[B-Greek] Casualties of the Beginning Greek class

John Barach johnbarach at shaw.ca
Thu Feb 4 14:05:05 EST 2010


I taught Greek for 15 years and not one student dropped out.
If I may boast, the reason is that I made Greek a fun exercise.
In the first class where students come with apprehension, we learned the 
alphabet. When we came to the 6th to 8th letters, I would say, "Explain 
to me why zeta ate a theta?" The wise guys always came up with a reason, 
and we all laughed. When asked to recite the alphabet, they never 
stumbled at that point. Some would add, "Why? I don't know." and then go 
on with the rest of the letters.
That first class set the mood for subsequent classes and dispelled the 
anxiety of learning "dreaded Greek."
We made up rhymes and catch phases etc. to explain Greek rules.
We played a version of hangman to learn vocabulary.
Some of my students were also on the volleyball and/or basketball team 
and they shouted out Greek words to indicate various plays.
In teaching them Greek, I taught them English. As you are aware, most 
students don't know English grammar.
The words "predicate position" and "attributive position" convey no 
meaning to students until English is first explained.
I even used English words with Greek endings like carOS, carOU, carW, carON.
I admit I butchered both Greek and English, but not a single student 
ever failed.
My exams were comprehensive and considered tough.
Several students transferred to other colleges and went on for further 
studies.
For example a 75% student transferred to a college that refused to grant 
him credit for his Greek. He asked to write their final exam and passed 
it with a 90% and was granted credit.
If a teacher is stilted and unable to create excitement in any class 
(and I have had lots of them myself) he/she is a poor teacher who can 
expect students to drop out.
I don't mean to imply that all drop-outs are a result of poor teachers, 
but a poor teacher will certainly have a higher drop-out percentage than 
one who makes the class exciting, interesting, and challenging.




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