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LEARNING OTHER WORLDS: FOREIGN LANGUAGES
We are greatly helped to develop objectivity of taste if we can appreciate the work of foreign authors, living in the same world as ourselves, and expressing their vision of it in another great language.
—T. S. Eliot
SUBJECT: Classical and modern languages
TIME REQUIRED: 3 to 6 hours per week
W hen it comes to rhetoric-stage foreign-language study, you have two goals. One is to fulfill the standard college-prep high-school requirement—two years of a foreign language studied during the high-school years (grades 9–12).1 Students who have followed our suggested middle-grade program will be in good shape. Two years of high-school language study should lead to at least basic fluency as well as the ability to read popular-level foreign-language literature.
This two-year requirement is a minimum. The classically educated student has other purposes in mind: the mastery of one foreign language (the equivalent of four years of study, resulting in the ability to read literature fluently), and the beginning study at the high-school level (two years) of another. Ideally, one of these languages should be ancient Greek or Latin, while the other should be a modern spoken language.
Why this more ambitious program?
During the rhetoric stage, the student is continually dealing with words—how they should be put together, how they express emotions and ideas, how they can be arranged for greatest effect. Study of two foreign languages teaches the student how writers from other cultures, thinking in different ways, deal with words. This expands the student’s grasp of language, raising questions about the relationship between language and thought.
In his 1892 essay “The Present Requirements for Admission to Harvard College,” James Jay Greenough writes that reading in a foreign language forces the student to look at each thought from two points of view: that of the original language and that of the English translation he is producing. This gives the student “a clearer conception of the thought than he could possibly get by looking at it from the English side only…. He grows accustomed to clear thinking, and therefore expresses his own thoughts more clearly both in speech and in writing.” Language study is central to the skills of expression being worked on during the rhetoric stage.
WHICH LANGUAGES?
For the four-year language requirement, we suggest that most students keep studying Latin, completing the equivalent of Latin IV during the high-school years. The student who truly loathes Latin could be permitted to drop it after completing Latin II, but he should plan on studying a modern foreign language through the fourth-year level. The modern language resources listed in Chapter 19 only take you through second-year studies. As you continue, you should choose a tutor, a community-college or a beginning university course, or a correspondence course for the third and fourth levels of study.
The student with a strong interest in the classics could substitute Greek I and Greek II for a modern foreign language, while continuing with the study of Latin through Latin IV.
Since the study of modern languages was begun in the middle grades, the rhetoric-stage student who applies himself for an additional two years of high-school study will progress much further than students who come into high school unprepared. As mentioned before, we strongly recommend the study of Spanish for the modern-foreign-language requirement; French, Italian, German, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, and Hebrew are also possibilities. T. S. Eliot, in his essay “The Man of Letters,” suggests that scholars with “very exceptional linguistic ability” will benefit from studying a language that is “more remote” from our own. He mentions Hebrew and Chinese, but Japanese or Arabic (and, to a lesser degree, Russian) would have the same effect.2
TEXTS AND COURSES
Ancient Languages
If the student has already begun the study of Latin as recommended in Chapter 19, you’ll want to continue on with the same resources: Henle’s Latin texts or The Latin Road to English Grammar.
The student who began with Latina Christiana and progressed to the Henle First Year Latin will continue in this same pattern:
Option 1: Following up on grammar stage study:
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Third or fourth grade |
|
Prima Latina |
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Fourth or fifth grade |
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Latina Christiana I |
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Fifth or sixth grade |
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Latina Christiana II |
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Sixth or seventh grade |
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First Year Latin, first 100 pages or more (Units 1 and 2) |
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Seventh or eighth grade |
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First Year Latin, continue on |
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Eighth or ninth grade |
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Finish First Year Latin or begin Second Year Latin |
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Ninth or tenth grade |
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Begin Second Year Latin or finish Second Year Latin |
|
|
Finish Second Year Latin or begin Third Year Latin (Cicero) |
|
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Eleventh or twelfth grade |
|
Third Year Latin or Fourth Year Latin (Virgil) |
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Twelfth grade |
|
Fourth Year Latin or year off from Latin studies |
As long as the student is able to pick up the pace of Latin study so that he is completing one Latin book per year by eleventh grade, he will finish a full high-school Latin course—and you can give him four years of high-school Latin credit.
The texts by Robert Henle (Second Year Latin, Third Year Latin, Fourth Year Latin, with accompanying keys) are used along with Henle’s Latin Grammar. The student will probably need a tutor, either online or from a local parochial school or university, to meet with once a week and go over any translation issues. (See Chapter 43 for more guidance on selecting a tutor.) Online classes based on Henle are offered at Memoria Press’s online academy (www.memoriapress.com); The Potter’s School (pottersschool.org) and Schola Tutorials (www.scholatutorials.org) also offer Latin courses. Visit www.gbt.org for links to other tutorial services.
The student who began Latin study in fifth or sixth grade can follow a similar pattern, but will have to pick up his pace slightly earlier if he wants to finish all four years of study:
Option 2: Beginning Latin study in fifth or sixth grade:
|
Fifth grade |
|
Latina Christiana I |
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Sixth grade |
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Latina Christiana II |
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Seventh grade |
|
Begin First Year Latin |
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Eighth grade |
|
Finish First Year Latin |
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Ninth grade |
|
Begin Second Year Latin |
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Tenth grade |
|
Finish Second Year Latin |
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Eleventh grade |
|
Third Year Latin (Cicero) |
|
Twelfth grade |
|
Fourth Year Latin (Virgil) |
|
Or |
|
|
|
Sixth grade |
|
Latina Christiana I |
|
Seventh grade |
|
|
|
Eighth grade |
|
Begin First Year Latin |
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Ninth grade |
|
Finish First Year Latin |
|
Tenth grade |
|
Second Year Latin |
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Eleventh grade |
|
Third Year Latin |
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Twelfth grade |
|
Fourth Year Latin (Virgil) |
Remember that the student can also choose to stop Latin after the second-year book is finished. At that point, you can award two years of high-school credit.
The student who begins Latin later will need to follow a slightly different course:
Option 3: Beginning Latin study in seventh or eighth grade:
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Seventh or eighth grade |
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The Latin Road to English Grammar, Volume One |
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Eighth or ninth grade |
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The Latin Road to English Grammar, Volume Two |
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Ninth or tenth grade |
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The Latin Road to English Grammar, Volume Three |
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Tenth or eleventh grade |
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Oxford Latin Course, Part III |
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Eleventh or twelfth grade |
|
Oxford Latin Reader |
The three years of the Latin Road program are equivalent to two years of high-school Latin, so when the student has finished this program, you can give him credit for Latin I and Latin II on his high-school credit. If he would then like to continue on and do the two additional years of Latin literature, he should use the third-and fourth-year texts from another Latin course: the Oxford University Latin Course. Part III is a reader built around the life of Horace; the fourth year of the course is called the Latin Reader, Part IV and is an anthology of selections from Caesar, Cicero, Catullus, Virgil, Livy, and Ovid. He should also buy Part II, the last year of grammar, and keep it on hand for reference so that he can review any skills not covered in the Latin Road program.
If the student begins Latin for the first time in high school, he can work through the entire four-year Oxford course with the help of a tutor, or he can use the Latin Road followed by the third and fourth books of the Oxford course. If he wants to do a four-year study, he’ll need to cover all three volumes of the Latin Road in two years. He can choose instead to complete one volume per year, but he can only earn two years total of high-school credit for this work, even if he does it over a three-year period. If he then goes on to do the third Oxford book, he can earn a total of three years of high-school credit in Latin.
If the student wishes to begin Greek, we suggest Oxford University Press’s Athenaze. This two-year program supplies a full introduction to Greek grammar and syntax, essays on Greek history and culture, plenty of exercises, and an extensive teacher’s edition. Greek is not a difficult language to learn, but you’ll want to find a tutor to help with the introduction to the alphabet (it’s different from the Latin alphabet) and pronunciation. Try a local church. Almost all seminaries require ministers-in-training to take two years of New Testament Greek in order to graduate. Although New Testament (Koine) Greek is different in structure and vocabulary from classical Greek, the alphabet and pronunciation are the same. With a few weeks of introductory help, most students who have mastered the first two years of Latin can continue Greek studies independently.
If the student is interested in Koine Greek itself, a self-teaching course called Elementary Greek: Koine for Beginners is available from Open Texture; the three-workbook course will lead older students through the basics of Greek, equal in content to about a one-year seminary course. Visit the publisher’s website, www.opentexture.com, to see samples of the program.
Modern Languages
If you haven’t yet studied a modern foreign language, complete one of the courses described in Chapter 19. These courses take the student through second-year modern language. A Power-Glide or Rosetta Stone course plus Latin III and IV will fulfill the classical requirements for foreign language (and impress college admissions officers). If you already finished both levels of a modern language course in the middle grades, you have two options: you can learn a second modern language in high school (you need to have those two high-school years for the sake of college admissions), or you can continue to study the language you are learning for two additional years.
For the latter option, you’ll need to “outsource”—find a teacher or class. Modern foreign-language literature should be read with a teacher who’s enthusiastic and knowledgeable about both the culture and the language. You may be able to locate a tutor who would be willing to do a two-year reading course with a student who’s already had the language basics—try the language department of your local college, or call a good private school and ask for options. Or you can enroll your high-school student in a class at your local university or community college (see Chapter 43 for a full discussion of concurrent enrollment). We suggest that you and your child talk to the instructor, who will want to evaluate the student’s readiness. In most cases, two years of high-school study is considered the equivalent of one year of college study, so a student who’s finished two years of French or Spanish will probably be placed in a second-year class. After this two-semester class, you’ll advance to a literature class. These two years of study (French II and French literature, Spanish II and Spanish literature, and so forth) are the equivalent of four high-school years of study (French I–IV, Spanish I–IV, and so on).
Another option is a correspondence course offered by either the University of Nebraska or one of the other schools listed in Chapter 43 (call for catalogs). The University of Oklahoma offers high-school Latin, French, German, and Spanish. The student could also enroll in one of that university’s college-level courses (Russian, Spanish, German, Greek, Japanese, French, Chinese), which takes the student through literature study. Finally, Keystone National High School offers a wide range of both regular and AP language classes.
SCHEDULES
The basic goals of grades 9 through 12 are
-
two years of study in one language (which completes the learning of basic grammar and conversational vocabulary), -
four years of study in another language (grammar, vocabulary, plus two years of developing reading competency).
One of these languages should be modern, the other, ancient.
The choices you make concerning foreign-language study depend, in part, on your seventh-and eighth-grade preparation. There are a number of different ways to arrange language study; here are a few sample schedules for you to play with and adjust.
Maximum language option: 4 years each, modern and ancient:
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Sixth grade |
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First Year Latin, first 100 pages or more (Units 1 and 2) |
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Seventh grade |
|
First Year Latin, continue on; Power-Glide or Rosetta Stone, Level 1 |
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Eighth grade |
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Finish First Year Latin; Power-Glide or Rosetta Stone, Level 2 |
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Ninth grade Begin |
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Second Year Latin; modern language: enroll in a second-year college course |
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Tenth grade |
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Finish Second Year Latin and begin Third Year Latin (Cicero); modern language: read with a tutor or enroll in one semester of a college modern-language literature course |
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Eleventh grade |
|
Third Year Latin |
|
Twelfth grade |
|
Fourth Year Latin |
High-school credits awarded: 4 Latin, 4 modern language (each credit = 1 year of study).
Ancient language concentration for student beginning Latin in middle school:
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Fifth grade |
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Latina Christiana I |
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Sixth grade |
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Latina Christiana II; Power-Glide or Rosetta Stone, Level 1 |
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Seventh grade |
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Begin First Year Latin; Power-Glide or Rosetta Stone, Level 1 |
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Eighth grade |
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Finish First Year Latin |
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Ninth grade |
|
Begin Second Year Latin; Athenaze, Book I |
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Tenth grade |
|
Finish Second Year Latin; Athenaze, Book 2 |
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Eleventh grade |
|
Third Year Latin (Cicero) |
|
Twelfth grade |
|
Fourth Year Latin (Virgil) |
High-school credits awarded: 4 Latin, 2 Greek.
Modern language focus for student beginning Latin in middle school:
|
Sixth grade |
|
Latina Christiana I |
|
Seventh grade |
|
Latina Christiana II |
|
Eighth grade |
|
Begin First Year Latin |
|
Ninth grade |
|
Finish First Year Latin; Power-Glide or Rosetta Stone, Level 1 |
|
Tenth grade |
|
Second Year Latin; Power-Glide or Rosetta Stone, Level 2 |
|
Eleventh grade |
|
Finish Second Year Latin, if necessary; enroll in a second-year college modern language course (the ninth-and tenth-grade years of study are equal to the first year of college study) |
|
Twelfth grade |
|
Read with a tutor or enroll in a modern language reading course |
High-school credits awarded: 2 Latin, 4 modern language.
Two-language option for student beginning language study in high school:
|
Ninth grade |
|
The Latin Road to English Grammar, Volume One; begin Latin Road, Volume Two |
|
Tenth grade |
|
Finish The Latin Road to English Grammar, Volume Two; Latin Road, Volume Three |
|
Eleventh grade |
|
Oxford Latin Course, Part III, Rosetta Stone or Power-Glide, Level 1 |
|
Twelfth grade |
|
Oxford Latin Reader; Rosetta Stone or Power-Glide, Level 2 |
High-school credits awarded: 4 Latin, 2 modern language.
Modern language concentration for student beginning language study in high school:
High-school credits awarded: 2 Latin, 4 modern language.
This still fulfills the classical language requirements—two years of Latin and four years of a modern language, leading to reading proficiency.
RESOURCES
For publisher and catalog addresses, telephone numbers, and other information, see Sources (Appendix 4). Latin resources are given first, with Greek second and modern foreign languages following. Books in a series are listed in order. See Chapter 19 for additional foreign-language resources and more supplementary Latin readings.
Latin
Basic Texts
Beers, Barbara. The Latin Road to English Grammar, Vol. I. Redding, Calif.: Schola Publications, 1997.
———. The Latin Road to English Grammar, Vol. II. Redding, Calif.: Schola Publications, 1997.
$149.00 each. Order from Schola Publications, along with all supplementary material.
Teacher Training Videos. Extra parent support for the truly intimidated.
$89.00 for DVD. Combination packages are offered at a discount.
Henle, Robert J., S.J. First Year Latin. Chicago, Ill.: Loyola Press, 1958.
$16.95; $18.95 along with answer key (necessary). Order all resources from Memoria Press (where First Year Latin is listed as “Henle I Text & Key”). This text, along with Henle Grammar, serves as the basic text for two years of study: the first year covers Units 1–2, and the second covers Units 3–5.
Henle Study Guide. Highly recommended for successful study. $14.95
———. Latin Grammar. Chicago, Ill.: Loyola Press, 1980.
$9.50. Order from Memoria Press. Necessary to accompany both First Year Latin and Second Year Latin.
________. Second Year Latin. Chicago, Ill.: Loyola Press, 1997.
$15.95 ($17.95 for text plus necessary key). Order from Memoria Press, where it is listed as “Henle II Text with key.”
Morwood, James, and Maurice G. Balme. Oxford University Latin Course. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Order from American Home-School Publishing.
Oxford University Latin Course, Part I. 2d ed. 1996.
(May be useful for reference; necessary if doing this course with a tutor)
Student Text. $23.00.
Teacher’s Book. $25.00.
Oxford University Latin Course, Part II. 2d ed. 1997.
Student Text. $23.00.
Teacher’s Book. $25.00.
Oxford University Latin Course, Part III. 2d ed. 1997.
Student Text. $25.00.
Teacher’s Book. $27.00.
Oxford University Latin Course Reader. 2d ed. 1997.
Fourth year in the course. $24.00.
Supplementary Resources
Hammond, Mason, and Anne R. Amory. Aeneas to Augustus: A Beginning Latin Reader for College Students. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967.
$31.00. Order from any bookstore. A standard introduction to great Latin writers.
Lenard, Alexander, and A. A. Milne. Winnie Ille Pu: A Latin Version of A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh. New York: Puffin, 1991.
Order from any bookstore.
Rowling, J. K. Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis. New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2003.
You’ll have to guess what this one is. Order from any bookstore.
Russell, D. A. An Anthology of Latin Prose. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.
$49.50. Order from any bookstore. A standard reader that may be simpler than the Hammond/Amory reader for home use, since it doesn’t include poetry (which is extremely difficult).
Greek
Basic Texts
Lawall, Gilbert, and Maurice G. Balme. Athenaze: An Introduction to Ancient Greek. 2d ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Order from American Home-School Publishing or from Oxford University Press.
Book 1. $34.95.
Workbook to Accompany Athenaze, Book 1. $19.95.
Teacher’s Handbook for Athenaze, Book 1. $24.95.
Book 2. $32.95.
Workbook to Accompany Athenaze, Book 2. $19.95.
Teacher’s Handbook for Athenaze, Book 2. $24.95.
Supplementary Resources
Betts, Gavin, and Alan Henry. Teach Yourself Ancient Greek. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002.
$17.95. If Athenaze proves too challenging, you can use this mass-market self-teaching guide as a supplement or even a substitute. It isn’t as complete, but you may find it easier to use.
Gatchell, Christine. Elementary Greek: Koine for Beginners. Highlands Ranch, Colo.: Open Texture.
$149.95 for the complete course.
Pharr, Clyde, and John Henry Wright. Homeric Greek: A Book for Beginners, rev. ed. Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986.
$29.95. A good complement to Athenaze. This book, designed for students who know no Greek, plunges you into the reading of Homer almost straightaway. A good motivator for the first-year Greek student.
Modern Languages
Basic Texts
Power-Glide Language Courses. Provo, Utah: Power-Glide.
Order from Power-Glide. High-school courses come in three price ranges: $159.99 for a one-year course, $259.99 for a one-year course along with accredited proof of high-school credit; or $509.99 for course, credit, and support from a tutor. Visit power-glide.com for more options and sample lessons.
Spanish. 1, 2, 3, and AP.
French. 1, 2, 3, and AP.
German. 1 and 2.
Latin 1.
Mandarin 1.
Rosetta Stone Language Learning: Homeschool Edition. Harrisonburg, Va.
$349.00 for sets of Level 1 and 2 (probably 4–5 years of study for a younger student; the program estimates that it offers 800 hours of instruction). Order from Rosetta Stone. An interactive computer-based language learning program that uses photos and graphics to encourage the student to think in a foreign language. Each Homeschool Edition Level 1 includes a program for keeping track of the student’s progress. Many other languages are available at the Rosetta Stone website, www.rosettastone.com.
Spanish, Level I & II Set.
French, Level 1& II Set.
German, Level I & II Set.
Arabic, Level I & II Set.
Japanese, Level I & II Set.
Korean, Level I & II Set.
Russian, Level I & II Set.
Welsh, Level I & II Set.
Supplementary Resources
Calvez, Daniel J. French Grammar: A Complete Reference Guide. 2d ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004.
$18.95. A useful grammatical supplement to the spoken-language courses recommended above, which tend to be light on grammar.
Parish, Peggy, et al. Amelia Bedelia (Ya See Leer). New York: HarperCollins, 1996.
$4.95. A children’s standard, for fun Spanish reading; see how the puns work in another language.
Saint-Exupery, Antoine de. Le Petit Prince. French ed. San Diego, Calif.: Harvest Books, 2001.
$10.00. A good first excursion into French literature.
Viorst, Judith, and Alma F. Ada. Alexander Y El Dia Terrible, Horrible, Espantoso, Horrorosa. Illus. Ray Cruz. New York: Aladdin, 1989.
$5.99. Another children’s favorite in Spanish, just for fun.
Wiley Self-Teaching Guides. New York: John Wiley Publishers.
$18.95 apiece. Order from any bookstore. These paperbacks, designed for independent study, will fill in the grammar “holes” left by the conversation-focused programs recommended above. Good to have on hand for reference.
Hershfield-Haims, Suzanne A. French: A Self-Teaching Guide. 2d ed. 2000.
Lebano, Edoardo A. Italian: A Self-Teaching Guide. 2d ed. 2000.
Prado, Marcial. Practical Spanish Grammar: A Self-Teaching Guide. 1997.
Taylor, Heimy, and Werner Haas. German: A Self-Teaching Guide. 1997.
Correspondence Courses
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Independent Study High School
P.O. Box 888400
Lincoln, NE 68588-8400
402-472-2175
Fax: 402-472-1901
Web: nebraskahs.unl.edu
E-mail: extservice@unl.edu
Offers high-school courses, including foreign languages, by correspondence.
University of Oklahoma
Distance and Online Programs
Independent Study for College and High School Courses
1600 Jenkins, Room 101
Norman, OK 73073-6507
800-942-5702 or 405-325-1921
Fax: 405-325-7687
Web: isd.ou.edu
E-mail: cidl@ou.edu
The University of Oklahoma has good language correspondence courses, complete with texts and audiotapes. The catalog includes both high-school and college courses.
Keystone National High School
920 Central Road
Bloomsburg, PA 17815
866-376-8534 or 570-784-5220
Web: keystonehighschool.com
E-mail: info@keystonehighschool.com
Offers a full range of regular and AP classes, both by correspondence and online.