Inventory of Classical Greek Teaching in the Schools

2000/2001

Read or share Classical Greek teaching materials, such as lesson plans, teaching tips, pedagogical strategies, exercises, work sheets, sample quizzes and exams, projects, reviews of books, videos, and computer programs of use to Greek teachers, at Greek Teachers' Corner.

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Appendix - Questionnaire


Thomas J. Howell
Belchertown High School
62 N. Washington St.
Belchertown, MA 01007

t_j_howell@yahoo.com

You had asked a while back for me to write up a short description of my new Greek class.

Greek Language and Literature will be a one-year Honors course for secondary school juniors and seniors. Since it is difficult, even for the best students, to learn Greek in one year with sufficient competency to read anything substantial in only a year, my approach to the class is to intersperse Greek language with English selections of Greek authors. I intend to read selections from Herodotus, a play by Aristophanes, another by a tragedian (I’m looking into the English department syllabus, to do something they’re not), some Greek poets (including Alcaeus, Simonides, and Sappho), Plato’s Apology, and the Life of Alcibiades from Plutarch. I’ll be interspersing this with Greek from Athenaze; the idea here is to whet the student’s curiosity for Greek, enough that they might study it more seriously in college. An eventual hope is to design a class structure so that the last section of the class can be to translate some actual Homer—the vocabulary is restricted enough to make that a possibility, and I may be able to tailor grammar lessons toward whatever passage I choose.


Michael Zadig
Classics
Belmont Hill School
350 Prospect Street
Belmont, MA 02178

Zadig@belmont-hill.org

  1. YES
  2. YES
  3. YES
  4. YES

Greek is offered as a year long course to Seniors who have generally studied several years of Latin (usually through Virgil). The course is not being offered this year due to a small enrollment (2!) but will hopefully return next year. We did not use a single text, but rather a combination of Athenaze and Crosby & Schaeffer with readings from Nairn and Duckworth.

I do a 1 to 2 week study of Greek halfway through Latin 3 (sophomore year), between Cicero’s First Catilinarian Oration and letters of Pliny the Younger. We study the alphabet, certain vocabulary, Greek literary history, etc.

I would benefit from a book that was aimed at students with a background in Latin and an understanding of inflected language who would take a year long course teaching Greek syntax and vocabulary that worked toward understanding Homer and studying bits of the Iliad and Odyssey.


Winthrop Dahl
Nashoba Regional High School
12 Green Road
Bolton, MA 01740

WDahl@juno.com

  1. NO
  2. NO
  3. YES Similar to Ecce Romani? Athenaze isn’t bad, but too college-oriented.
  4. blank


Brian Donaher
Classics
Boston College High School
150 Morissey Boulevard
Boston, MA 02125

donaher@bchigh.edu

  1. YES
  2. NO
  3. YES yes
  4. YES

Greek 1 - 40
Greek 2 - 25
Greek 3 - 8

Something that would combine the excellences of Athenaze with the simplicity of, say, Thrasymachus. Also an accompanying workbook. One shortcoming of Athenaze - waits too long to introduce other tenses, and moods, for that matter.

Also - the Teach Yourself series presents lessons that are admirably self-contained, and self-containment is important in a non-traditional course.


Paul Moynahan
Classics
Boston College High School
150 Morissey Boulevard
Boston, MA 02125

moynahan@bchigh.edu

  1. YES
  2. NO
  3. YES
  4. YES

Greek I - 45 students, Athenaze I
Greek II - 20 students, Athenaze II plus handouts
Greek III - Homeric Academy - Odyssey / handouts

I would like to help with a new edition of an Athenaze type book. More emphasis on the Greek verb; stories dealing with history, mythology, more grammar exercises.

Thank you
Paul Moynahan


Caroline Caswell
Classics
Boston Latin Academy
205 Townsend Street
Boston, MA 02121-1223

caswell@mediaone.net

  1. YES
  2. NO
  3. blank
  4. YES


Michael Maguire
Classics
Boston Latin Academy
205 Townsend Street
Boston, MA 02121-1223

MickTheTailor@cs.com

  1. YES Just Intro Greek for one year
  2. NO
  3. NO The Athenaze book is fine.
  4. YES


Paul Properzio
Classics
Boston Latin Academy
205 Townsend Street
Boston, MA 02121-1223

pjpropertius@aol.com

  1. YES Greek I (year-long course): 2 sections of 19 students each. Teachers - Michael Maguire and Bob Cox. Text: Athenaze
  2. YES
  3. YES “How much grammar” - 60%; “Stories? Culture?” - 30%; “Etymology?” - 10%; “Would you help author such a book?” - Yes
  4. YES

I myself teach Greek (independently - after school/2 students once a week). Texts: Athenaze & Little Studies in Greek. I also spend about 1 day a week or in spots in Latin 5 (Vergil) (grade 11) teaching (using) Greek to these 33 students. No text used (citing from Homer to Euripides).


Kate Horsley
Boston University Academy
1 University Road
Boston, MA 02215

khorsley@bu.edu

  1. YES
  2. NO
  3. blank
  4. YES

Greek 25 (1) (8th - 10th grade)
Current text: From Alpha to Omega, Anne Groton
enrollment: 8

Greek 45 (2)
Current text: Introduction to Attic Greek, Don Mastronarde
enrollment: 8

Greek 65 (3)
Current text: Athenaze
enrollment: 3

As you can see my dept. has been experimenting with a new text each year. The Mastronarde is clearly not suited for high school.


Dorothy Souvaine
Classics
The Winsor School
Pilgrim Road
Boston, MA 02215

dsouvain@winsor.edu

  1. YES
  2. NO
  3. NO
  4. NO

2000/2001
Greek 3, Iliad, 7 students
Benner,Selections from Homer’s Iliad - All except for Achilles’ Shield*, plus Book 7, photocopied from Oxford text

Greek 4, entire Sophocles’ Ajax; and Philoctetes, ed. Webster; entire Euripides Hippolytos, ed. Hamilton, Bryn Mawr Press.

Also selections from Agamemnon, Aeschylos; Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War; Pindar’s Odes

*read in English

(2001/02 should bring a Greek I
Chase & Phillips, A New Introduction to Greek
Freeman & Lowe, Greek Reader


Alex Banay
Middlesex School
1400 Lowell Road
Concord, MA 01742

abanay@middlesex.edu

  1. YES
  2. NO
  3. NO
  4. YES

Our curriculum book makes reference to Greek I, II, and III, in parallel with the core offerings in the other languages, so that in theory a student could fulfill our school’s 3-year language requirement in Greek. In practice, our Greek students almost always either are taking or have taken another language, and we rarely have the opportunity to teach a Greek III. We use Thrasymachus for I, and for II resume the latter end of Thrasymachus and then graduate to Homer.

We are lucky enough to be able to schedule Greek in the regular day.


Charles Bradshaw
Wahconah Regional High School
150 Windsor Road
Dalton, MA 01226

We use Little Studies in Greek; the students like it; we do the alphabet and read some of the lessons in Greek.


George Blake
Noble and Greenough School
10 Campus Drive
Dedham, MA 02026

George_Blake@nobles.edu

  1. YES
  2. blank
  3. blank
  4. YES

Classical Greek I
One person, hopefully more soon
Athenaze


Daniel Matlach
Noble and Greenough School
10 Campus Drive
Dedham, MA 02026

Dan_Matlach@nobles.edu

  1. YES Introduction to Ancient Greek; one year (so far) offered to kids who have completed our Latin curriculum; Athenaze, Book I
  2. NO
  3. blank Don’t know
  4. YES


Sr. Ursula Binnette
Latin
Ursuline Academy
85 Lowder Street
Dedham, MA 02026

ursiebear@juno.com

  1. YES
  2. YES
  3. blank
  4. blank

I have been teaching a non-traditional class (I should say classes) of Greek since a 1985 Summer Session at Bowdoin. I allow girls who have completed one year of Latin to take the course once a week, and when a full period is not possible I give two mornings before school. Presently I am teaching the second year book of the Athenaze series as well as the First Year to the beginners. Last year I completed the second year book with my advanced group. My enrollment has varied because of labs or transportation. Up until this year I had 3 groups of 5, 8, 6 respectively. This year I have 2 groups of 3 and 4 respectively because of the reasons mentioned above.

I have been using the Athenaze series, which I enjoy. If I had a regular class I would perhaps want a more comprehensive text. This is enjoyable for the girls.

Two of my former students are now mastering in Classics, one at Harvard and the other at Wellesley. The latter has the reputation of being one of the finest students in her class. Of course this young lady was a very diligent student. I have one wish only: to have a regular class some day. My years undoubtedly are numbered as this is my 49th year of teaching. One of my goals in retiring is to be able to read fluently.


John T. Tulp
Classics Department
Groton School
P.O. Box 991
Groton, MA 01450

  1. YES Enrollment small but steady
  2. NO Full credit, regularly scheduled courses
  3. blank ?
  4. blank I doubt it would help us, but if it stimulates other programs it would probably be a good thing.

Greek 1 - often Thrasymachus, Peckett & Munday
Greek 2 - often selections from Apology followed by Iliad or Odyssey *
Greek 3 - continuation of Homer, sometimes Euripides’ Medea
occasionally Greek 4 - at discretion of teacher

* Good school texts for Iliad & Odyssey are hard to find now. Book Tech Company in Winchester, Mass., has both on computer file from out-of-print books for us and would be happy to provide them as well for anyone else who called in: attractive large-type paperback format. (781-933-5400//800-750-6229) We have had them prepare other out-of-print “resurrections” for us in Latin & Greek books, for example a text of Medea.


Shannon Farley
Eagle Hill School
242 Old Petersham Road
Box 116
Hardwick, MA 01037

sfarley@eaglehillschool.com

  1. NO
  2. YES I teach at a private boarding school for learning disabled adolescents. Some of our students have disabilities that are non-verbal, and though we have not had a language program per se, I have begun to teach a Latin elective this semester. Meanwhile, I have been teaching one of my brightest students Greek after school since last year. He wanted to have a language credit to strengthen his college applications this year.
  3. YES Sort of. I am very fond of Chase and Phillips, but for (especially my) high school kids it emphasizes independent work a bit too much. More activities that require students to identify and generate forms, so as to make them more automatic, which will facilitate translation. I’m not sure you would want a youngster such as myself, with only a Classics BA, to help author such a book. I’d be willing, though.
  4. YES I was not aware of such an exam.


Angela Moll
World Language
Haverhill High School
137 Monument Street
Haverhill, MA 01832

AMOLL1991@aol.com

  1. YES Greek 1, 2, 3 - A Basic Course in Reading Attic Greek
  2. NO
  3. YES
  4. YES

For a new introduction to Greek book, it is important to present grammar and vocabulary in a systematic fashion, with accompanying stories at appropriate levels (much like Jenney’s Latin series). Many texts are geared to college classes (e.g., Hansen & Quinn; JACT) and are difficult to adjust to days/week High School classes. Greek culture is another component often missing from many texts. I would enjoy assisting in the creation of a high school Greek book.


Soteria George
193 S. Frank
Holbrooke, MA 02343

CPE54@earthlink.net

  1. YES GREEK I, 6, Athenaze I; GREEK II, 6, Athenaze I & II
  2. YES
  3. YES The book for Intro to Greek may have etymology, culture, Greek plays in English, but mainly grammar, reading, and the tools to be able to translate Greek passages.
  4. YES

For two years I taught Greek to eighth grade students as an exploratory arts course every other day.


Jon A. Moro
Holyoke Catholic High School
Holyoke, MA 01040

jonmoro@yahoo.com

  1. YES Greek 1, new in 2000/2001: Athenaze, 11 students currently enrolled.
  2. NO
  3. NO
  4. YES


Carl Lenhart
Foreign Language
Barnstable High School
744 West Main Street
Hyannis, MA 02601

CARL_LENHART@HOTMAIL.COM

  1. NO
  2. YES
  3. YES
  4. YES

1. TEACHING OF GREEK
A. I taught 1 year of introductory Greek to 4 Latin students during their fourth year of the Latin program, i.e., they agreed to be taught Greek instead of a fourth year of Latin. This class was taught in a combined course with 3rd-year Latin. We got through the 1st book of Athenaze & 15 chapters of Chase and Phillips. This class occurred in Indiana 3 years ago. I also taught an intensive course on Greek, using Athenaze, over a 3 week period outside of the regular curriculum (P.S. I used Reading Greek with some earlier students). I had 10 students, and we met in a coffeehouse for 4 - 5 hrs. a day.

B. I frequently insert Greek language training in my current classes at Barnstable H.S., especially at the 2nd-year level and above.

C. Last year, I co-taught 2 class periods with our Shakespeare/World Literature teacher on the Odyssey. The English (World Lit.) teacher prepared his students with an English translation of the Odyssey, and I prepared his students and my 3rd-year Latin students with a Greek version of a segment of the text.

This year the same Lit. teacher and myself will be doing a bilingual segment of the Oedipus Rex and acting it out bilingually, hopefully with masks constructed by our Drama Dept.

D. I just received approval from my principal to teach Greek after school next year.

NEW GREEK TEXTBOOK
(I am extremely interested in helping to author such a text!)

A. Some things that initially come to my mind regarding content are:

I am so excited about your interest in Latin teachers who wish to teach Greek within or in addition to their Latin programs at the secondary level. I am hopeful to do either/or, preferring to teach Greek within its own regular curriculum. My school administration is supportive. I just need help getting a program off the ground.


Elizabeth Baer
Latin
Berkshire Country Day School
P.O. Box 867
Lenox, MA 01240

elizabis@att.net

  1. YES Although Greek is a course offering here at BDS’s new high school, and I would be the one to teach it, this is the first year of the new high school and no one signed on for Greek this year.
  2. NO
  3. blank Don’t know yet - I’d have to work with high school students for a time to be able to assess this.
  4. blank Don’t know yet - I’d have to work with high school students for a time to be able to assess this.


Steve Ciraolo
Tabor Academy
Front Street
Marion, MA 02738

sciraolo@taboracademy.org

  1. YES Greek I, Greek II, Greek III, Greek Philosophy (in transl.), Archaeology (includes Gk.)
  2. NO
  3. NO
  4. NO


Bruce Cobbold
Classics
Tabor Academy
Front Street
Marion, MA 02738

bcobbold@taboracademy.org

  1. YES Greek I - III; Athenaze I & II, then literature ad lib.
  2. NO
  3. blank
  4. YES


Dennis Herer
Classics
Tabor Academy
Front Street
Marion, MA 02738

dherer@tabor.org

  1. YES
  2. blank
  3. YES Possibly
  4. NO

Greek 1 - 5 enrolled this year (meets 3 or 4 x per week)

Greek 2 - 6 enrolled this year (meets 3 x per week)

No Greek 3 this year, usually only one or two on independent study basis

Text used - Athenaze, which we find suitable and enjoyable, but are frustrated that certain grammatical things are introduced so late, such as the future tense, subjunctive, etc.

We get to about chapter 12B in year one, with our time restrictions. Our students typically have full schedules, with at least a couple honors or AP courses, and even occasionally a conflict with a lab 1x per week, so in order to keep them enrolled in a Greek elective we have to cut them a break.


Jay Houck
Tabor Academy
Front Street
Marion, MA 02738

JHOUCK@taboracademy.org

  1. YES Athenaze 1 - 2
  2. NO
  3. NO
  4. YES


Richard Geckle
Natick High School
15 West Street
Natick, MA 01760

  1. blank
  2. blank
  3. blank
  4. blank

I’m thinking of offering a year of Greek at some point in the next 2 - 3 years, but my concern of course is that it would cannibalize the Latin program, to some extent.


Michael Nerbonne
Classics
St. Sebastian’s School
1191 Greendale Avenue
Needham, MA 02492

michael_nerbonne@stsebs.org

  1. YES Athenaze Book I - Greek I Honors (grade 12), enrollment = 11
  2. NO
  3. YES
  4. NO


Thomas Burgess
Classics
Brooks School
1160 Great Pond Road
North Andover, MA 01845

tburgess@brooksschool.org

  1. YES
  2. YES Squeeze into open periods as minor & independent study, as well as regular courses
  3. both I wish I could use Thrasymachus stories 1 - 15 with a grammar explanation as clear as Athenaze.
  4. YES

See the Brooks School Course Catalogue for more information.


Deborah Davies
123 Argilla Road
Andover, MA 01810-4622

Brooks School
1160 Great Pond Road
North Andover, MA 01845

  1. YES
  2. YES Upper level reading courses may be listed as Independent Study & only meet 2 times per week.
  3. YES Less grammar (plenty of sources for that); more of the rest.
  4. YES

Greek 01, 02, 03 (Athenaze)
Greek RO (1st reading course—varies)
Greek Reading (varies according to students’ & teacher’s desires)


Sally E. Morris
Brooks School
1160 Great Pond Road
North Andover, MA 01845

smorris@brooksschool.org

  1. YES
  2. NO
  3. YES A new Greek grammar should have more space between the lines (1 1/2 - double-spaced?), and color coding the charts would be helpful!
  4. YES

First year: Athenaze I; Second year: Athenaze II (sometimes fall semester only).

Third and Fourth years: Oxford Texts or texts w/ notes for tragedy, New Testament, comedy, history, philosophy, lyric, epic, as the teacher chooses (no particular sequence).


Jessica Mix Barrington
Classics
Northfield Mount Hermon
206 Main Street, Box 2613
Northfield, MA 01360-1089

jbarrington@nmhschool.org

  1. YES Greek 1, 2, 3/4 all depend on who signs up
  2. NO
  3. blank
  4. blank


Rosalba Ciampi
Cape Cod Academy
PO Box 469
Osterville, MA 02655-0469

ROSALBAC@ALUMNI.WASHINGTON.EDU

  1. NO
  2. YES I meet with a very small group of students every Friday at second lunch, but I think that there is a potential for more to attend. I use Susan Weiler’s Mini-Myths and Maxi-Words (Prentice-Hall).
  3. YES My students (7th/8th graders) seem to be particularly interested in mythological stories. I don’t think that the new textbook should be too structured at first, but progressively introduce grammatical concepts/points. My idea is that it would be great to have a book that presents Greek in comparison with Latin. Students should/would refer to their already solid knowledge of an inflected language. The same applies to their ability/interest in English derivatives. I would be interested in helping author such a book.
  4. YES


Norman Merrill
Foreign Language
The Berkshire School
245 N. Undermountain Road
Sheffield, MA 01257

tully63@bcn.net

  1. NO
  2. YES It depends on the student. Usually they are beginners. Last year, however, I worked with a German student who had had two years of Greek. He was very good.
  3. NO
  4. blank


Jacob Rabinowitz
World Languages
Somerset High
Grandview Avenue Extension
Somerset, MA 02726

sumbebekos@aol.com

NO

blank Plan to start a course next year.

YES Something like Jenney, or Latin for Americans would be ideal.

YES


Nicholas Unger
Classics
Saint Mark’s School
25 Marlborough Road
Southborough, MA 01772-9105

nicholasunger@stmarksschool.org

  1. YES
  2. blank
  3. NO
  4. YES

Greek 1
This course serves as the introduction to the study of Greek language and culture. Using Crosby and Schaeffer’s An Introduction to Greek, the class covers most of the grammar of Attic Greek in the first year. In addition we will read selections from Greek literature, including Xenophon and the New Testament. At several points in the year, students will undertake projects on Greek culture and history. Enrollment 2000: 4

Greek 2
The class completes An Introduction to Greek, with an emphasis on reading fragments from the presocratics. Students learn the concepts of early Greek philosophy, culminating in a Greek-style symposium on presocratic metaphysics. The winter is spent reading selections from Aesop, Xenophon, and Herodotus. Socrates is the focus of the spring term, and Plato’s Apology is closely read and discussed. Enrollment 2000: 3

Greek 3
The fall is devoted to the study of Homer’s Iliad. Emphasis is placed on understanding the ancient oral tradition and its conventions, concepts of the hero in Greek literature, and the social values of Homeric society. In the spring readings in Greek tragedy, history, or lyric are studied at the discretion of the instructor. Enrollment 2000: 0; Enrollment 1997-98: 2


Richard J. Deppe
Department Head
Classical and Modern Languages
The Wellesley Public Schools
50 Rice Street
Wellesley, MA 02482

richard_deppe@wellesley.mec.edu

  1. NO
  2. YES before school; independent study
  3. NO Athenaze fills this role.
  4. NO

I meet with interested students as is possible on several occasions over the course of our seven-day cycle. Normally I use Athenaze. With the student I have now, who is truly gifted, I am using Hansen & Quinn.

I look forward to any contact and support.


Jack Brennan
The Roxbury Latin School
101 St. Theresa Ave.
West Roxbury, MA 02132

  1. YES
  2. blank
  3. blank
  4. NO

Greek I - 16 students, Athenaze
Greek II - 10 students, Athenaze (complete, Plato)
Greek III - 5 students, Iliad, Benner; Spring = Lyric Poetry - selections


Ned Ligon
Classics
The Roxbury Latin School
101 St. Theresa Ave.
West Roxbury, MA 02132

esligon@yahoo.com

  1. YES
  2. NO
  3. blank ??
  4. NO

See Appendix for catalog description of the Roxbury Latin School Greek program.


Marilyn Rossi
Foreign Language
West Springfield High School
425 Piper Road
West Springfield, MA 01089

TerBernini@aol.com

  1. NO
  2. NO But I had three independent study last year.
  3. NO I used Athenaze with great success!
  4. NO Maybe not yet!


Amanda Wall
Mount Greylock Regional High School
1781 Cold Spring Road
Williamstown, MA 01267

amanda_wall_@hotmail.com

  1. NO
  2. YES Latin I-A: alphabet.
    Latin IV: alphabet, roots, English vocabulary
  3. YES Very simple stories & grammar, mostly history, geography, culture, etymology.
  4. YES

Lola Greene taught a Greek unit in Latin IV. I taught it this year, combining her materials with some I made for a Latin III unit last year. This unit emphasizes English vocabulary from prominent Greek roots.

This was a very popular unit. I considered preparing an after-school program for next year. I still may do it. I would aim for younger students in hopes of eventually adding a Greek course in the curriculum.

Beyond basic transliteration, I am unsure how to proceed. Even the stories in Athenaze would be too difficult when presented in an extracurricular context.

This questionnaire comes at a good time for me as I consider ways to put more Greek in the Latin classes. A separate course would be wonderful, but I think it would be most effective to build interest through the Latin courses and an after school program.

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