Review: Latin and French Resources

Latin

We have one lesson to go in Latina Christiana! Studying Latin, even just for a year, has been a really good thing to do. It has been fun and has given us a fascinating introduction to some of the roots of the English language.

I recommend Latina Christiana which is yet another resource I learned about from The Well-Trained Mind. The lessons are straight-forward and the information interesting. We enjoyed the activities on English derivations most. Some of the Latin quotes for memorisation are boring (in my opinion) so we chose different quotes from the Internet. Josiah and Tessa rebelled against using recitation and writing to practice vocab so I wrote all our vocab on cards and we played Fish every week instead.

I plan to continue weekly Latin Fish games next term so we don't forget the vocab learned.

French

Rather than continue with Latin, we are going to replace it next term with French. We have chosen French because the 2009 World Youth Climbing Championship will take place in France, and Josiah hopes to try out for the NZ national team. There are no guarantees he will make it onto the team of course but just the possibility seems enough reason to learn some French It has often frustrated me that I don't know how to pronounce the odd French phrase in books so I am looking forward to getting started. I learned a little French when I was an exchange student in Germany many years ago but I can't remember a word of it

I have ordered Hugo French in Three Months with CD. It is aimed at adults and from my previous experience of Hugo Spanish in Three Months I know it will not be ideal for the kids: I will have to modify the lessons. But the popular language courses for children, Rosetta Stone and Power-Glide, cost about three times the price of Hugo and from studying their websites, I am not at all convinced they are superior.