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Introducing Greek


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Hey can someone compare The Greek Alphabet Code Cracker and A Greek Alphabetarian? How are they similar as far as what you learn and how are they different? I have heard these two mentioned the most and was wondering. Ds would like to do Greek in a year or so, but I am still learning about it. I know I want to introduce it slowly at first since he is also doing Latin. Also, how d I decide which form of Greek we should do?

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The Greek Alphabet Code Cracker is geared toward fun while you learn the Greek alphabet. A Greek Alphabetarion is dry, but extremely thorough, in addition to learning the alphabet, blends, diphthongs, etc. there is counting, etymology and lots of reading practice.

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We started out by learning the alphabet orally first. A friend of mine knew a song for the Greek alphabet (from her sorority days), so we sang the song for a while. Then, I introduced each letter individually with flashcards. After we could identify all the letters, we would practice matching the uppercase and lowercase letters and playing a Greek bingo game that I made. We've now been working our way through the Greek Alphabetarion to introduce the letter sounds, but we still work with the letters to keep them fresh in our minds. We review the guidewords given in the GA for the letter sounds daily, and when they are memorized, we add a new one. We are also practicing the GA's syllabary regularly for the letter sounds we know.

 

Greek Alphabetarion doesn't have bells and whistles, but it is easy way to introduce the letter sounds in a gentle manner. Just by listening in and watching our activities, my 4yo can recite the alphabet, identify about a third of the letters by name consistently and tell you some of the letter sounds/guidewords.

 

I think just focusing on the alphabet for a while is a good way to introduce a beginning Latin student to Greek. Learning the letters thoroughly will keep them from being so "foreign" when one tries to read Greek further down the road. I can already tell a big difference in how I can perceive the letters now, compared to what was only gobbledygook before.

Edited by chanda7
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I've had both and we opted to stay with the Greek Code Cracker. We've spread it out over the year, which I don't recommend, but it has been fun and ds is learning the alphabet. The Greek code book was easy for me to teach, even without any Greek background.

 

The Alphabetarion was dry and almost too much information, if there is such a thing. I truly wanted something just to teach the alphabet and "fun" is a good word in our school.

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Thanks, this has been very helpful. My plan is to introduce it slowly and pick up the pace as he feels able. He has really taken off with Latin, but I am not sure yet if it's because he is language prone or we speak Spanish. There are a lot of similarities and I don't want to bring Greek in full force and make hime stumble. Also, I need to be able to keep up with him, LOL. He does seem to find languages pretty interesting though, asking for Brazilian Portuguise as well, but that's another post. At the moment we will on Latin, Spanish and introducing Greek slowly.

 

Just curious, Can both be used? Code cracker just to see how his interest turns ot then GA to begin stepping it up without a huge step? Or would they not compliment each other at all? I just have a feeling we will end up with both, since his younger sibling will want to try, but are not ready to go into an in depth program. Any how, thanks again everyone.

 

Danielle

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Just curious, Can both be used? Code cracker just to see how his interest turns ot then GA to begin stepping it up without a huge step? Or would they not compliment each other at all? I just have a feeling we will end up with both, since his younger sibling will want to try, but are not ready to go into an in depth program.

 

Both are not necessary at all, some would even argue neither are needed since all Greek programs on the market spend a chapter or two on the Greek alphabet. I like Alphabetarion because I'm interested in all the extra info Harvey Bluedorn includes, I can't say it made a bit of difference to my kids though. :rolleyes:

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We used the Greek Alphabet Code Cracker which was fun but we cemented it all by using "Hey Andrew Teach Me Some Greek" level 1. It focused on just the alphabet and was super straightforward. (We've continued on with the Hey Andrew series and are in the midst of level 3 now.)

 

I felt that DS was not going to learn the alphabet the way he needed to from the Code Cracker. He gets distracted by the story line, the art, etc. The Hey Andrew workbook was spare by comparison but was much more effective for him in learning the alphabet.

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