Artes Latinae - what do you think?

[Cindy in C-ville]

We have friends using this who have invited us to do this with them. My children who would be doing this are finishing up LCII right now. My older daughters went straight from LCII to Henle, but that feels like too much of a jump for these two. I'd LOVE your input!

[diaperjoys]

I used it after high school when I was getting ready to go to a college that emphasized classical languages. It was not a good fit at all. But maybe just because of my age. I needed to see the grammar structure in order for any of it to make any sense, and that was completely absent. As I recall AL was mostly pictures and context, no explanation. I switched over to Jenny's Latin, and learned more in week of that than I had in all my work in my first program.

[cillakat]

<<As I recall AL was mostly pictures and context,>>

 

ahhh, so basically 'whole language' for Latin....rather than 'phonics' (so to speak).

 

That would be frustrating.

 

:)

k

[forty-two]

I'm fascinated by Artes Latinae. The author, Waldo Sweet, did ground-breaking work applying the findings of structural linguistics to Latin. He spent decades experimenting to find the best structural approach to teaching Latin, and Artes Latinae is the end result. Here is an interesting article by Sweet, from 1967: The Continued Development of the Structural Approach (pdf), that gives a good explanation of his methods. I haven't seen Artes Latinae, but I have his earlier text, "Latin: A Structural Approach," as well as "Latin for Reading" (which is basically a revised and updated version of Sweet's book), both of which I really like. He really works to get students thinking in Latin.

 

You can read about it at the publisher's website, and they have an interactive demo (large file) you can look at. Also, the Homeschool Buyer's Coop has a 50% discount if you order by this Sunday (4/26).

[latinteach]

Forty-Two gives a very good, brief history of the course. It is definitely a linguistically based course. It is much, much more than pictures and context.

 

It is a Latin program that teaches Latin morphological forms in the context of syntax and sentence patterns. The "phonics" of Latin is definitely taught in this course, as the course teaches the various signals in words that indicate the different endings of nouns and verbs in the programmed instruction. By programmed instruction, this means that each unit of the course is broken down into a series of "frames" or learning objectives. The sentence patterns and syntax (how words work together) are also taught. (Many grammar-based programs actually seem to do a good job of covering all the forms, but are weak in the teaching of syntax and sentence patterns, leaving the learner frustrated that they know all the endings, but can't efficiently read Latin sentences and paragraphs.) You can work through it using only a book, or with audio, or most likely, a computer. It's been around for several decades. The student is supposed to master each learning frame before advancing to the next one. The publisher has a demo that you can download: http://www.bolchazy.com/al/alcddemo.htm

 

They've also recently published another Latin program, which is not a programmed course, called Latin for the New Millennium, which is a combination of grammar-based instruction and the reading method.

Edited April 25, 2009 by latinteach

[Cindy in C-ville]

Interesting. I'm still not settled, but definitely intrigued. Any other thoughts out there?

[latinteach]

My ds is doing Artes Latinae for Latin 1 this year. He was frustrated with the first couple of lessons, which were all about how to do the lessons. Once we got past that, he really hasn't complained and he's been getting 90-95% on the unit tests. My only frustration is that I think he's not doing enough translation, as he only does excerpts from the book. No specific amount is assigned weekly. I think when he finishes Unit 30 of AL 1, we'll loop back and do more of the translation together.

 

Because AL uses a "programmed" format of "frames" it really does help to work through the initial lessons.

 

There are some graded ("graded" means that the material gradually increases in difficulty) readers that can be used with Artes Latinae. They start with Sententiae (mottoes and sayings from authentic Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Latin) and work up to connected readings at about Unit 11.

[latinteach]

I'm fascinated by Artes Latinae. The author, Waldo Sweet, did ground-breaking work applying the findings of structural linguistics to Latin. He spent decades experimenting to find the best structural approach to teaching Latin, and Artes Latinae is the end result. Here is an interesting article by Sweet, from 1967: The Continued Development of the Structural Approach (pdf), that gives a good explanation of his methods.

 

This is a really, really good article that shows the linguistic basis for Artes Latinae. Though it doesn't mention the Cambridge Latin Course, the influence of the author of AL can be seen in that program too.