During June, I worked on designing my own curriculum in order to create a five-day Latin workshop that took place from June 15 – 19 at the local library. I used some resources from our Bement Aequora program as inspiration while I designed creative activities that would keep kids engaged and having fun during their summer break. I printed out flyers and posted in Facebook groups in order to gather sign-ups. I created an Eventbrite that sold out completely and I decided the night before to add a few more slots for people on the waiting list and those filled up instantly by the next day. I even have a long waiting list for future events!
The Latin workshop was a complete success with over 200 participants total. Each day we learned a bit of grammar and vocab from a book and then learned about an aspect of Roman life, history, or fashion using presentations and YouTube videos. We ended each day with a Jeopardy review game that encouraged kids to pay attention during each session. They loved what we were learning and even started asking for paper to take notes so they could win the Jeopardy! We ended the five days with a final high-stakes cumulative Jeopardy game complete with medals and certificates. To motivate students to come for all five days, I entered those student’s names into a raffle for 3D puzzles of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, St. Basilica, and the Colosseum. The kids were so excited to play games and learn each day and it was so exciting to get to teach them and incredibly rewarding to hear feedback from the kids and parents!
I’m working on my second part of my grant by publishing a children’s Latin book about the Olympians. I’ve received a proof copy and will publish it soon. It will be available for pre-order in the coming weeks.
It’s been very rewarding to see what I’ve done so far this summer and I’m excited to continue working on my CSGC project!
-Taryn ’24