Mr. Wade reviews a Latin text with the class
Classics
The Latin class visited the Metropolitan Museum in NYC
Classics students enjoyed the display of ancient artifacts presented by a Guest Speaker
Latin students review vocabulary while playing Gimkit, a Game-Based Learning platform
Department Goals
Department Approach
We introduce the study of Latin as an opportunity to unlock each student’s capacity for independent learning and thinking. In order to truly understand a language with thousands of years of history, you have to get outside the classroom. In Classics, we curate annual trips to museums and cultural experiences that New York uniquely offers, as well as bi-annual trips abroad to place the texts we read in class within the scope and depth of the Roman and Greek world.
Students enrolled in a level 3 or above in a World Language or Latin Class have the opportunity to participate in a dual enrollment program offered by St. John’s University for college credit. Students who enroll in this college course have an additional fee to cover its cost with the University. Required courses: Students may elect to take three consecutive years of Latin on the high school level to fulfill Ursuline’s World Language requirement for graduation.
Latin 6
This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the basics of the Latin language. Strong emphasis is placed on strengthening grammatical skills, in English as well as Latin, and in familiarizing students with the wide range of English words derived from Latin (70-80% of English vocabulary comes directly or indirectly from Latin and Ancient Greek). An introduction to Roman history, culture, and family life are also part of the curriculum. Study of mythology is continued through an overview of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.
Available to grade 6; Semester; Required
Latin 7
This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the basics of the Latin language. Strong emphasis is placed on strengthening grammatical skills, in English as well as Latin, and in familiarizing students with the wide range of English words derived from Latin (70-80% of English vocabulary comes directly or indirectly from Latin and Ancient Greek). An introduction to Roman history, culture, and family life are also part of the curriculum. Study of mythology is continued through an overview of Homer's Illiad and Odyssey. Technology is used appropriately to enrich course offerings.
Available to grade 7; Semester; Required
Latin I
Latin 1 provides a solid foundation in the reading of Latin for comprehension and for the understanding of the structure of the Latin language. While strengthening grammatical skills, the course also links the study of Latin vocabulary with English derivatives. The precision and logic of the language should make the students aware of the keenness of the Roman intellect and the great heritage of the Roman civilization. English readings and adapted Latin passages afford a study of the customs of the Roman people. Extended study of myths provides a solid foundation for further literary study. Technology is used to enrich the various areas of the curriculum.
Available to grades 8-12; Full Year
Latin 2
Latin 2 offers students the challenge to master more complex grammatical constructions, with a strong emphasis on syntax. By consistently revisiting the basics of Latin translation within the context of new material, the course will allow students, through practice and thorough analysis of the way they learn, to transition smoothly into reading authentic Latin at the beginning of their third year. This course will introduce students to the governmental structure of the Roman Republic as well as the political development of Rome through Republic: a year-long role playing game set in this period of history.
Available to grades 9-12; Full Year
Latin 3H
This course serves as an introduction to the broader field of Classics through the lens of textual analysis, and will expose students to the genre conventions of Roman literature through reading excerpts from Livy, Cicero, Ovid, Propertius and Catullus. Latin 3H will build upon student’s understanding of Latin grammar to help them probe the syntax and stylistics of a passage for meaning, and help guide them to their own opinions about Roman texts, expressed through speeches, analytical or argumentative essays. Significant background reading will be provided above and beyond the original Latin text read in class to inform class discussions and debates, and students will craft their own Latin prose in order to practice the same rhetorical devices they have learned to recognize in the works they analyze. Furthering their study of ancient narrative, students will also read Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey in translation and analyze significant passages in class.
Available to grade 10-12; Full Year
Latin 4H
As a continuation of our honors sequence, this class will challenge students to engage in interpretive, critical readings of classical authors in a mixture of prose and poetry selected across a range of genres and periods, such as Suetonius’ biographies of the early Roman emperors, Cicero’s familiar letters, Ovid’s mythic literary epistles, and Senecan tragedy. Furthermore, students in this honors class will be expected to conduct research and engage with scholarship in the field of classical studies in order to gain a greater appreciation for broader themes and ideas within the classical tradition. Students will engage critically with both the classical texts and the scholarship surrounding them, and will produce well-argued, thoroughgoing analyses of the same in their papers and creative projects.
Available to grades 11-12; Full Year
Advanced Placement Latin
This course is a comprehensive, college-level study of Caesar’s De Bello Gallico and Vergil’s Aeneid. Students will read substantial portions of both works in Latin, and the entirety of both works in translation. Considerable literary analysis will be required; thus students should not only have excellent Latin skills, but also be strong English students. Students are required to take the Advanced Placement Examination.
Available to grade 12; Full Year