[B-Greek] Best Practices for Teaching/Learning Greek

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Wed Jun 2 07:46:29 EDT 2010


On Jun 2, 2010, at 12:49 AM, John Sanders wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 2, 2010 at 3:28 AM, Mark Lightman <lightmanmark at yahoo.com>wrote:
> 
>> 
>> 
>> Hi, John,
>> 
>> What are some specific things that you would recommend a Greek self-study
>> student do
>> which are in accordance with modern learning theory?
>> 
>> Mark L
>> 
>> 
>> FWSFOROS MARKOS
>> 
>> my dear friend FWSFOROS MARKOS,
>> 
> 
> Before I attempt to answer your question, I would suggest that there are
> those who are professional teachers, either active or retired, that are
> members of the list that should be far more acquainted with modern learning
> theory than I.  It would be they who should answer your question.  Rather
> than answer your question directly, let me identify those practices which
> either I have used or use or have seen used successfully.  It is that which
> is practiced rather than that which is thought about that I would be more
> interested in discussing.
> 
> To summarize what modern practices are  (that is, what I have seen is) that
> it eschews grammar and linguistics and inserts practice drills using
> hearing, speaking, reading, and writing  instead.  It has a long history,
> but Berlitz popularized it, what, perhaps a century ago.  Pimsleur used a
> few techniques that has some evidence of being very efficient, and he
> commercialized these techniques perhaps 50 years ago.  Suzhou University has
> excellent Chinese language programs for foreigners, also using various
> "moerdern techniques".
> 
> Steve Runge has brought a new book on linguistic concepts in Greek.  An
> excellent book, very useful.  But you will not become fluent in Greek
> reading it.  Ah, then why, you  may ask, do you write that it is excellent
> and useful?  A textbook writer or teacher can use it productively to make a
> teaching plan; a student can use it productively to make an
> effective learning plan.  An effective learning plan does not use grammar or
> linguistic terms, it uses drills and exercises.

Amen. Amen. Amen, Amen, Amen.
I was a professional teacher of ancient Greek for 40+ years. I long suspected
that grammar and linguistic terminology had very little to do with achieving
fluency in the language, but I am now fully convinced of it. Even as a grad
student half a century ago it seemed to me that composition exercises did 
much more for my grasp of the written texts than all the grammatical
reference works.

> 
> I will take the liberty of using you as an example; forgive me if I offend
> you, no offense is intended.  Your skill in Greek exceeds my by far.  I am
> very impressed with your ability in the language.  But, and this is a
> serious but, you make far too often simple errors.  Childish errors.  No,
> that is not correct, even a child at that time would not make these errors.
> You are making "foreigner" errors.  For instance, you too often do not
> associate the correct form in one word class with the form in another word
> class; i.e., feminine nouns may be associated with participles using the
> masculine ending.  If you have identified a problem, then your learning plan
> should develop a series of drills that can correct this error.  That is,
> your response should be automatic, without any thinking at all to what form
> goes with what form.
> 
> Dr. Buth gives examplars in his course material.  You have mentioned, I
> believe, that you have access to this material.  This is not developing
> skill in speaking or writing, it is developing skill in associating one form
> with another.  So you go to your computer, record verbally a noun and an
> assoicated adjective or participle as the exemplar,  then record a list of
> other nouns.  These lists then can be MP3ed and downloaded to whatever
> device you use to listen to music and such.  The list can be made up of only
> nouns in one gender, or the list can be mixed.  I would recommend using many
> lists, both gender specific and gender mixed.  For adjectives I use EIS,
> MIA, EN and PAS, PASA, PAN, and a couple of others randomly selected.  You
> can also use a program such as "Anki", a flashcard program, or some other
> program that can give a series of words whereby you write out the "answer".
> These drills should be timed.  That is, the program should have a limited
> time for you to respond.  The object is to get you to answer quickly,
> without thinking but responding instinctively.
> 
> The setup time is extensive and does not count toward your goal of fluency.
> So, you need to do the drills constantly, over and over, hour after hour.
> When I was young I recall that my brother and I would go outside and catch a
> softball, hour after hour.  We used no gloves, catching first with our right
> hand and throwing it back with our left hand, then catching the ball in our
> left hand and throwing it back with our right hand.  Hour after hour we did
> that, not thinking it was tedious at all, because we wished to gain
> "fluency".  But I had no such interest in basket ball, dribbling was just
> tedious.  Those who wish to gain "fluency:, doing drills will not be
> tedious, but it will be a lot of work.
> 
> To recap, I would recommend using drills based on hearing, speaking,
> reading, and writing.  Where possible, I would put a timer on the drills.
> The object is to develop intuitive responses.  After one has developed
> "fluency", usually measured as a "near instantaneous" comprehension to what
> is said or written (for "dead languages", what is written), which may take
> anyway from six months to a year or more, depending on the amount of time
> available to the student), then the student can go where ever he wishes,
> grammar, linguistics, literature, rhetoric, etc.

And again, I say, "Amen." And I have some difficulty understanding why
so many should be satisfied with a 'casual familiarity" with ancient Greek
rather than knowing it as a vehicle of communication.


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






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