Blog
Visual Latin and the Latin Endings
From time to time I get questions about the complicated Latin endings. Students want to know if there is a place to find them all. Turns out, there is. If you go here, and scroll down, you will find some Latin charts I made some time ago. The charts are free. Here...
Could I see an example class?
People are often confused by all that I offer. I get that. It's confusing. Here's what's going on. Visual Latin is a professionally filmed series. I do not personally sell it. It is available here from Compass Classroom. Once they have completed Visual Latin many...
Whew.
I have not posted on my blog in months. I miss it. I miss writing. I am not currently teaching any classes. Christmas break. This is giving me time to catch up, and time to start blogging again. It's been a wild year for me. In February, Google shut my email...
Tip of the Week #306: How to Find the Price of a Car
We had a car go down this week. Since my family lives in car-dependent Tennessee, we had to replace it. Fun. My wife and I had already been looking for a good deal. We were able to find a ten year old car to replace the twenty year old car that broke down. I...
Tip #305: How to Find Mistakes in Your Writing
I often make mistake when I type. After all, I have Type-O blood. Heh, heh. But, I recently found a web extension that reads pages aloud. It's a great way to catch errors you might miss. Whether you are writing for work or school, before hitting publish or before...
Tip of the Week #304: How to Remember Where You Left Something
I tend to be a bit scatterbrained. I misplace things often. Wallet, keys, phone, kids, students, pens, lego bricks. You know, the usual stuff. Years ago, I learned a trick from a book. (I cannot remember the name of the book, as it turns out.) Whenever I put...
Tip of the Week #303: My Favorite Online Search Engines
These days, I do not rely on Google. I learned the hard way. Twice Google shut my website down. The second time the company shut my site down, they locked me out until I signed up for a monthly subscription. I wish I had that kind of power. I teach languages for a...
How to Use this Site
https://vimeo.com/1029894642
Tip of the Week #302: How to Breathe New Life into Your Old Pile of Lego Blocks
After sending an email last Saturday, many of you wrote to wish me luck opening a new store. I received this note from Erik: Mr. Dwane, Just wanted to quickly thank you for all the great tips throughout all these years, and wish you all the best with the opening of...
Tip of the Week #301: How to stay positive during an American election
It’s election season in America. Soooo… I recommend turning off all social media, all news, and all talk radio. The 24 hour news cycle is negative by nature. Negativity sells. Fear sells. All advertisers know this. In the newspaper business years ago, there was...
Tip of the Week #300: How to Stay Awake When You are Falling Asleep
I am running on empty these days. Pretty tired quite often. Even now, as I type this tip of the week. As most of you know, I decided to open a Lego store (Bricks and Minifigs) in Birmingham, Alabama. Vestavia Hills, actually. A little south of Birmingham. Long...
Tip of the Week #299: How to Extend the Range of a Key Fob
The key fob on our van is slowly giving out. Replacing it will be expensive, so I am waiting. These days, to extend the life of the key, I place it next to my head whenever I press the lock, or unlock button. Sometimes, I will push the button while holding the...
Tip of the Week #298: Keep an Extra Bathroom Travel Bag
If you travel much, even for short trips, it is smart to keep a travel-only toiletry kit. This is one you never unpack. Have one set of toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, and so on, in your bathroom at home. Keep a separate set exclusively for travel. When you...
Tip of the Week #297: How to Practice Your Target Language With Wikipedia
If you're trying to practice a new language, you can read Wikipedia articles in your target language. You’ll pick up relevant, real-world vocabulary across all kinds of topics. Another bonus: Wiki articles are generally clear and well-structured. It's a great way to...
Tip of the Week #296: How to Create a Throwaway Email Account
To register for classes on my site, you will need an email address. Sometimes, younger students share a family email address. Since many sites (mine included) often require unique email addresses, this creates a problem. There is an easy solution. You can create...
How to find the Henle Latin Exercises on this site
https://vimeo.com/1008659905 In this video, I also recommend Lingua Latina by Hans Ørberg. Here is the free digital version on Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/familia-romana/page/12/mode/2up
Word Spotlight #119: Malus
In a Latin class today, we talked about the word for bad, malus. From malus, English gets all kinds of bad words. No. Not that kind of bad words. The following English words trace their origins back to malus: Malice – the desire to do evil Malicious – intending to...
Word of the Day #118: Aestivate
I didn't post all summer. Maybe I should start calling this the "infrequent word of the day". Anyway, now that school is back in I'm back. One of my favorite words is estivate, also spelled aestivate. To estivate is to sleep during the summer because it's too hot...
Tip of the Week #295: How to Stop Losing your Keys
I used to lose my keys all the time. I can be a bit scatterbrained. Then, I started attaching my keys to lanyards. Honestly, I still lose my keys. But, not nearly as often as I used to. If you are having trouble keeping up with your keys, try attaching a bright...
Tip of the Week #294: How to Find the History of a Word
Etymology is the study of the history of words. It also happens to be a passion of mine. In fact, a few summers ago, Compass Classroom and I created a rather ridiculous etymology show called Word up. When you look up a word in a dictionary, you get its definition....
Tip of the Week #293: Don’t pay for Rental Car Damage (that you did not cause).
Years ago, I learned this tip the hard way. If you ever rent a car, take a video of the vehicle before you drive it off the lot. I didn't. And, I ended up paying for a scratch I don't think I put on the car. Before you drive off with the rental car, open the...
Tip of the Week #292: In over my Head
This is not really a tip. This week, I am here to ask for some help. Several years ago, I read a book called Late Bloomers: The Power of Patience in a World Obsessed with Early Achievement. I recommend it. In the book, the author mentions the average age of a new...
Tip of the Week #291: Free Filtered Water while on the Road
Here's a tip my wife taught me. If you are staying in a hotel in the U.S. and you want filtered, purified water, but don't feel like paying for bottled water, take a water bottle to the hotel gym. You will almost always find free filtered water in the gym. ...
Tip of the Week #290: How to Learn Latin Quickly
I have been teaching Latin for almost three decades. People often ask me, “If I want to learn Latin, how should I do it? To quote Hades’ minions in the movie Hercules, “If. If is good.” The truth is, you do not have to learn Latin. Do not let people bully you...
Tip of the Week #289: How to Become a Better Writer… in five minutes
If you are my age, you may remember Dilbert and his pointy-haired boss. Seventeen years ago, the author of the comic strip, Scott Adams, taught us how to become better writers. He did it, brilliantly, using only two hundred and sixty-four words. Here is what he said:...
Tip of the Week #288: How to use the passive voice to cut people some slack
Writers of grammar books tell us to avoid the passive voice. Instead of writing, "The last piece of cake was eaten", we should write "She ate the last piece of cake." I agree, and I tell my students to do the same. Learn to write in the active voice. But, as Alan...
Diagramming Henle Latin: First Year Latin – Chapter Two
If you have ever worked your way through the Henle Latin series, by Robert Henle, you know the author asks students to diagram sentences. The series was published around seventy years ago. Back then, kids new how to diagram. Schools still taught the skill. These...
Visual Latin and the Latin Endings: Lesson 23, Relative and Interrogative Pronouns
In Visual Latin, we learned all of Latin grammar. The complicated Latin endings often overwhelm students. For this reason, I filmed a series of videos. In these videos, I show students exactly how to use the complicated Latin charts I created to explain the...
First Year Latin by Robert Henle: Chapter One, Diagramming the Genitive Case
This summer (2024), I am working my way through First Year Latin by Robert Henle. I am showing students how to parse and diagram sentences from each chapter. This is the third video from chapter one: https://vimeo.com/982713695
Diagramming Direct Objects
If you have ever worked your way through the Henle Latin series, by Robert Henle, you know the author asks students to diagram sentences. The series was published around seventy years ago. Back then, kids new how to diagram. Schools still taught the skill. These...
How to Set and Hit your Goals: Free Series
During the month of July (2024) Compass Classroom and I are offering a series of free Webinars on Goal Setting. Find out more right here: https://compassclassroom.com/shop/product/setting-goals-live-summer-2024/ To register for the next webinar, simply click here:...
Diagramming Henle Latin: First Year Latin – Chapter One
If you have ever worked your way through the Henle Latin series, by Robert Henle, you know the author asks students to diagram sentences. The series was published around seventy years ago. Back then, kids new how to diagram. Schools still taught the skill. These...
How to Set and Hit Your Goals: Free Webinar
On Monday, July 8, 2024, I am offering a free webinar on setting and hitting goals. Actually, I am starting a series of webinars. We will meet every Monday morning in July of 2024 This is a free webinar organized by Compass Classroom. Feel free to join. Here is...
Help with a test question in chapter eight.
https://vimeo.com/975832758
French
I began studying French in 2020. As I have studied French, I have discovered many useful resources. Here, I share them with you. I hope they help you as much as they have helped me. If you are learning French, here are my top recommendations: (Note: Some of the...
Spanish
I am attempting to level up in Spanish. Compass Classroom and I want to produce something like Visual Latin, for Spanish. It has been a dream for some time. Unfortunately, my Spanish skills are the hold up. I still have much to learn. As I have studied Spanish, I...
German
German is the first foreign language I fell in love with. For nearly four years, I lived in Germany. My family live this tiny little, hardly on the map town: Leideneck. After returning back to America, Latin distracted me. I dropped German for a long time. Now, I...
What happened to the Tip of the Week?
For about a decade, I sent out a "Tip of the Week". Sometimes the "Tip of the Week" was something I found helpful for language study. Often, it was just something I found helpful. It could be about any topic, really. About a month ago, Google and Mail Chimp, the...
Visual Latin and the Latin Endings 21-30
To help you with the complicated Latin endings, I am creating videos for each lesson of Visual Latin. In these extra videos, I will show you exactly where on the charts to find the concepts and endings you are learning in Visual Latin. Here are the Latin charts I am...
Jumping ahead
A local student is interested in jumping ahead in French. It's possible. This is how to do it. https://vimeo.com/918742672?share=copy
Visual Latin and the Latin Endings 11-20
To help you with the complicated Latin endings, I am creating videos for each lesson of Visual Latin. In these extra videos, I will show you exactly where on the charts to find the concepts and endings you are learning in Visual Latin. Here are the Latin charts I am...
Tip of the Week #287: How to Track and Save Money
For a long time, to track our spending, I used Mint as a budgeting app. A month, or so, ago, Mint phased out. (I honestly do not know where to place the commas in that sentence.) In my quest for a replacement, I stumbled upon Rocket Money. The truth is, my wife...
How to learn a new language in 2024
In a January long ago, I sent out the first “Tip of the Week”. One of the benefits of doing the same thing over and over again for a long time is this. You begin to develop a reputation. Back when I started doing this, I had to come up with my own tips. These...
Goals: Latin to the Rescue
Last year I wrote a book on goal setting. I am now in the process of editing that book. As I edit, I will post excerpts here on my blog. This is from chapter four: _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Latin...
Word of the Day #117: Oubliette
In a French class this morning, my students and I learned the French word for forget: oublier. We spent a few minutes talking about the word. Oublier, the French verb, comes from the Latin verb meaning the same thing, obliviscor. Forgetful, in Latin, is oblitus....
Word of the Day #116: Apanthropy
Raining hard in Tennessee today. On days like this my apanthropy usually kicks in. Apanthropy is the desire to be alone, a love of solitude. Apanthropy comes from two Greek words. The preposition ἀπό (apo) means “away from”. Ἄνφροπος (anthropos), which you may...
Word of the Day #115: Fiancée
Someone once said, "English is a German language with a Latin vocabulary." We can see the truth of that statement in the word fiancée. This word came up this morning in a French class I teach. In French, a fiancée is a woman who has promised to marry. The masculine...
Goals: One Meal a Day
Last year I wrote a book on goal setting. I am now in the process of editing that book. As I edit, I will post excerpts here on my blog. This is from chapter four: _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Why...
Word of the Day #114: Exhaust
Exhaust: to drain; to deplete. This morning, in a Latin class, we came across the Latin verb exhaurire. Exhaurire is Latin for drawing out, emptying, or draining. Exhaurire itself is a combination of the preposition ex, meaning 'out of' and haurire, meaning to draw...
Did Christmas really happen?
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. All during the season of Christmas, we celebrate the most famous birthday of them all, the birthday of Jesus Christ. The question is, did it really happen? Did the son of the Creator come to our planet? Did he live, die, and then live...
Word of the Day #112: Snow
Snow: small, soft, white flakes of ice falling from the sky. This word has been in our language since the beginning. In Old English, snow was snaw. English is a Germanic language. Finding similar words in the Germanic languages, then, comes as no surprise. German:...