In this issue of eLitterae, I am pleased to report that curriculum specialist and veteran Latin teacher Lynne West’s Teaching Tip shares a set of tools for end of semester review. If they seem too ambitious for this semester, you have all of the spring semester to rev up.

Allow me to share a side note about ACTFL 2023. As the convention took place in Chicago this year, my dear B-C colleague, Rene Vela, our operations manager, picked me up at O’Hare Airport in his SUV packed with books and exhibit materials. After navigating check-in points and the maze of an entrance, we moved the materials in the fifteen-minute window allowed. On Sunday, the last day of the conference, Rene arrived just before noon and we packed up the booth in record time. Rene is a delight to work with and a great asset to the B-C operation. As a small business, employees like Rene make all the difference. And, delivering the materials ourselves meant considerable savings over UPS charges and additional handling charges at the venue. Thank you, Rene!

 

 

Fortunately, I was able to check into the hotel early. I then treated myself to a sushi lunch in the hotel’s Asian restaurant. I additionally treated myself to a glass of sauvignon blanc. The wine was delicious and, as the photograph shows, evokes the classical world. Thus, I asked the server to bring the bottle so I could take a photo of the label. Somehow, lost in translation perhaps, he brought both the bottle and another glass of wine! So, I dutifully savored each sip and then repaired to my hotel room for a much- needed nap—morning flights out of Albany International mean leaving the house by 3:45 am.

 

This month’s eLitterae discount special offers Reading the Gospel of St. John, an appropriate choice for folks raised in the Christian tradition. For me, the Gospel of St. John evokes the annual Christmas Service of Lessons and Carols at Williams College. In my day, the late Charlie Fuqua, chair of the classics department, pronounced in his deep, stentorian voice the koine Greek of the beginning of the Gospel of John. It was a profound experience as his voice and the carefully articulated Greek echoed in the neo-Gothic Thompson Memorial Chapel. My husband Ray was asked to do a reading this year but, alas, we were out of town the days of the service.

 

As I look out our front windows this morning, a sticky snow clings to the branches lending a brightness despite the cloud cover. This time of year, across the planet, people celebrate the power of the light overcoming the darkness. And, surely with war raging from Ukraine to Gaza to Sudan, we need light, a light that brings peace. May each of us be agents of peace in big ways and small.

 

Our B-C family wishes you and your families as well as your students and their families, a happy holiday season.

 

Don

 

As the end of the term draws near, I wanted to share a few tools that continue to be helpful as teachers plan review opportunities for their students. In “ideas,” I provide suggestions for implementing the specific tool.

Socrative - Socrative is a free web-based tool that turns any web-enabled device into a student response or clicker system

 

How it works: As the teacher, you need to sign up for a free account and log in. You select a “room number” that students will use to access your activities. Then, you can use the simple interface to create a variety of activities to check for understanding, from student-paced quizzes with multiple choice, true/false, or short answer questions to exit tickets. Students access the activities you have created by going to the Socrative site and entering your virtual room.

 

Ideas: I’ve used Socrative in a variety of ways for review but my favorite is the “quick question-short answer” option. I launch the question and ask students to find me an example of a particular grammar structure or form in the text. As students enter their responses, I project them and we can talk through whether or not they are correct. I get responses from virtually every student in class and, therefore, have better information about how they are doing than I would if I had conducted the activity by calling on a handful of students.

 

Kahoot - Kahoot is a game-based classroom response system that is free, works on any web-ready device, and is really easy to use.

How it works: After signing up for the free account, the teacher uses the online interface to create a multiple choice quiz. Once the quiz is made, the teacher clicks to start the quiz and projects her computer screen for the class to see. Then, the teacher instructs the students to take out their devices, open up the web-browser, and navigate to the website Kahoot.it. At this point, the teacher’s screen will show a quiz pin that the students enter into their devices. The students are prompted to enter a name and enter the quiz and the teacher clicks to show the first question. The students see the question on the main screen but have to answer on their own devices. Kahoot awards points based on accuracy and speed. After each question, the students can see their standing in the game. When ready, the teacher moves the quiz to the next question.

Ideas: Great for simple vocabulary review with images, form recognition, and reading comprehension.

 

Magistrula - This website offers many different types of activities that are beneficial either in class or as individual review activities. Magistrula.com is free but there is an invitation to make a donation to support the work.

 

How it works: A teacher can create a teacher account and provide a code to students so that they can join the class. Then, it is simple to share an assignment with the class and to check for completion and accuracy. I really like that I can see how my students are doing as well as how much they are practicing.

Ideas: If you find yourself needing to review forms and important grammatical structures, Kahoot’s a great tool for this. I particularly like that, as the teacher, I can limit the practice to the specific forms or constructions that we are working on in class. So, if my students haven’t yet been introduced to a particular tense, mood, conjugation, etc., I can eliminate those from the practice.

 

GooseChase - A digital scavenger hunt tool.

How it works: On the GooseChase web platform, the teacher creates tasks, called “missions,” for the students to complete and assigns them point value. To participate in the scavenger hunt, students need the GooseChase app (available via the Apple app store or Google Play) downloaded to an iPhone or iPad. On the day that we played, I made sure that the students had downloaded the app and created a free account. I assigned students into teams, told the teams that they had fifteen minutes to earn as many points as possible, and hit the start button on the GooseChase online platform.

Ideas: GooseChase offers four different types of missions to choose from: photo, video, text, and GPS. It's good to use a combination of all four types to keep interest high. Some possible missions include submitting pictures of items around campus that illustrate vocabulary, translation of a clue and “check in” from the location indicated by the clue, and creation of a video explaining or demonstrating a grammatical concept.

 

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Lynne West is a veteran teacher and teacher leader in K–12 schools. She earned her teaching credentials at Santa Clara University, her master’s degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Los Angeles. In 2016, as a Fulbright Distinguished Teaching awardee, West studied pedagogy at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. She founded Sunodia Educational Consulting to share her passion for teaching with her fellow educators by providing creative, tailored, and patient professional development services. In addition to her consulting, currently, West serves as interim assistant principal for instruction at Bellarmine Prep in San Jose, CA.

 

If you would like to request a live online meeting to learn more,
email Lumina@ bolchazy.com.

It was a special delight to represent Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers at the 2023 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language—ACTFL Exposition and Convention in Chicago. Having lived in the Windy City for forty-three years until our move back to New England three years ago, the ACTFL convention afforded me the opportunity to catch up with some old friends while working. Chicago’s cavernous McCormick Place swarmed with enthusiastic and energetic foreign language teachers. It’s always a special moment when the crowds are first admitted to the exhibit area—10:00 am on Friday. It is gratifying that the size of the Latin teacher contingent continues to grow. It is especially gratifying that so many teachers give presentations geared to all language teachers.

 

 

For several years now, B-C has arranged with the American Classical League—ACL to have adjoining booths at ACTFL. This year, the Via Latina doubled in size with Cambridge University Press and Hands Up joining the endeavor. The arrangement generated steady traffic through the course of the convention with Latin teachers, language department chairs, and the colleagues of Latin teachers unable to attend ACTFL checking out B-C’s titles. Our Latin and Greek buttons with their famous quotes and matched images proved popular.

 

 

B-C again offered its Exploring Latin and novella titles for a book drawing. Laura Zoeller, who teaches elementary grade students at Seattle’s Epiphany School, won the five titles.

 

The American Classical League and the National Latin Exam hosted a lovely reception for Latin teachers attending the convention as well as for Latin teachers from Chicagoland, Saturday evening, at the nearby VU Rooftop. The setting provided attendees a fabulous view of Chicago’s skyline as well as a cozy area to gather. Sherwin Little negotiated a great deal that included drinks and fabulous appetizers. The Latin teacher buzz was energizing! These photos certainly captured the vibe!

 

Bolchazy-Carducci Representatives: Bridget Dean, PhD, Donald Sprague, and Amelia Wallace 

 

 

Booths 69/70
Bolchazy-Carducci Representative: Donald Sprague

 

 

  

 By Norbert H. O. Duckwitz