(Revised Summer 2025)
Seating and roll: Students are seated in traditional desks in rows facing the front of the class. I set the seating chart, and it is alphabetically by last name. This helps me to remember their names and faces during the first week. One of the first things I do, is teach them how to respond to my greeting: salvete omnes! Salve Magister! Then I teach “adsum” and I call them by first name, looking each of them in the face as I do, and I ask them to correct me if I mispronounce their name or have a different preferred name.
Phones: there is a pocket chart at the entrance to the classroom. All students are required to put their phones in there on the way in. It is a schoolwide requirement, so students do it pretty much automatically. I wait to assign numbers until after the first week, since students will be coming and going, switching sections, etc. I often end class a few minutes before the bell, so students can pack up, and I can check in with students if necessary. At that time, they can get their phones and bring them back to their seats. Avoid having them take their phones on the way out, because sometimes they take each otehrs phones, usually by accident, or as a joke. Having them go back to their seat with their phones avoids this issue. It also builds trust, where some students and families don’t want to leave their expensive phones in the room.
Partner activites. I want them to get to know each others’ names, so I teach: “quid tibi nomen est? Mihi nomen est” This can also expand to where they introduce one studen to another student, which requires 1st 2nd and 3rd person verbs.
Quid est? pointing game, (TPR)
First day, I will start identifying objects in the classroom: teacher, student, desk, whiteboard, trash bin, phone pockets, window, door, light, Caesar (we have a bust in the room), animals (I have many stuffed animals, a bin by the door, that students are welcome to hold in class instead of their phones). I introduce the thing, then ask students “where is the X?” and they have to point. Then I hold things up and ask “is this a X?” with a yes/no response, then I ask the class Quid est? and they respond with the name. All the while I’m writing words and definitions on the board. Students are invited to take notes (writing is thinking, and helps memory), but I tell them that they will receive a complete handout so they wont’ miss anything if they choose not to take notes. Within the first few days, I start doing things like putting a stuffed animal in the trash bin, and asking students where the dog is, etc. This becomes classroom lore, and makes for engaging sentences during Write and Discuss.
Card Talk: After the first day or two, I give each student a blank piece of paper, where there is a place to write their preferred name in the middle (I found an image of a “helllo my name is” sticker and I have that in the middle of the page). Around the paper I ask them to DRAW at least 3 things they enjoy, like, or identify with. This could be a sport, musical instrument, hobby, activity, their room, etc. I remind them that this need not be overly personal, or anything they are uncomfortable sharing. It can also be made up, because imaginary details also tell us about who you are. Every class, for 5-10 minutes, but no more, I will go around the room, looking at the sheets of paper, and talking to the class. I limit myself to simple statements, write vocab on the board, and ask a lot of all-class yes/no questions about what I’m telling the class. As I walk around, making sure to talk about 3-4 students interests each time, I also make mental notes of who shares interests, and what words I may have to go lookup. I encourage students to draw their pets and write the names. Often there are Latin names (or greek myth names).
After the first day or two, the daily classroom routine for Latin 1 is:
1. warmup on the board (MQA)
2. Greeting and roll
3. Quick partner activity, usually involving learning each others’ names, and/or discussing the warmup (Latin or English)
4. Quid est? (pointing TPR game)
5. Card Talk
6. Write and Discuss (http://johnpiazza.net/write-and-discuss/)
students write everything in their Weekly Packets. (http://johnpiazza.net/weekly-packet/)
Week 2:
Hopefully the class list is settling down, and any new students have arrived. But I could have new students entering anytime during the first 3 weeks. for this reason, it is important to recycle a small set of vocabulary words, reinforcing meaning, writing definitions on the board, etc. This helps everyone. Also, I hand out a vocab list of classroom objects, phrases, and studen interest phrases. The first quiz is based on this, which I’ll probably give mid-week or during week 3 if students are still coming and going. If a new student arrives late in eek 2 or week 3, I’ll partner them up with another student who can help fill them in on what’s going on. Again, this helps both students, not just the new student: docendo discimus (we learn by teaching).
For details on my vocabulary quizzes and Quizlet, see this page:
http://johnpiazza.net/quizlet/
(NB: Quizlet has changed and does not allow me to everything I used to do. I’m still using it, but I print out quizzes in docs in order to fit it all on one page)
Week 3 or 4: First Movie Talk: I always start with Doritos Dogs
http://johnpiazza.net/movie-talk/
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Previous version of this page (2015) provided for context. I no longer do many of the procedures mentioned here.
Q: what do the first weeks of a CI Latin classroom look like?
Once I have learned students’ names via some variation of the Name Game, I then do a combination of TPR for basic commands and classroom objects, and Latin Q and A based on student cards. Here is a basic description from Latin teacher David Maust:
“I had the kids make cards that had their names and a picture of something that described them (sport, instrument, hobby, etc.). This is Ben Slavic’s “circling with balls” activity. I would make up mini stories in Latin about each student in the class over those first two months (there were 43 people in the class so it took a while!) and would get a couple done each day, sometimes more, sometimes less. We also did some TPR during this time and learned lots of class commands. I also do a lot of PQA all the time, that is Personal Question and Answer, and this usually will develop into a story, but if it doesn’t it is still good CI.”
I would only add a few things to David’s helpful description. I give each student a full sheet of paper, which has an image of a “hello my name is” sticker in the middle. When I ask students to draw things they like or like doing, I always add the phrase “real or imagined.” This helps students who are not comfortable sharing things about themselves, either because they are shy, or because they have information about themsleves that is sad, tragic, or would make them feel ashamed in front of a group they do not know yet. Joey may not want to tell us that his parents got divorced. This is also why I avoid activities which focus on students’ houses, or their family tree. You never know what you might be forcing students to bring up. I am not saying don’t get to know about your students’ lives. Rather, through a more open-ended process such as this, which also allows for imaginary details, you can still build a strong community, one in which students get to create and share their own personal narrative which isn’t micromanaged by the teacher.
I like to use props for the Q and A part of class. I have a few mini sports balls that I got at Walgreen’s. In addition, I asked students to bring in small (and soft) toy versions of other sports balls and equipment. So when I’m going around the room talking about kids’ interests (especially sports), I can use the props as a reward for attention and appropriate responses.
One student even brought in a video game controller, and they all wanted a turn holding that. I also have a few stuffed animals that I will throw to students who volunteer an answer to a question. This is also how I get students to volunteer to translate a sentence or two from a reading later on in the semester.
Simple statements about what a student likes are inherently more interesting to students than any textbook. We can then easily convert these statements into compelling mini stories simply by asking “where” or “with/against whom?” Olivia plays violin is interesting, but “Olivia plays ‘Let It Go’ on the violin on Mars with a spotted dog singing” is what Krashen would call compelling. A few sentences about each student can quickly turn into a large TL document, which you could then use as the first reading assignment.
A note on vocabulary. A teacher will probably have three main sources for vocabulary.
1. classroom items and phrases, words that express student interests
2. textbook/chapter vocabulary
3. list of high-frequency words.
For me, words that appear on two or three of these sources take precedence. However, during the first few weeks, relevant words (category 1) are the priority, with frequency and textbook use being lower priorities, since students are most likely to get a good start in language by focusing on CONTENT that is interesting to them. This goes along with Krashen’s hypothesis that LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IS AN UNCONSCIOUS PROCESS, that is, students are only acquiring language when they forget that they are using a different language to communicate, but are FOCUSED ENTIRELY ON THE MESSAGE.
A common question is: “What if a student has an interest that I do not know how to describe in Latin, what should I do?”
Latin teachers can easily fall into the “quomodo dicitur?” trap. However, because we need to limit the number of new words students are exposed to in class, we can go easy on ourselves in this regard. I handle this in the following way:
- I collect student information pages every day. This allows me to look over them before the next class, learn student names, and connect names, faces and interests.
- Before each class, I decide which students and student interests I want to focus on. Then I can look up a few words before I am on the spot. My goal is to talk about 3-5 students per class.
First Vocabulary Handout
During the second week, I give students a handout containing the vocabulary that we have been using or will be using. This has a dual purpose of 1) helping students who want a list of words to review, and 2) showing students just how many words they have learned during the first fun days of Latin class. I tell them that it is assumed that they know these words, and they could appear on an assessment. I would like to add these to a Quizlet set, and I may do so, or ask a student to do this for me.
Q: How much time should I spend talking about student interests?
If you are anxious to move on to the curriculum and/or textbook, just remember that what you are doing now (provided that students are engaged) is more interesting to students, promotes classroom culture, gives them a larger variety of vocabulary, and is promoting acquisition more effectively than being “in the book.” So don’t feel rushed. Some teachers spend 5-6 weeks doing this. But most probably don’t spend the entire period doing this. I will divide my class time between student interests, TPR classroom objects and commands, short simple readings, student written surveys about what they want to learn this year, maybe a derivative activity, class check-in, etc. I will only spend the entire class on student interests, if the energy in the room supports it. But if you or students run out of steam, and moving to another student isn’t helping, then you should probably change gears, and have another activity ready.
Converting student interests into a class story.
Here are a few steps to convert your class discussion into the first reading.
- Designate a scribe. This could be a different student each class, or one student for a few days. This student will be keeping track of who you have talked about, and what they do/like. This can be done in either language, since it is really about the kids. If you give your scribe a choice, they can decide based on their comfort level with the language.
- Type up the discussion (or have a student do this with their phone, a tablet, or your classroom computer–wireless keyboards are nice, then you can project the screen large and students can see their information become writing) Make some edits and make sure to limit new words. Once the reading gets to a decent size (maybe a double spaced page), hand it out and/or make it available online for review. Remind students that they are responsible for understanding the reading.
- Give frequent and easy quizzes based on student information, as well as on the meaning of words. This could be t/f, short answer, etc. Make it easy to grade, or haave student self or peer grade at the end. By quizzing students on the content (not just the meaning of words), you are holding students accountable for paying attention to the details of their classmates’ lives and interests. You are showing them that knowing about the people in the room is an academic priority, not just the language.