Navigating the 5 Cs, part 1: Dei Romanorum

Part 1 of the presentation delivered at ACTFL 2012 in Philadelphia

Read the Introduction to “Navigating the 5 Cs.”

The Olympians by Nicolas-André Monsiau (1754–1837)
The Olympians by Nicolas-André Monsiau (1754–1837)

This is a set of activities that you can do on even the first day of a beginning Latin class, esp. if you are using a textbook that begins with the introduction of a family. Students will learn a bit about the the gods, their spheres of influence and associated symbols, and familial relationships. In terms of the 5 Cs, the activities combine a Cultural element (mythology/religion) and a Comparative element (Greek and Roman cultural contact), and will make some Connections with art history and astronomy. The concept of cases is introduced using the nominative and the genitive, but you do not have to talk explicitly about grammar. There’s no need to say “Now we will see that the copulative verb requires a predicate nominative.”

Please note that this is not a complete, ready-to-use lesson plan, but rather an idea that you can build on and adapt. Please be sure to view the presenter notes for details.

Dei Romanorum Keynote file with presenter notes, zipped Dei Romanorum pdf with presenter notes Olympian symbol cards, Pages format, zipped Olympian symbol cards pdf

The “Olympian symbol cards” are for an activity mentioned in the presentation. The pdf can be printed onto pre-perforated business cards (I used some by Avery; in any case, do a test print on plain paper to check the alignment). If you want to edit or add to them, use the Pages file.

UPDATE: A full PowerPoint ready for classroom use (completed and field-tested by Melanie; you may want to delete the introductory and concluding slides) is now available (please be patient; it’s an approx. 40MB download).
Dei Romanorum at Graecorum PowerPoint

You can purchase Holst’s “The Planets” (which is mentioned in the presentation) on iTunes, of course.