LATN UN1121

Basic introduction to reading/translating Latin

30% Daily quizzes that could be anywhere from a breeze to really tough, but they always kept us on our toes with vocab, syntax, and morphology. 30% Two midterms 25% Final exam 15% Participation/attendance It was an intensive course during the summer, so about 3-6 hours of hw a day, which was basically never collected, but nevertheless pretty essential to doing well in the class.

Since this was an intensive class, we would usually have alternating days of (1) a quiz on the previous chapter and a lecture introducing us to the next chapter, and (2) in-class sight readings of Latin literary excerpts assigned the previous class. (A chapter means about 30-40 new vocabulary words, most of which aren't difficult to memorize if you took Spanish or French in high school, and about 10-12 new concepts in syntax and morphology.) We also had an in-class midterm, a second take-home "midterm" near the end of the classes after having finished the entire textbook, and an in-class final on passages from Virgil and Cicero, whom we had been reading in our last few classes. For an intensive language class, this was NOT BAD AT ALL.

There's no getting around it, this class is a lot of work. It's literally double the amount of work as regular Elementary for the same number of credits. That doesn't mean it's impossible—just be prepared.

Fair. Homework due every class (30 minutes to an hour an assignment) and a quiz every other class. Two reasonable midterms.

Not bad considering it's intensive. Quiz most classes (she'll tell you if it's grammar or vocabulary focused). Exercises given for each class but just to go over in class, graded assignments submitted online once a week. 3 midterms all the same length. Final same structure as midterm with a few more lines of translation. I was familiar with Latin before taking this class, put in minimal effort and got an A. If you do the homework (for completion) and study for the quizzes the midterms are completely manageable.

I learned the grammatical structure and syntax of Latin, as well as the fundamental skills needed to read it and do basic sentence construction.

Sam was my teacher for intensive Latin (first two semesters) during the summer. This means that in 6 short weeks, we attempted to learn essentially the entirety of Latin grammar. Being honest, I was taking this class to get my language requirement out of the way, and intensive intermediate is offered the next half of the summer, meaning the entire language requirement done in 12 weeks. So I was somewhat appropriately assuming this class was going to be the most horrible academic thing I have ever done, and when I found out a grad student was going to be teaching the class, I was expecting the worst. But I couldn't have been more wrong. Sam was one of the most fantastic, engaging, dedicated teachers I have had at Columbia. He took what should have been a horrible 6 weeks (btw 3 hours a day, 4 days a week), and instead made it fun and interesting. A few things that made this class so great: 1) Because only a portion of class was lecture (about 20-40% of class time), we were able to really engage with the other classmates when translating together, making it a fun, lax, yet very productive environment. 2) The textbook, while kind of a pain to read, was incredibly thorough and answered almost every little "well what if..." question. 3) For what the textbook couldn't answer, or perhaps just didn't say well, Sam was able to answer with relative ease. He is incredibly knowledgable ab…

Few words seem more apt to describe Collomia than "badass." Covered in tattoos (though she hides them well), keeping a stoic air about her wherever she goes, Collomia is truly a pleasure to have as a professor. Though not the most personable of professors (then again, what professor is?), she is one of the most helpful, patient language teachers you will ever have; she may never look you in the eye, but she will get you to understand the meaning of "participle" and "gerund" inside and out. I was also astonished to find out halfway through the semester that Collomia's area of academic specialty is not Latin, but Greek: had she not told us, I would have been convinced by her confidence in and utter adoration of the language that Latin is her favorite of the two. Also delightful are her many bloody and hilarious stories from Greek and Roman history that she tells with an exquisitely deadpan humor, and her encyclopedic cultural literacy (she once paused mid-lesson with a sudden revelation about a scene in Heart of Darkness) always left us giggling with joy. She is also exceedingly fair, perhaps even generous, when it comes to giving and grading assignments. On the last day before spring break, for example, she asked if all of us had studied for the quiz; when we nodded, she said, "Good, I don't have to give it to you. Let's read some Latin and go home." Finally, another favorite a…

Kate is one of the best teachers I've ever had. She passes all the standard tests by which we judge teachers with flying colors. She has great knowledge of the subject material. She is familiar with the Keller & Russell textbook. She is a fair grader, and returns assignments very fast. She is incredibly available: she holds two office hours a week, and schedules extra times to meet with her before big exams or during particularly difficult parts of the course. She gives very personal feedback; she intimately knows each of her students' strengths and weaknesses, and will tell you what to focus on to improve. She is remarkably consistent, and to her credit never let tiredness or personal problems get in the way of her teaching. Beyond all of that, though, Kate is one of the most passionate and caring instructors I've ever met. She clearly loves Latin, and does her best to share that love with her students. She's a genuinely funny and interesting person, and she will make you want to go to her office hours. Because Columbia gives comparatively so little reward for taking Intensive Elementary (it is worth the same number of credits as the regular Elementary course), the quality of the professor teaching it, and his/her ability to generate enthusiasm for it, is especially important. With a different professor, I could easily have come to see this class as my biggest chore of the we…