Stage I·Grades 10 to 12·The fast route
Intensive Latin
For the student who wants to reach AP Latin as soon as possible. All of Latin grammar in thirty classes: three of our terms, or one summer.
- ForGrades 10 to 12, no Latin needed
- MethodHalf nature method, half grammar-translation
- LengthThirty classes: three terms, or one summer
- Usually opensWinter Term, and the Summer Intensive
What it is, and who takes it
Intensive Latin is Oxford Latin’s method at twice the speed, using a more demanding curriculum built for university students. Where Oxford Latin takes six terms, Intensive Latin takes three, meeting once a week. The language course a boarding school might spread over three years, meeting five days a week, a student here completes in thirty classes.
Two kinds of student take it. In the Winter Term, a tenth or eleventh grader who wants to begin our AP Latin course next fall: Winter, Spring, and Trinity complete the grammar, the Summer Intensive in Latin Literature follows, and the fall begins AP. In the Summer Intensive, boarding school students and students bound for boarding school who want a large head start: nearly all of Latin grammar, and a first taste of Latin literature, before school begins in the fall. Others come for their own reasons, and that is welcome too.
A class period, step by step
- Certamen
A quick round of questions on what was learned last class. At this pace, it is how nothing slips.
- Review
The translation of the assigned reading, and the exercises, gone over together.
- New grammar, and practice
The new grammar and syntax, then exercises to put it to work at once.
- Socratic seminar
A discussion of Roman culture, drawn from the reading.
The road from here
Intensive Latin takes thirty classes, a little over half a year. Then Latin Literature, then AP Latin, and, for those who want to go further, Advanced Latin Literature.
- Intensive LatinThirty classes: three terms, or one summer
- 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 is our fastest course, and it is meant to be. Expect three to five hours of preparation between classes. Because of the pace, we ask to see your child’s most recent report card before the first class. I recommend it for the student who is ready for it, not as a default.
This winter
- Intensive Latin, from November 21, through the Winter, Spring, and Trinity termsSaturdays, 3–5 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.