[B-Greek] BMCR

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Sat Mar 8 05:44:57 EST 2008


On Mar 7, 2008, at 3:38 PM, Bryant J. Williams III wrote:

> Dear List Members,
>
> Below is the URL for the following book review.
>
> John Gruber-Miller,
> When Dead Tongues Speak. Teaching Beginning Greek and Latin.
> American Philological Association Classical Resources Series 6.
> Oxford:  Oxford University Press, 2006.
> Pp. 238.
> ISBN 978-0-19-517495-3.
> $24.95 (pb).
>
> http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2008/2008-03-07.html
>
> I am wondering if any members have read the book or not and what are  
> their
> thoughts?

Yes, I read it when it first came out two years ago, following mention  
of it on Classics-L and James' Spinti's announcement of it on B-Greek  
in a message of Mon Oct 23 09:04:03 EDT 2006. I'd recommend that  
anyone seriously interested in the pedagogy of ancient Greek should  
read it, but unless one has an open-mind to teaching and learning  
Greek in terms of its function as a vehicle for live communication,  
there's little point in looking at it. It underscores the value of the  
oral-aural use of Greek in the classroom, the role of writing -- as  
well as reading -- Greek. There's one section that might be useful to  
many: the section in Chapter 7 on a strategy for reading Greek texts,  
pp. 144-152, where the author of this chapter, Kenneth Scott Morrell,  
lays out "A Sample Reading Exercise based on Lysias." This includes,  
"The Role of Authentic Texts," the text of a section of the first  
forensic speech of the late 5th-century Attic orator Lysias, then a  
procedure: "Prereading; Step 1: Building the schemata for  
comprehension; Step 2: Preview of the Selection; Step 3: Preview of  
Lexical elements"; then "Reading: Step 1: Skimming; Step 2: Careful  
Reading for Meaning"; then "Review and Application." I should add that  
repeatedly emphasized here is the necessity for serious students to  
develop a deeper awareness of the cultural milieu of the original text.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)






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