strider
01-25-2008, 12:19 PM
Hi folks,
I am not sure which way to go with our Latin studies.
My dd is 11yo, and she does very very well with foreign languages. She has been taking Spanish for years and is doing remarkably well with it. A friend of mine invited her to join their Latin co-op 1 1/2 yrs ago. Dd enjoys the co-op a great deal. We are working through Latina Christiana. During the week she is expected to watch the video, do the workbook pages, and memorize the vocabulary and various chants. The co-op meeting quizzes their memorization and plays Latin games.
I am not learning Latin with her. With everything else going on in our life (and there were some significant things over the last 3 years) I was very happy to just trust my friend with Latin.
Dd is doing fine with memorization, and she is also doing really well with keeping Latin and Spanish separate in her own mind. I don't have any issues with her doing two languages. Honestly, it's a strength in my family--my father was fluent (seriously fluent) in several languages. While I cannot claim fluency like his, I seemed to inherit the knack for languages as well.
My daughter's Spanish teacher is extremely fluent and teaches through immersion. Dd therefore doesn't really do any translating in Spanish, though she speaks it comfortably. While dd does do some study of the grammar of Spanish, her teacher plans to introduce formal grammar much further on down the road. In the meantime, dd's immersion consists of her primary tutor, a secondary tutor who plays games and reads books with her, practicing with dh, and Rosetta Stone.
Dd's Latin difficulty is specifically with translation. She is pretty bewildered by it. This week she is in Latina Christiana 2, lesson 7. She has struggled with translation all along, though she does manage to figure it out 3/4 of the time. BUT she feels so bewildered! My sense is that it is partially because the co-op really doesn't work on translation as much--so far it is heavily focused on memorization and on games. I also wonder if the dryness of the presentation in co-op and the curriculum, especially as compared to the richness of her Spanish immersion (stories, comics, conversation) is hard on her.
My options:
--Force myself to learn Latin. Languages come easily to me BUT I am so strapped for time, and I really don't *want* to learn Latin. I have always dreamed of learning German (my father's native language) and kind of think that if I am going to put in the effort of learning a language, it should be German. However, I have a feeling that if I apply myself to Latin I could help her with translation.
--Get extra tutoring. I did at one point hire one of the older kids in the co-op to help my dd. I ended up feeling frustrated because they completed the homework in just 15 minutes, and the kid just was too young (even though she is a *great* kid and willing to help) to understand how to explain and keep practicing with dd for longer. That said, I could try to either train this kid or find another Latin tutor to help for 30 minutes a week.
--Find another Latin resource (ideas anyone???) that can help my dd understand how to fit the pieces of the puzzle together.
I do NOT want to quit Latin for her, partially because she enjoys the co-op, and more importantly because her skills are so heavily in the area of language arts and foreign language. The extra study in Latin will benefit her strengths greatly in the long run.
Thanks for your advice.
I am not sure which way to go with our Latin studies.
My dd is 11yo, and she does very very well with foreign languages. She has been taking Spanish for years and is doing remarkably well with it. A friend of mine invited her to join their Latin co-op 1 1/2 yrs ago. Dd enjoys the co-op a great deal. We are working through Latina Christiana. During the week she is expected to watch the video, do the workbook pages, and memorize the vocabulary and various chants. The co-op meeting quizzes their memorization and plays Latin games.
I am not learning Latin with her. With everything else going on in our life (and there were some significant things over the last 3 years) I was very happy to just trust my friend with Latin.
Dd is doing fine with memorization, and she is also doing really well with keeping Latin and Spanish separate in her own mind. I don't have any issues with her doing two languages. Honestly, it's a strength in my family--my father was fluent (seriously fluent) in several languages. While I cannot claim fluency like his, I seemed to inherit the knack for languages as well.
My daughter's Spanish teacher is extremely fluent and teaches through immersion. Dd therefore doesn't really do any translating in Spanish, though she speaks it comfortably. While dd does do some study of the grammar of Spanish, her teacher plans to introduce formal grammar much further on down the road. In the meantime, dd's immersion consists of her primary tutor, a secondary tutor who plays games and reads books with her, practicing with dh, and Rosetta Stone.
Dd's Latin difficulty is specifically with translation. She is pretty bewildered by it. This week she is in Latina Christiana 2, lesson 7. She has struggled with translation all along, though she does manage to figure it out 3/4 of the time. BUT she feels so bewildered! My sense is that it is partially because the co-op really doesn't work on translation as much--so far it is heavily focused on memorization and on games. I also wonder if the dryness of the presentation in co-op and the curriculum, especially as compared to the richness of her Spanish immersion (stories, comics, conversation) is hard on her.
My options:
--Force myself to learn Latin. Languages come easily to me BUT I am so strapped for time, and I really don't *want* to learn Latin. I have always dreamed of learning German (my father's native language) and kind of think that if I am going to put in the effort of learning a language, it should be German. However, I have a feeling that if I apply myself to Latin I could help her with translation.
--Get extra tutoring. I did at one point hire one of the older kids in the co-op to help my dd. I ended up feeling frustrated because they completed the homework in just 15 minutes, and the kid just was too young (even though she is a *great* kid and willing to help) to understand how to explain and keep practicing with dd for longer. That said, I could try to either train this kid or find another Latin tutor to help for 30 minutes a week.
--Find another Latin resource (ideas anyone???) that can help my dd understand how to fit the pieces of the puzzle together.
I do NOT want to quit Latin for her, partially because she enjoys the co-op, and more importantly because her skills are so heavily in the area of language arts and foreign language. The extra study in Latin will benefit her strengths greatly in the long run.
Thanks for your advice.