Understanding Spoken Latin
with FORUM ROMANUM

Presenters:
Thomas Sienkewicz, Monmouth College , Monmouth IL
with Monmouth College students

While students taking Latin generally do not do so to speak the language, listening skills are nevertheless an important tool in learning how to read any language, including Latin. The FORUM ROMANUM video series developed by the National Latin Exam is an excellent way for Latin students to learn how to listen to spoken Latin.

The purpose of this presentation is to describe ways in which FORUM ROMANUM is used for such a purpose in a Monmouth College course entitled “Understanding Spoken Latin.” In this joint presentation various features of this course will be described not only from the perspectives of both the instructor and students who took the course. Worksheets on various FORUM ROMANUM programs will be distributed to participants, who will also be asked to participate in a sample teaching unit, applicable to all levels of Latin teaching. This sample class session will include viewing of an episode of FORUM ROMANUM and appropriate classroom exercises, including comprehension questions on the program and a Latin dictation exercise.      

Some time will be set aside during the presentation for the audience to brainstorm about ways in the goals and techniques used in this course can be applied in other Latin programs, both in high school and college.