by Dwane | Feb 8, 2016 | Education, English, Greek, Italian
I received some questions from a former student: So I’m taking an astronomy class this semester, and just learned about perihelions and aphelions in ellipses. I’m thinking it has a Greek (ancient Greek) tie in, since Helios was the old sun god in Greek...
by Dwane | Feb 8, 2016 | Education, Greek, Italian, Latin, Spanish
These days I am focusing on learning Italian. That is, when I have a few spare moments, I am focusing on learning Italian. I have two reasons. First, I am going for better Latin pronunciation. I believe the “Italian” pronunciation of Latin is the...
by Dwane | Feb 3, 2016 | Italian, Motivation, The Future
Now and then, someone asks me to take them to Italy. “You should lead tours to Italy, Mr. Thomas!” Ther is only one problem. I have never been to Italy. I was once a spelunker. I have explored more caves than I could count. I could take you into some...
by Dwane | Jan 13, 2016 | Education, Italian, Latin, Motivation, Spanish
I received this sad email from one of my students: I wanted to talk to you because I feel like I’m having more trouble this year compared to last. I’m able to figure out a sentence, but the fluency of being able to read or hear a sentence and understand its meaning...
by Dwane | Nov 17, 2015 | Education, English, German, Greek, Italian, Latin, Vocabulary
This week (and probably next week) my etymology students and I will study the Greek and Latin words for, well, word. I find it fascinating to take a look at every word we study in about ten different languages. All of these languages are somehow related to our very...
by Dwane | Sep 5, 2015 | Ebook, Education, Italian, Latin, Spanish
Perhaps you are familiar with the book Carry On, Mr. Bowditch!, by Jean Lee Latham. Carry On, Mr. Bowditch! is the story of an early American merchant who spends quite a bit of his time at sea. As Mr. Bowditch sails around the world selling his wares, he teaches...
