understanding the phonetics of the alphabet, then you apply your ability to read to the audio tracks that previously described the little pictures.

 

It's a very easy and thorough way to learn the basics... then there's another level.

[Hunter]

I've been a bit of a lurker, since I haven't started homeschooling yet.

 

But I registered just to answer this question. You might want to check out this curriculum (for adults and children). I've done it to refresh my own Biblical Greek, and it was much better than the first way I learned it.

 

http://www.biblicallanguagecenter.com/books-products/koine-greek/

 

For the first 10 lessons, you basically listen to audio that describes little pictures until they make perfect sense and you begin to actually digest the language. Then you get into the understanding the phonetics of the alphabet, then you apply your ability to read to the audio tracks that previously described the little pictures.

 

It's a very easy and thorough way to learn the basics... then there's another level.

 

Welcome Bolt! :-)

 

This curriculum uses a pronunciation that is incompatible with any other. It might be "right" but... :-0

[bolt.]

I found the pronunciation slightly distinctive, but not fundamentally different from what I learned at the Bible College level. Only a couple of letters are truly different-sounding, and the vowels and vowel combinations seemed simplified.

 

It's a bit like getting used to a TV show with an English accent -- pretty soon you barely notice the difference.

 

In any case, most people who use Greek in a Biblical context never actually speak to one another using the language. Usually it's all reading and translating, then comparing translations -- occasionally you would say a word or two out loud if you were giving an explanation, but people would know what you meant even if you made (what they saw as) a pronunciation error.

 

The author of the curriculum makes a big deal out of it because I think pronunciation is the area of the field where he is a true 'expert' -- where fine distinctions would matter a lot to him, just like they do to anybody who is an expert in the finer details of any discipline.

 

(So, I'm saying that "incompatible" seems to be too a strong of a word for describing this difference. The pronunciation issue alone probably shouldn't turn you away if you like the teaching method... which I think is excellent.)

 

((You could always teach an alternative pronunciation scheme for the few odd letters, once your child learns the language as a language. He'll still be miles ahead of someone who learned Greek in a grammar-based way.))

[Emerald Stoker]

nm

[Emerald Stoker]

nm

[nd293]

For Modern Greek, we have been looking at Greek123, which seems to be a well established programme, with an online learning option. Dd12 is learning modern Greek at school, and may decide to take it further on her own. They have a good app for iPod/iPhone for learning the alphabet, and another that covers the words learned in their programme. (You should have seen the weird look I got at the school when I asked if they did modern or ancient greek - I guess they don't spend much time in homeschooling circles!)

[rieshy]

Has anyone used the Bluedorn Greek program?

[serendipitous journey]

:bigear:

Just bumping this thread ... I'm esp. interested in Classical Greek and am eagerly lurking. Thanks to all the folks who already posted here -- Larry, your breakdown of Greek types was very helpful and gave me some hooks to hang new info. on.

[heliconian]

I'm also watching this one closely. I'm most interested in Classical Greek, despite the fact that my children are entirely uninterested.

[Kathryn]

Can I bump this again and ask if there are any other good Ionic/Homeric Greek programs?

 

And while we're at it, how do you pronounce Athenaze? Is it like Athens without the s and then the end rhymes with maze?

[Embassy]

And while we're at it, how do you pronounce Athenaze? Is it like Athens without the s and then the end rhymes with maze?

 

The audio for Athenaze pronounces it ahttay (rising pitch on the "ay") nahzday /ɑtʰeɪːnɑzdeɪ/

Edited April 24, 2012 by Wehomeschool