ELEMENTARY LATIN

 
SECONDARY LEVEL:
GRADES 8 AND 9 in a five-year cycle
GRADE 10 in a three-year cycle

Language study for Elementary Latin, secondary level

The Latin language content specified below relates to the last two years of the General Education and Training Band (Grades 8 and 9) or to the first year of the Further Education and Training Band (Grade 10). Contents may cover the full range of the topics listed below that relate to Latin Language and Vocabulary Studies but it is up to educators themselves to devise the spread and depth of coverage of the contents at the appropriate level within the one or two years of this unit.

There is no specific entry requirement for the secondary level of Elementary Latin, and it does not presuppose familiarity with the contents of the primary level of Elementary Latin. Assessment can take a multiplicity of forms, which relate to the performance indicators as specified for the outcomes appropriate to each level and range, that is, depending on whether the course is offered in a two-year format as the final phase of the General Education and Training band, or in a one-year format in the first year of the Further Education and Training Band.

 
Specific outcomes for Elementary Latin are:

Through study of Latin vocabulary and language, learners will:

  • improve their working vocabulary in a multilingual situation through awareness of etymology and use of Latin phrases;
  • gain an insight into the structure of language;
  • develop a consciousness of regular patterns in forms of expression;
  • understand how meaning is created and sense differentiated by morphological and syntactical design;
  • appreciate the working of their own language through contrast with Latin accidence, syntax and idiom;
  • develop appreciation of the subtleties of modern idiom through appropriate translation;
  • develop a system of disciplined, abstract thinking and accurate formulation;
  • learn to grasp the essential meaning of communication beyond the particulars of one language, while developing own communication skills.

 
Language study for Elementary Latin, secondary level

Vocabulary and Idiom in Elementary Latin, secondary level
 
(a)
  
The learning of a minimum of 500 words from the core vocabulary list (recommended word list: Lexis Latina, Academica Press 1985), as selected by the educator (bearing in mind the vocabulary of the reading done in class and the derivatives of words in other languages), with the aim of achieving an active mastery.
 
(b)
  
The mastery of Latin expressions, mottoes and idioms, as selected by the educator from the core vocabulary list.
 
(c)
  
Acquaintance with the principles of word formation and the basic meanings of Latin prefixes and suffixes (as selected by the educator), with the aim of broadening vocabulary not only in Latin, but also in other languages.

 
Morphology and syntax in Elementary Latin, secondary level
 
(a)
  
Accidence in Elementary Latin,
  1. An awareness of inflection and the manner in which it is codified within inflective paradigms
  2. Application of such awareness in the interpretation of accidence (the agreement of nouns, adjective and verbs)
  3. A progressive building up of knowledge and understanding of verbs, nouns, adjectives, pronouns, adverbs and cardinal numerals (1 - 3) and their agreement within the context of a sentence. Ordinal numerals are regarded as adjectives. All the following stipulations regarding accidence are applicable only to words included in the vocabulary list (Lexis Latina):
 
(b)
  
Verbs in Elementary Latin,
  1. indicative (active)
  2. imperative (active)
  3. present infinitive (active) perfect infinitive (active)
  4. esse and posse
 
  
Note: At the Elementary Latin level the following form part of learners' passive learning experience (that is, these forms should be explained in context as they occur, but not actively taught):
 
v.
  
Verbs such as velle, nolle, malle, and ferre should be translated only as they occur in a reading context.
 
vi.
  
The passive is to be explained as it occurs in context.
 
vii.
  
Present participles and perfect participles, as they occur in reading, are to be treated merely as adjectives, and their meaning should given in context.
 
(c)
  
Nouns and adjectives in Elementary Latin,
  1. Nouns and adjectives like vicinus, vicina, vicinum (nouns) and vicinus -a -um (adjective), also with specific though elementary reference to the use of the adjective as a noun
  2. Nouns following the pattern of dux and nomen
  3. Nouns and adjectives following the pattern of felix and fortis
  4. Other nouns like navis and mare
  5. Degrees of comparison.
 
(d)
  
Pronouns in Elementary Latin,
Qui (relative), quis (interrogative), ille, hic, se, ego. tu, is ea id, nos and vos (as these appear in context)
 
(e)
  
Adverbs in Elementary Latin,
As selected by the educator from the core vocabulary
 
(f)
  
Numerals in Elementary Latin,
The Latin cardinal numbers 1 - 10; Roman figures / symbols 1 - 100

 
Syntax in Elementary Latin,
 
(a)
  
The following structures which have the verb as point of departure form part of the course in Elementary Latin:
  1. intransitive verbs with the following standard structural extensions:
    prepositional phrase
    adverb
    ablative
    dative
  2. transitive verbs with (in addition to the above extensions) a direct object in the accusative
  3. copulatives with the following extensions:
    an adjective agreeing with the subject
    a noun in the same case as the subject
    a prepositional phrase
  4. the verb with prolative infinitive extension
  5. accusative, dative and ablative extensions of the verb (see (i) and (ii) above). Where these are extensions of the participle (as it occurs in context) the phrase as a whole is to be translated without formal explanation. At this level it forms part of learners' passive experience.
 
(b)
  
The following structures which do not develop from the verb form part of the course in Elementary Latin:
  1. the attributive use of adjectives with emphasis on the aspect of agreement
  2. the structures that develop from use of comparative adjectives:
    quam with an elliptical (suppressed) sentence
    ablative of comparison
    ablative of degree of difference
  3. the genitive linking two nouns
  4. apposition
  5. greetings and interjections
 
(c)
  
The following complex and compound sentences form part of the course in Elementary Latin:
  1. The following types of main clause:
    statement: indicative
    direct question: indicative
    direct command: imperative
  2. The following coordinating conjunctions and their use in sentences to join two or more main clauses (or not more than two subordinate clauses of the same type):
    et, -que, atque (ac), nec (neque), aut, vel, sed, quam, nam, enim,
    itaque, ergo, igitur, et ... et, nec ... nec
  3. The following subordinating conjunctions, only with the indicative, and only where they appear in context:
    time: ubi, dum, antequam, postquam, priusquam, cum
    cause: quod, quia, quoniam
    condition: si, nisi
    concession: etsi, quamquam
    comparison: ut (as), quam, also as it occurs in elliptical sentences,
    see (b)(ii)
    place: ubi
 Note: Only the above conjunctions with the indicative should be actively mastered in Elementary Latin, but the subjunctive (for example as it occurs in simple purpose clauses) should not be totally avoided. If it is encountered, the educator should simply give the translation without formal explanation. Grammatical features which at this level form part of learners' passive experience should not be avoided in reading, but they need not be fully explained.
 
iv.
  
The relative pronoun; the adjectival clause as it occurs in context.
 
v.
  
The accusative and infinitive construction only as it occurs in context.

INTERMEDIATE LATIN

Index Intermediate Latin