David has shared a video. I really appreciate the thorough explanation of what is going on, his self reflection, and the general way he presents it, which could serve as a model for all of us if and when we choose to share our own work with others here.
Thank you David!
Hi all,
I have uploaded a video to Vimeo, this one asking a story in my Latin 3 class.
Here’s the link: https://vimeo.com/65488023
Use the password: maust753
Recently I put together a story that used a conditional statement and took a little video of the story formation process. I have two students in this class on home teaching and we have been videoing some in class for them to watch at home. I had also put the video up for some of our Latin cadre to see, and Ben encouraged me to post it for the PLC.
The story script is below. We did about an hour of PQA before making this story and I started videoing about 20 min. after we had already decided upon the first location and details.
A few caveats: The story making process is really loose in this video: I’m speaking English too much, I’m allowing too much chatter, and I make some mistakes with language, which I usually correct. Sometimes I can’t remember a word’s gender on the fly, and will sometimes look it up, or if I don’t want to break the flow of the storymaking, I’ll just guess the gender and go with it, correcting it later – the kids will never remember a few mistakes in the grand scope of reps. of CI (i.e. when I rewrite the story and use it for several days later, all grammar will be correct – I don’t sweat it if I make a few mistakes in the story creation).
Plus, this is something that I think Latin teachers in particular have to deal with – our aural familiarity with our language is not as practiced usually as most modern language teachers. It is one more hurdle for Latin teachers to do any kind of oral delivery in the classroom and it takes a willingness to be vulnerable and make mistakes in front of students. This can be a good thing if the teacher is honest with the students and invites them into the process of learning a language and acknowledging that mistakes will happen and it’s ok.
I also introduced a few words that were review words from readings that the kids probably haven’t acquired (i.e. emisit globum e fistula – shot a phrase taken from Winnie ille Pu, which we read the first chapter of last week) but I just did it anyway since this is a Latin 3 class and I think they can handle a few extra unfamiliar / semi-unfamiliar words. I would not do this in a lower level class – I would keep all vocab sheltered only to acquired vocab and type any new words, with translations, on the LCD screen.
Things I liked about the story creation in the video: the story had a lot of energy, the kids did a great job with clever, cute answers: this will be a great story to use later in written form, make dictations from, make embedded readings from etc. I felt we got good, meaningful reps on the key structures and the story will be easy to remember, talk about, and read in Latin later. It will also segue nicely into our reading we are doing in class – the Abraham Isaac story, see note below.
Sometimes the story making process becomes a little messy, but I see it as a means to the end of getting the basis of a good story from the kids that I can use for at least a couple weeks.
One last note on the context of why I chose these structures. We are doing a stories unit and one of our sources are some excerpts from the Epitome Historiae Sacrae (from Focus Publishing), an easy version of the Vulgate from the 1700s. The story about Abraham and Isaac had the words foedus, auget, dubitat and paret so I put these together into the following script that I thought the kids would connect with. Plus, I was a little proud of myself for incorporating a conditional statement!
Story Script:
(bolded words are changeable, underlined words are key structures)
- paret – obeys
- foedus – pact, treaty, contract, agreement, etc.
- auget – increase
- dubitat – be in doubt, hesitate
erat puer Wilhelm, qui parentibus non pariebat. itaque parentes foedus cum filio fecit. parentes dixerunt, “si tu nobis parebis, nos tempus T.V. tibi augeamus. si tu nobis NON parebis, nos tempus laboris augeamus.
sed Wilhelm dubitavit parentibus parere. parentes ei dixit, “Wilhelm! tu nobis non paruisti! nos non tempus T.V. augebimus! nos tempus laboris augebimus!” Wilhelm erat tristis.
English Version:
There was a boy, Wilhelm, who did not obey his parents. And so his parents made an agreement with their son. His parents said, “If you obey us, we will increase your TV time. If you do not obey us, we will increase your work time.
But Wilhelm hesitated to obey his parents. His parents said, “Wilhelm! You have not obeyed your parents! We will not increase your TV time. We will increase your work time! Wilhelm was sad.
Here’s the story then, that I typed up from what we came up with:
- paret – obeys
- foedus – pact, treaty, contract, agreement, etc.
- auget – increase
- dubitat – be in doubt, hesitate
olim erat puer, Noemus appellabatur. Noemus parentibus non parebat!
parentes ei dixerunt, “Noeme! necesse est tibi nobis parere! non licet tibi globos e fistula emittere! foedus facimus!”
“quid est foedus?” rogavit Noemus.
“si tu nobis parebis,” parentes dixerunt, “nos augeamus Phineas et Ferb! si tamen tu nobis NON parebis, nos augeamus impetus felis.”
Noemus tamen parentibus parere dubitavit. Trevorem in villa vidit. globum e fistula emisit et Trevorem percussit.
parentes clamaverunt, “Noeme! tu nobis non paruisti! augebimus non Phineas et Ferb sed IMPETUS FELIS!”
– – –
proximo die parentes Noemo dixerunt, “Noeme, foedus novum facimus. si tu nobis parebis, nos augeamus Legos! si tamen tu nobis NON parebis, nos augeamus brussel sprouts.”
Noemus tamen parentibus parere dubitavit. Keren in villa vidit. globum e fistula emisit et Keren percussit.
parentes clamaverunt, “NOEME! tu nobis non paruisti! augebimus non Legos sed BRUSSEL SPROUTS!”
– – –
proximo die parentes Noemo dixerunt, “Noeme, foedus NOVISSIMUM facimus. si tu nobis parebis, nos augeamus itinera ad Legoland! si tamen tu nobis NON parebis, nos augeamus serpentes plasticos.”
Noemus tamen parentibus parere dubitavit. PARENTES vidit! globum e fistula emisit et parentes percussit!
parentes clamaverunt, “NOEME! tu nobis non paruisti! augebimus non itinera sed SERPENTES PLASTICOS!”
Noah tristis erat.
English Version:
There once was a boy, called Noah. Noah did not obey his parents.
His parents said to him, “Noah! It is necessary for you to obey us! It is not allowed to shoot (things) [literally: to send bullets from the pipe]. We are making an agreement!”
“What is the agreement?” Noah asked.
“If you obey us,” his parents said, “we will increase your Phineas and Ferb! If however, you do not obey us, we will increase your cat attacks.
Noah however hesitated to obey his parents. He saw Trevor in the house. He shot Trevor. His parents shouted, “Noah! You did not obey us! We will not increse Phineas and Ferb, but your cat attacks!
– – –
The next day, his parents said to Noah, “Noah, we are making a new pact. If you obey us, we will increase your Legos! If however, you do not obey us, we will increase your brussel sprouts.”
Noah however hesitated to obey his parents. He saw Keren in the house. He shot Keren. His parents shouted, “Noah! You did not obey us! We will not increse your Legos, but your brussel sprouts!
– – –
The next day, his parents said to Noah, “Noah, we are making the last pact. If you obey us, we will increase your trips to Legoland! If however, you do not obey us, we will increase your plastic snakes.”
Noah however hesitated to obey his parents. He saw HIS PARENTS in the house! He shot his parents. His parents shouted, “Noah! You did not obey us! We will not increse your trips to Legoland, but your plastic snakes! Noah was sad.
Valete!
David