Latin flashcards and notebook/binder

[nansk]

1. What sections do you put in your Latin notebook/binder/file?

Please share some info, blog posts, photos, that will give me an idea of how I should record/organize Latin info I learn.

 

I searched online and found an entry where the notebook had these sections: Grammar, Vocab, Derivatives, Exercises and Quizzes, Notes.

 

Can someone give me more ideas of what goes under each section?

 

If I am studying the Latin "to praise" verb, is this what I should write in my notebook?

 

Vocab (under Verbs): laudo, laudare, laudavi, laudatum - to praise

 

Grammar: laudo - I praise, I am praising, I do praise

          laudas - you praise, you are praising, etc...

(So do I write the full conjugations of each tense and voice with the English meaning of each word in the Grammar section?)

 

Derivatives: laud - to praise (c.f. laudare)

 

Exercises and Quizzes: (from my Latin text)

 

Notes: (what do I put in this section?)

 

 

2. Latin flashcards

Do you make flashcards for just the main verb (laudare) or for each word in the various conjugations (i.e. one flashcard for laudo, one for laudas, etc.)?

 

ETA: Should I use different coloured index cards for nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc?

 

What have you/your students found most helpful?

Thanks in advance.

[EndOfOrdinary]

I think this sort of thing is an incredibly personal decision. Just to use my son and I as examples, he wanted to only draw pictures on the front of the flash cards because the drawing helped him learn and the writing distracted him. He is an auditory, kinesthetic learner. I, on the other hand, want only an incredibly simple icon and the words full and bold. I am a written visual, concrete learner.

 

The same situation happens with a notebook. I like dividers, outlines, subheadings, and lots of examples/bookwork practice. He wants drawings, comic strips, chants. Book work is tedious and distracting so that set would be filed under each heading depending on which skill it was stressing.

 

Neither of us would be successful with the others notebook or flash cards. You have to find what works for your brain and learning style. Learning style profiles exist online often for free if you have not had one done. Myers-Briggs can also help a lot with this sort of question as well.

[nansk]

I think this sort of thing is an incredibly personal decision.

Thank you. This is helpful. I am the same kind of learner as you are - visual and concrete. 

 

I am going to make simple flashcards - no pictures, just writing the word in bold on index cards.

 

I also like lots of examples and practice, which I why I'd love to see someone's blog post with photos of their Latin notebook.

 

Hoping to get more thoughts from others... :)

[Dee in MI]

We use Latin Prep

 

We do our flashcards with a program called ANKI. It schedules words for us daily.

 

Exercises is done into a spiral notebook.

 

Then we each keep a "grammar book". It's in a composition book. In the first part of the book, we put all notes about verbs - the conjugations, irregular verbs, how to do a negative command, what "passive" means and how to do the agent, and any other little bit of information about verbs, in the order we learn it.  The composition book has a natural divider in the middle where it is sewn. There we start nouns, pronouns, and adjectives - the declensions, how to do comparatives and superlatives, in the order learned. The back of the book has everything else, including numbers, prepositions, adverbs. This book is reviewed regularly - almost daily at the beginning of the school year.

1. What sections do you put in your Latin notebook/binder/file?

Please share some info, blog posts, photos, that will give me an idea of how I should record/organize Latin info I learn.

 

I searched online and found an entry where the notebook had these sections: Grammar, Vocab, Derivatives, Exercises and Quizzes, Notes.

 

Can someone give me more ideas of what goes under each section?

 

If I am studying the Latin "to praise" verb, is this what I should write in my notebook?

 

Vocab (under Verbs): laudo, laudare, laudavi, laudatum - to praise

 

Grammar: laudo - I praise, I am praising, I do praise

          laudas - you praise, you are praising, etc...

(So do I write the full conjugations of each tense and voice with the English meaning of each word in the Grammar section?)

 

Derivatives: laud - to praise (c.f. laudare)

 

Exercises and Quizzes: (from my Latin text)

 

Notes: (what do I put in this section?)

 

 

2. Latin flashcards

Do you make flashcards for just the main verb (laudare) or for each word in the various conjugations (i.e. one flashcard for laudo, one for laudas, etc.)?

 

ETA: Should I use different coloured index cards for nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc?

 

What have you/your students found most helpful?

Thanks in advance.

 

For flashcards, even if we aren't doing composition, I make the students study them Latin -> English and English -> Latin.  For the verb laudo, there's just one card, which would have all four principle parts.  Make sure the English side has the full form of the infinitive on it ("to praise", instead of "praise"), so you won't get confused if you also have the related noun in the deck.  Make sure the nouns list their genitive form and gender, so you know what declension they are.

 

I would rename your section called "grammar", "paradigms", and just write them out, without the translations.

 

For the grammar section, I would have one section for each of the noun cases, and list their main uses.  I would also have one section for each tense, voice and mood, and describe when they are used, with a big section on all the uses of the subjunctive.

[nansk]

Thank you for your helpful reply.

 

We do our flashcards with a program called ANKI. It schedules words for us daily.
 

Which words do you put on the flashcards? Just "laudare = to praise"?

 

 

in the order we learn it

Thanks! This is how I will do it.

 

 

 

almost daily...

I am doing the same.

[nansk]

For flashcards, even if we aren't doing composition, I make the students study them Latin -> English and English -> Latin.  For the verb laudo, there's just one card, which would have all four principle parts.  Make sure the English side has the full form of the infinitive on it ("to praise", instead of "praise"), so you won't get confused if you also have the related noun in the deck.  Make sure the nouns list their genitive form and gender, so you know what declension they are.

 

I would rename your section called "grammar", "paradigms", and just write them out, without the translations.

Thank you for sharing how you do it. It is helpful.

When you say you make the students study L-to-E, and E-to-L, do you mean that sometimes you show them the English side and other times you show them the Latin side of the same flashcards?

If that is right, then your English side only has the English meaning, doesn't it? I was thinking of putting on one side "laudare", and on the other side "laudare = to praise". Is that not the right way?

 

 

 

For the grammar section, I would have one section for each of the noun cases, and list their main uses.  I would also have one section for each tense, voice and mood, and describe when they are used, with a big section on all the uses of the subjunctive.

1. Do you mean the Vocab section? (Since I will rename the Grammar section as "Paradigms"..)

2. Sorry if I am being dense here; what do you mean by the main uses of the noun cases? Do you mean you put sample sentences of how each noun is used in each case? Or do you just write "puellae = Indirect Object"?

 

Maybe I am over-thinking this, but it would be really helpful if I could see a sample of one page like this.

 

 

[Kendall]

I put the 4 principle parts on one side

 

laudo, laudare, laudavi, laudatus(or laudatum) and the English on the other side.  

 

I have also done just laudo on the front and then on the back I write the English and a 1 for 1st conjugation.  Then I can quiz myself and make sure I know the conjugation.  But you could accomplish the same thing by doing the English side and then making yourself give the 4 principle parts.  That might be better.  

 

It is important when you see a form of a word to know which conjugation it belongs to.  It is obvious with some forms but not with all.  

 

I completely understand your wanting to see examples.  That is what helps me as well.  I might not do it like someone else but seeing everyone's ideas gives me something to work with when figuring out my own way.

 

I also sometimes write small in the corner of the card the page number that first taught the word, then if I use them in the future or for others kids I know which ones they should know based on the page number.

(double post).

Thank you for sharing how you do it. It is helpful.

When you say you make the students study L-to-E, and E-to-L, do you mean that sometimes you show them the English side and other times you show them the Latin side of the same flashcards?

If that is right, then your English side only has the English meaning, doesn't it? I was thinking of putting on one side "laudare", and on the other side "laudare = to praise". Is that not the right way?

 

 

 

The right way is whatever works for you.  For us, for verbs, one side would be "laudo, laudare, laudavi, laudatum" (with macrons) and the other side would just be "to praise".  If the verb is a special verb which takes the dative or ablative, I have them mark that on the Latin side, eg. "credo, credere, credidi, creditum (+ dat.)".  A noun might have on one side: "agricola, -ae (m)" and on the other "farmer".  Sometimes we go Latin to English, other times English to Latin.  If you know the vocab both ways, you've really got it down cold.

 

I find flashcards work best for vocab, but for memorize paradigms, just making the students write them out in order is the best way, once or twice a day, every day, until they have it down.  It is tiresome, but effective.  I couldn't get flashcards to work well for paradigms.

 

I like to think of grammar and the paradigms as separate things.  Grammar is rules that control which paradigms you use in which situations.  So, for the grammar section, I might write  out things like,

 

Nominative case: subject, predicate nominative

   e.g. casa lacunam habet.

          casa est casa alba.

Genitive case:  possession, partitive genitive, genitive of value, etc.

...

 

and things like when to use which tenses, etc. 

[nansk]

Thank you for sharing how you do it.

I put the 4 principle parts on one side

laudo, laudare, laudavi, laudatus(or laudatum) and the English on the other side.  

 

I have also done just laudo on the front and then on the back I write the English and a 1 for 1st conjugation.  Then I can quiz myself and make sure I know the conjugation.  But you could accomplish the same thing by doing the English side and then making yourself give the 4 principle parts.  That might be better.  

 

It is important when you see a form of a word to know which conjugation it belongs to.  It is obvious with some forms but not with all.  

Exactly! I am at the point where, when I see the word laudat, I have to mentally say the paradigm before I realize it is "he/she/it praises". I want to have these words down cold, so that when I see laudat, I immediately know it is "he/she/it praises".

 

I see that the consensus is to put the principle parts on the flashcards and not each word in the paradigm.

 

 

 

I also sometimes write small in the corner of the card the page number that first taught the word, then if I use them in the future or for others kids I know which ones they should know based on the page number.

This is a great tip! Thanks. :)

[nansk]

The right way is whatever works for you.  For us, for verbs, one side would be "laudo, laudare, laudavi, laudatum" (with macrons) and the other side would just be "to praise".  If the verb is a special verb which takes the dative or ablative, I have them mark that on the Latin side, eg. "credo, credere, credidi, creditum (+ dat.)".  A noun might have on one side: "agricola, -ae (m)" and on the other "farmer".  Sometimes we go Latin to English, other times English to Latin.  If you know the vocab both ways, you've really got it down cold.

Thank you for sharing these extra details.

 

 

I find flashcards work best for vocab, but for memorize paradigms, just making the students write them out in order is the best way, once or twice a day, every day, until they have it down.  It is tiresome, but effective.  I couldn't get flashcards to work well for paradigms.

Thanks. I think I will make flashcards for the main verbs/nouns, and write down the paradigms every day in a separate practice book.

 

 

 

I like to think of grammar and the paradigms as separate things.  Grammar is rules that control which paradigms you use in which situations.  So, for the grammar section, I might write  out things like,

 

Nominative case: subject, predicate nominative

   e.g. casa lacunam habet.

          casa est casa alba.

Genitive case:  possession, partitive genitive, genitive of value, etc.

...

and things like when to use which tenses, etc.

Got it. :)

Thanks again for sharing all this extra info. It is very helpful.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

1. What sections do you put in your Latin notebook/binder/file?

Please share some info, blog posts, photos, that will give me an idea of how I should record/organize Latin info I learn.

 

I searched online and found an entry where the notebook had these sections: Grammar, Vocab, Derivatives, Exercises and Quizzes, Notes.

 

Can someone give me more ideas of what goes under each section?

 

If I am studying the Latin "to praise" verb, is this what I should write in my notebook?

 

Vocab (under Verbs): laudo, laudare, laudavi, laudatum - to praise

 

Grammar: laudo - I praise, I am praising, I do praise

          laudas - you praise, you are praising, etc...

(So do I write the full conjugations of each tense and voice with the English meaning of each word in the Grammar section?)

 

Derivatives: laud - to praise (c.f. laudare)

 

Exercises and Quizzes: (from my Latin text)

 

Notes: (what do I put in this section?)

 

 

2. Latin flashcards

Do you make flashcards for just the main verb (laudare) or for each word in the various conjugations (i.e. one flashcard for laudo, one for laudas, etc.)?

 

ETA: Should I use different coloured index cards for nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc?

 

What have you/your students found most helpful?

Thanks in advance.

 

FWIW, I'm not sure that there is necessarily a benefit to having both flashcards and a vocabulary listing.  Unless you are planning to create lists of verbs by conjugation and nouns by declension.  Do you think that you would go back and study the vocab using the lists or simply make use of the vocab cards?

 

One thing that helped my kids with vocab cards is using color coding for different declensions or conjugations.  Sometimes they wrote the word in different colors.  Sometimes they put a colored dot or number in the corner.  It also helped to indicate the chapter that each word came from. 

 

There cards have all Latin on one side and English on the other.  For verbs they have the four principle parts, but not the full verb synopsis with each conjugation.  They are supposed to know the conjugations well enough to conjugate the verb from the principle parts.  They memorized all four parts from the introduction of each verb, even when they didn't know what each part was for.  For nouns they have nominative and genitive. 

 

[For flashcards in German I put down the article indicating gender, the nominative form and in parenthesis an indication of how the plural is formed.]

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Thank you for sharing how you do it.

Exactly! I am at the point where, when I see the word laudat, I have to mentally say the paradigm before I realize it is "he/she/it praises". I want to have these words down cold, so that when I see laudat, I immediately know it is "he/she/it praises".

 

I see that the consensus is to put the principle parts on the flashcards and not each word in the paradigm.

 

 

 

This is a great tip! Thanks. :)

 

You can create supplementary cards that have the grammar paradigms on them. So you might have one that says "1st conjugation present to praise" on one side and the full conjugation of laudare on the other.  You would learn this verb as the paradigm verb (or use whatever the paradigm verb in your book is). You don't need to write a full conjugation card for every other 1st conjugation verb, because you know they follow the same pattern.

 

At this stage you are learning a couple different streams of things. You're learning the vocabulary itself. You are learning what pattern verbs and nouns fall into. You are leaning what different patterns do. Build connections.  This type of verb does this.  These verbs are 1st conj verbs. 1st conj verbs tend to look like this.  Then when you encounter an unknown verb, you will have a head start on knowing what type it is.

 

With time and work, you will get to where you know right away that laudat is third person sing present and start looking right away for that singular third person subject.

[nansk]

FWIW, I'm not sure that there is necessarily a benefit to having both flashcards and a vocabulary listing.  Unless you are planning to create lists of verbs by conjugation and nouns by declension.  Do you think that you would go back and study the vocab using the lists or simply make use of the vocab cards?

Good point. I think I will make flashcards for the principle parts and review the full paradigms directly from my notebook.

 

 

One thing that helped my kids with vocab cards is using color coding for different declensions or conjugations.  Sometimes they wrote the word in different colors.  Sometimes they put a colored dot or number in the corner.  It also helped to indicate the chapter that each word came from. 

Thank you for this tip. I think I will combine this with Kendall's idea of writing the page number in small lettering in a corner of the index card.

 

 

You can create supplementary cards that have the grammar paradigms on them. So you might have one that says "1st conjugation present to praise" on one side and the full conjugation of laudare on the other.

So just one representative flashcard with the full paradigm for each declension/conjugation? I think I can do that.

 

 

At this stage you are learning a couple different streams of things. You're learning the vocabulary itself. You are learning what pattern verbs and nouns fall into. You are leaning what different patterns do. Build connections.  This type of verb does this.  These verbs are 1st conj verbs. 1st conj verbs tend to look like this.  Then when you encounter an unknown verb, you will have a head start on knowing what type it is.

With time and work, you will get to where you know right away that laudat is third person sing present and start looking right away for that singular third person subject.

Thanks for the encouragement!

 

I am very grateful for all the advice you all have shared on this thread. :)