Latina Christiana I and II DVD's
by Cheryl Lowe
Reviewed by Martha Robinson
Purchase details: Latina Christiana DVD's for Latina Christiana I ($55) or Latina Christiana II ($45). Please support HomeschoolChristian.com by buying this program from our Christian Book Distributors link or our Amazon affiliate link.
Leigh Lowe, author of Prima Latina and teacher at Highlands Latin School, brings professional Latin instruction into the home with Memoria Press's Latina Christiana videos. The video displays Mrs. Leigh, Mrs. Lowe's preferred name, lecturing in one portion of the screen, while relevant material from the course (vocabulary, grammar concepts, examples) appears in a slide format on another part of the screen. Copies of the slides may be downloaded from Memoria Press's website.
Five DVD's are included for Latina Christiana I, while four come with Latina Christiana II. The indexing on the DVD's allows the family to select the lesson desired.
Latina Christiana I
Instruction begins with a lengthy introduction on goals, why to study Latin, and what to expect in the program. Mrs. Leigh stresses that the students' responsibilities are to practice and to do their work carefully.
The introductory lesson covers Latin phonics and pronunciation. Mrs. Leigh also discusses how Latin differs from English in that it is an inflected language.
The format for each lesson is much the same. Mrs. Leigh begins with Latin conversation and a prayer. After recitation of grammar chants, she refers the students to the pronunciation CD to sing one of the songs. Then, the new lesson is covered starting with the Latin saying and its background. Mrs. Leigh next introduces the vocabulary and tells the student to look for similarities between Latin and English and to try to identify each Latin word by part of speech. Vocabulary is said twice by the instructor, and then the student is asked to say the vocabulary. Derivatives are introduced, followed by the grammar lesson and some drill on the grammar concepts. Finally, Mrs. Leigh discusses the activities for the week from the text and works through a couple exercises to get the student started.
The review lesson video offers encouragement and instruction to the parent, rather than instruction for the student.
Latina Christiana II
Mrs. Leigh welcomes the students back and moves directly into instruction in the Latina Christiana II DVD's. She does not do the recitation in this set of videos, but still recommends that the students do it daily. The instructor encourages students to slow down if necessary to gain mastery of Latin. Because the first five lessons of Latina Christiana II are review, lessons on the DVD begin with Lesson Six.
As in the previous set of videos, Mrs. Leigh introduces the Latin saying, vocabulary, and derivatives. She asks students to identify words by part of speech and declension or conjugation. In both the grammar lesson and the exercises, Mrs. Leigh suggests that the student should get used to recognizing the cases without looking at the reference chart. Additional examples not found in the text, such as Bible verses and declining more nouns, help the student gain a better understanding of the more complex material in Latina Christiana II.
Recommendation: The Latina Christiana DVD's will make Latin substantially easier to teach for both the Latin-experienced and inexperienced parent. Automating daily recitation will save the sanity of busy parents, and the explanations and additional examples will be tremendous help to those who are learning Latin along with their children. For the relatively small additional investment, the Latina Christiana DVD's will greatly enhance the family's success at studying Latin.
HomeschoolChristian.com resources related to this review:
Latin Curricula Comparison Chart to help select an introductory or intensive program.
HomeschoolChristian.com's Classic Languages Resource Section
Review of Latina Christiana
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