by Dwane | Nov 30, 2016 | Education, Italian, Latin
The other day, I received a sad email. Here it is: I am looking for someone to practise speaking with using the lingua Latina course as the basis.i have had two tutors but I am still not able to speak the language after 11 years of effort. Do your online courses help...
by Dwane | Nov 29, 2016 | Education, Latin
I received this question: Just to clarify: The syllabus schedule would have us meeting, Nov 30, Dec 7, Dec 14 and Dec 21, then NOT meeting on Dec 28 & Jan 4. GoToMeeting (and thus my calendar) have us skipping Dec 21 and Dec 28 and then meeting Jan 4. ...
by Dwane | Nov 25, 2016 | Education
Don’t spend all of your money this black Friday. Compass Classroom is about to run a cyber Monday sale. It’s going to look like this: – Visual Latin Set (35% off) – History Set (55% off) – Economics for Everybody (40% off) –...
by Dwane | Nov 19, 2016 | Education, Latin
Not long ago, while I was working online, an advertisement popped up. It posed a simple question. “Which Latin author do you prefer?” The advertisement, in the form of a survey, gave four choices. I could choose Cicero, Ceasar, Virgil, or Livy. I prefer none of...
by Dwane | Nov 19, 2016 | Education, Motivation
When I read, my mind tends to wander. Perhaps you struggle with this as well. I have heard that a speed reading course would help me solve this problem. I have tried unsuccessfully to speed read. I remain a rather slow reader. If you listen to audiobooks, like I...
by Dwane | Nov 16, 2016 | Education, The Future
I am about to start grading a pile of Latin and Greek papers. I hate it. I don’t hate it because of the work it represents. After all, grading papers is a good deal for me. Grading papers makes me very good at Latin and Greek. As I scroll through, looking...
by Dwane | Nov 16, 2016 | Education
I received this question from one of my students: I was wondering, do you enjoy football? Here is my reply: I really do not want to answer this email. Hence, the delay. You likely do not want to hear my response. No. I do not. I consider it barbaric and brutal....
by Dwane | Nov 5, 2016 | Education, Tip of the Week
Recently, several students sent me some sloppy writing. I had to send them a rather hard email. You may find some helpful tips here. Here’s the email: ================================================= First of all, run everything you write through Grammarly....
by Dwane | Nov 1, 2016 | Education, Latin
This is from the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. I am in complete agreement. ================================================== I have already mentioned that I had only one year’s instruction in a Latin School, and that when very young, after which I...
by Dwane | Oct 31, 2016 | Tip of the Week
I failed to send a “tip of the week” last Saturday. I started the morning by responding to emails, and by grading student work. Four hours later, I was done. And, I was burned out. Generally, I don’t start the day this way. Instead, language study...
by Dwane | Oct 28, 2016 | Uncategorized
I received this question: Hi Mr. Thomas! I’m really struggling with Roma Aeterna because I haven’t done Lingua Latina in the past, so the vocabulary is really hard for me to get. I’ve already taken Henle 1 and 2 as two years of studying Latin for High School. I...
by Dwane | Oct 22, 2016 | Tip of the Week
At some point, every parent asks every kid, “Do you think money grows on trees?” It’s just something parents do. It turns out, money does grow on trees. These days, the trees are shedding their leaves. Naturally, someone has to rake them. Those...
by Dwane | Oct 21, 2016 | Latin
I received this email: I was one of your Lingua Latina 1 Students last year. I did not complete the course (I got about 1/3 of the way through) then, (life got in the way) but I would like to, and I was wondering what you think would be the best action for me to...
by Dwane | Oct 19, 2016 | Education, Latin
I received this inquiry: I am contacting you because my grandson, who is good at languages, is thinking of giving up latin because he says it is too difficult. Really I think he is bored with having to learn lists of vocabulary etc Obviously we are in the UK but given...
by Dwane | Oct 17, 2016 | Latin, Motivation, The Future
Some parents don’t feel like grading their kid’s Latin homework. I don’t blame him. It’s pretty tough. It’s worse if you don’t speak the language. So, they hire me. I receive dozens of emails from students every day. In general,...
by Dwane | Oct 15, 2016 | Motivation, Tip of the Week
If you are thinking of moving, the following site will help: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/ You can compare major cities to one another. For example, I compared Nashville, Tennessee (where I live) to Athens, Greece (where I would love to live) and found out...
by Dwane | Oct 11, 2016 | Latin
I received this question: I want to ask you for some guidance with Henle Latin and my (our) student. She is doing really well at translating Latin into English. However, when we go English to Latin, she consistently gets endings wrong (although she usually has the...
by Dwane | Oct 8, 2016 | Motivation, Tip of the Week
They say there is another recession coming. Let’s hope not. I have plenty of bad memories from the last one. Now may be the time to become a “chicken entrepreneur”. What am I talking about? I first heard of this concept when I read Michael...
by Dwane | Oct 6, 2016 | Education
Some of my students use Google translate before they send me their homework. Google translate is great for individual words, and for pronunciation practice. With full sentences and paragraphs, things can get...
by Dwane | Oct 5, 2016 | Education, Italian, Latin, Motivation, Visual Latin
I received this question: I have a question about your Latin course. My daughter is 14 and she has just started an online Latin course that uses Wheelock’s Latin. She is having a very hard time with it, there seems to be an overwhelming amount of information in...
by Dwane | Oct 3, 2016 | Ebook
“What you do by telling others in a practical and efficient way how to learn Latin well is to tell them in a practical and efficient way how to do anything well. You obviously love language, and you can see in the resources you offer and the points you discuss...
by Dwane | Oct 3, 2016 | Education, Motivation
I have been re-editing my book Via. A publishing friend of mine wants to turn it into a physical book. During the re-edit phase, my wife has encouraged me to add a section on books. What are the books that have altered the direction of my life? The original post is...
by Dwane | Oct 1, 2016 | Education, Motivation
I am re-editing my own book, Via. A friend of mine, who happens to publish books, wants to publish mine. I was advised to include, in the new edition, books that have inspired me. I will be adding the list to the newest version of Via. In the meantime, I need a...
by Dwane | Oct 1, 2016 | Tip of the Week
I didn’t send a tip of the week last week. I have no good excuse to offer. It’s pretty simple, really. I forgot. So, this week I’m going to wrap two into one. But first, a little background. If you ever want to put me to sleep, don’t bother...
by Dwane | Sep 21, 2016 | Education, Latin, Visual Latin
I received this series of questions: If you could choose any method for teaching a child Latin, how would you do it? Would you do Visual Latin for one year? I see there is a VL 1 & 2. Is that one year or two? Would you do Lingua Latina simultaneously with VL or...
