Classics

Latin at Hackley is a lively combination of traditional grammar instruction and textual analysis with 21st century tools such as Quizlet, Prezi, podcasts, and Flipped Classroom videos.

The Classics Department is dedicated not only to training its students to navigate the vagaries of Latin grammar, with an eye to the reading of ancient authors, but also to engaging with the history, art, myth, as well as the language, in competitive, nationally recognized academic contests.

The study of Latin emphasizes mastery of vocabulary, facility with the nuances of an inflected language, command of complex grammatical constructions, accuracy in translation, as well as familiarity with the history, myths, customs of daily life, and culture of the ancient Romans. Particular attention is paid to increasing the students’ English vocabulary through the study of derivatives from Latin.

Students are introduced to and encouraged to use the many and varied online resources which complement traditional textbooks. Students finishing the three-year Latin sequence in eighth grade are credited with two full years of language study and will go on to the Latin 3 course in ninth grade.

Classics Courses

List of 3 items.

Latin 6

The Middle School Latin curriculum uses the Oxford Latin Course series. Students are introduced to the character Quintus Horatius Flaccus, the poet Horace, as a young boy, whose life they will follow throughout the Oxford series. In this way, the history of the Late Republic and Early Empire is presented. Students in the first year are introduced to the concepts of inflection, declension, conjugation, dictionary entry, as well as other grammatical constructions. The skill of translation is practiced from Latin into English and from English into Latin. The present tense, the first three declensions, and noun/adjective agreement are presented. Students follow Quintus’ early experiences in school, including his introduction to the stories of Homer’s Iliad and Vergil’s Aeneid and to major figures of early Roman history.
Latin 7

A continuation of the previous year, this course traces the life of Quintus as he studies in Rome and eventually Athens, where he encounters the art, architecture, and philosophy of Ancient Greece. Students experience the assassination of Julius Caesar and the ensuing civil war through the eyes of Quintus and his friends. Students learn the imperfect, perfect, and future tenses, the passive voice, the present participle, the fourth and fifth declensions, comparison of adjectives and adverbs, and the relative pronoun. Grammatical constructions are introduced in the reading passages before they are formally drilled in the grammar section, offering students the chance to use intuition in translation.
Latin 8

Latin 8 corresponds to the Upper School Latin II course. Students learn the subjunctive mood and grammatical constructions that employ the subjunctive, such as result clauses, indirect questions, and conditions. The ablative absolute, indirect statement and deponent verbs are also introduced. Quintus serves in the army (on the side of Brutus) returns to Italy, and ultimately finds his way back to Rome, where he discovers his talent for poetry.

As Quintus becomes a part of the inner circle of the emperor Augustus, students begin to read his poetry in its original form, to which they will return in Latin III and IV.

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Classics

Classics Courses

List of 3 items.

Latin 6

Latin 7

Latin 8

Hackley School