Primus Annus

THIS course is an attempt to apply the Direct Method to the teaching of Latin. The method, when used for modern language teaching, is based on a psychological principle of imitation; the learner learns by imitating his master, by saying what he says, the grammar only coming in afterwards to explain practice. In the teaching of Latin, this method is modified in an essential particular by the character of the Latin language itself; Latin is so highly inflected, and so much of its syntax is strange to the learner, that the grammar must form the basis throughout and determine to some extent the arrangement of subject-matter.

In using the present book, the teacher will generally find a certain sequence of treatment convenient, or even necessary:

(1) Before a new exercise (or story) is touched, a new point of grammar has to be explained. This is put before the class by means of concrete examples, and then elucidated by reference to Pure Grammar; it is then applied by frequent and varied oral practice, drawn not from the story but from the vocabulary already possessed by the class; e.g. if the Accusative of Extent is under consideration the oral practice will consist of questions like the following: 'Quamdiū in lūdō sumus cottīdiē?' 'Quam longe tū abes ā magistrō?' 'Quam longē tabula distat ā iānua?' and the like. In this way faults will be prevented from taking root; the oral practice should at any rate be continued until the new point of grammar is thoroughly understood and can be accurately applied.

(2) The story is now taken in hand, and is explained in the first instance (with books closed) by the master, in Latin, and driven home by repeated questions put to the class. It is important, in this stage, that the class shall not merely listen and understand but shall also speak; where they cannot explain anything themselves they must repeat the explanation given by the master. When they have got on a little way in the course they will begin to take down explanations of important words in their notebooks and learn them by heart.

(3) The story can now be read in class from the book; this should never be done until it can be attempted with confidence, and when it is done the teacher should insist upon intelligent expression. The subject-matter and vocabulary can now be set for homework; the hearing of it will usually lead to the story being reconstructed by means of question and answer, the questions being varied in every possible way to ensure plasticity and liveliness of mind.

Each teacher will use his own discretion about the 'pensa' bearing in mind the great principle that nothing is to be written down until it has been understood and practised.

It may be found difficult to apply the above rules at first, but they will become almost mechanical with the teacher as the work progresses; and as regards the first lessons of all in this book, it will be obvious that they are mere adumbrations, which leave the teacher scope for 'filling in'. It has been our experience that the use of the Direct Method in Latin awakens keen interest on the part of the learner. This interest is not necessarily an end in itself, but a good teacher will make it his business to take advantage of it in order to get out of the Latin lessons that exact and rigorous intellectual discipline which they ought to afford. One sometimes hears teachers say that the Direct Method makes a foreign language easy; such men betray themselves when they say so, for anybody who has seriously tried it knows that the new method is far more exacting, for teacher and learner alike, than the old. Yet boys take to it eagerly, for they cannot forget at any stage of it that they are occupied with something real.

S. O. ANDREW. WHITGIFT SCHOOL, CROYDON.

Ego interrogō, tū respondēs, ille audit. Ego et ille surgimus; nōs stāmus. Tū et ille cōnsīditis; vōs sedētis. Illī veniunt. Quis docet? Magister docet. Quis discit? Discipulus discit. Magister etiam scrībit; discipulus spectat. Nēmō stat, omnēs sedent. Omnēs recitant, nēmō silet.

QUĀRTA LĒCTIŌ: Interrogātiō.

Recitāsne tū? Minimē, magister, ego audiō. Audīsne? Ita, magister, audiō. Nōnne vōs sedētis? Sānē, magister, nōs sedēmus. Surgitne ille an cōnsīdit? Neque surgit neque cōnsīdit, sed stat. Audiuntne illī an spectant? Et audiunt et spectant. Scrībōne ego an interrogō? Nōn scrībis, sed interrogās. Intellegitisne omnēs annōn? Intellegimus.

QUĪNTA LĒCTIŌ: Nōmen.

Quid est illud? Mēnsa est illa. Quid est hoc? Sella est haec.

Iānua, fenestra, tabula, crēta, carta, pāgina, līttera, lingua, dextra, sinistra, pila, camera.

Quid est illud? Nōnne scīs? Minimē, magister, nesciō.

SEXTA LĒCTIŌ: Adiectīvum.

Quālis est tabula? Quadrāta est tabula. Pila est rotunda.

Iānua et longa et angusta est, sed tabula lāta est. Crēta alba est, lingua rubra, tabula nigra. Iānua clausa est; fenestra nōn clausa sed aperta est. Neque haec līttera, neque illa rubra est: haec nigra est, illa caerulea.

Quanta est mēnsa? Māgna est mēnsa, sed sella parva.

SEPTIMA LĒCTIŌ: Cāsus Accūsātīvus.

Quid vidēs? Crētam videō, ō magister.

Pāginam tangō, sūmō, teneō, pōnō.

Ego albam crētam habeō, vōs nigram tabulam vidētis.

Discipulus iānuam aperit; nunc aperta est iānua; apertam iānuam vidētis.

Magister fenestram claudit; nunc clausa est fenestra; clausam fenestram vidētis.

Parvam crētam sūmō; māgnam lītteram et longam sententiam scrībō.

Spectāte omnēs! Dextra sinistram tangit; nunc dextram sinistra tangit.

OCTĀVA LĒCTIŌ: Adiectīvum Possessīvum.

Mea est haec crēta; meam crētam vidētis. Tua est illa sella; tuam sellam mōnstrō. Mārcus suam sellam habet. Nostra tabula est haec; nostram tabulam spectāmus. Vestra camera est haec: spectāte vestram cameram! Magister suam cameram habet.

PĒNSUM. A. Dēclīnā: recitō, stō, respondeō, sedeō, surgō, faciō, veniō. B. Respondē: (i) Quālis est iānua, fenestra, tabula, crēta, pila? (ii) Quanta est mēnsa, sella, crēta, līttera B, haec sententia? (iii) Quālem crētam teneō? (iv) Quālem tabulam habēmus? (v) Quālem pāginam tangis? (vi) Quālem fenestram vidēs? (vii) Quantam sententiam scrībis? (viii) Quantam cameram habētis? (ix) Cūius est crēta? camera? (x) Cūius sellam habēs?

NŌNA LĒCTIŌ. Prīma Dēclīnātiō. Carta Eurōpae.

Hīc est terra, illīc est aqua. Spectāte! hīc terram, illīc aquam vidētis. Quālis est terra? Terra rubra est, sed aqua caerulea. Nunc īnsulam mōnstrō; Corsica est īnsula, Britannia etiam īnsula est. Britannia māgna, Corsica parva īnsula est. Īnsulane est Ītalia? Minimē, Ītalia nōn īnsula sed paenīnsula est. Neque Ītalia neque Hispānia īnsula est; longa paenīnsula est Ītalia, Hispānia ferē quadrāta paenīnsula, Graecia acūta paenīnsula. Quālis terra est Helvētia? Helvētia neque īnsula neque paenīnsula est, sed terra inclūsa. Britinnia est nostra patria. Melita prōvincia nostra est. Hīc Rōmam mōnstrō; Hispānia erat Rōmāna prōvincia; Gallia etiam Rōmāna prōvincia erat. Nunc aliam prōvinciam Rōmānam mōnstrō; Sicilia etiam, māgna īnsula, prōvincia erat, sed Germānia nōn erat prōvincia.

PĒNSUM. A. Ēdisce vocābula. B. Scrībe respōnsa: (i) Quid est Hispānia? Sardinia? Helvētia? (ii) Quālis et quanta terra est Sicilia? et Ītalia? (iii) Utra īnsula est māgna, Sardinia an Hibernia? (iv) Utra paenīnsula est longa, Ītalia an Hispānia? (v) Quae īnsula Rōmāna prōvincia erat? (vi) Cūius patria est Britannia? (vii) Cūius prōvincia est Melita? (viii) Quālem iānuam habēs? (ix) Quālem sententiam scrībis? C. Scrībe interrogāta ad haec respōnsa: (i) Pila est illa. (ii) Linguam tangō. (iii) Nigra est tabula. (iv) Māgna īnsula est Britannia. (v) Clausam fenestram vidēmus. (vi) Vōs sedētis. (vii) Britanniam nōn Galliam mōnstrō. (viii) Mea est haec pāgina. (ix) Melita est nostra prōvincia.

DECIMA LĒCTIŌ. Numerus Plūrālis. Carta Eurōpae.

Multae prōvinciae sunt, ūna, duae, trēs, quattuor, quīnque, sex, septem, octō, novem, decem. Quot īnsulae sunt? Nōnne multās etiam īnsulās vidētis? Ecce! multās īnsulās mōnstrō, ūnam, duās, trēs, quattuor, quīnque, sex, septem, octō, novem, decem. Multae et ferē innumerae sunt īnsulae.

Quot māgnae īnsulae sunt? Paucae sunt māgnae īnsulae, trēs vel quattuor, Britannia, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicilia.