Stage I·Grades 9 to 12·High school
Grammar Latin
For the high school student who wants a direct route. Rules first, then real Latin written by real Romans, from the first day.
- ForGrades 9 to 12, no Latin needed
- MethodGrammar-translation
- LengthFour terms, under a year
- MeetsOnce a week, two hours
Why this way, at this age
A high school student can think deductively: given a rule, she can apply it to a sentence she has never seen. That is what the grammar-translation method asks, and it suits a student who thinks in rules. (Worried that ninth or tenth grade is too late to begin? It is not.) It fell out of fashion for teaching living languages long ago. It never left Latin, for a simple reason: with no one left to talk to, the goal was always to read well, and facing the grammar directly trains a reader quickly.
The course moves through the complete grammar of classical Latin, using the kind of material university Latin courses have used for generations, and real sentences by Roman and medieval authors from the first chapter. Many of those sentences are small philosophies in themselves, and we stop to talk about them.
A class period, step by step
- Certamen
A quick round of questions on the homework and on the grammar learned last class. It is the format of the Latin contests, and students prepare for it without being told.
- Review, and real sentences
We go over the grammar exercises, then authentic Latin sentences by Roman and medieval authors, stopping on anything noteworthy or philosophical.
- Real passages, translated literally
Longer passages of authentic prose and poetry, translated literally, word by word. This is the skill the contests and the AP exam reward.
- New grammar, and practice
The new grammar of the chapter, then practice translating real sentences that use it.
The road from here
Grammar Latin takes four of our terms, under a year. Then Latin Literature, then AP Latin, and, for those who want to go further, Advanced Latin Literature.
- Grammar LatinFour terms, under a year
- Latin LiteratureTwo courses in two terms, or one Summer Intensive
- AP LatinFall to the May exam, or one Summer Intensive
- Advanced Latin LiteratureOptional: for the top levels of the contests
One honest note
This course asks more of a student up front than Natural Latin or Oxford Latin: no story to ease into, just the grammar, from day one, with about three hours of preparation between classes. I recommend it at this age because the direct way is usually the faster way, not the harder one.
This winter
- Grammar Latin 1, for beginners, from November 22Sundays, 11 AM–1 PM Korea time
Common to every Latin course
What every course here shares
One teacher, live, every class
Every class, from a ten-year-old’s first sentence to the last line of the AP exam, is taught live over Zoom, in English, by Ioannes Magister. There is no second teacher and no substitute. Classes last two hours.
The work happens in the room
Students read aloud, translate at sight, and defend their answers out loud. A machine can translate a Latin sentence; only the student can learn to read it, and in class there is nothing to outsource. Latin in the age of AI →
Nothing is lost
Every class is recorded and posted to the student’s Google Classroom for the whole course. Homework is submitted online, checked, and graded. When a question cannot wait until the next class, the answer comes as a short video, made for that question. A student who is busy for a whole term can even follow the course from the recordings and hand in the work online; several students each term do exactly that. How that works →
Every course leads to the contests
Each class opens with a certamen (why?), and the translation practiced in class is the literal kind the contests reward. Before each international contest in Latin and classical humanities, a separate preparation course of up to five sessions works through real past exams, many going back decades, and study guides of our own. Our students take part through the year, and their results are recorded as they come in.
Credit and standing
Emerson Latin works on the Carnegie Unit standard used in American secondary schools, is a registered chapter sponsor of the National Latin Honor Society through the American Classical League, and is pursuing accreditation with WASC. Students who have needed credit transferred to their schools have received it, on the strength of our syllabus and transcript.
Is this the right course for your child?
Fifteen minutes will settle it, and it costs nothing: in English with Ioannes Magister over Zoom, or in Korean with our administrator by phone. If your child already knows some Latin, a free Placement Reading shows exactly where to begin.