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Re: Expectations in Summer Elem. Gk. (fwd)
Forwarded message:
>From @CMSA.BERKELEY.EDU:owner-classics@UWAVM.U.WASHINGTON.EDU Wed Dec 15 10:46:07 1993
Message-Id: <9312151545.AA05736@cscsun.rmc.edu>
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1993 09:39:44 CST
Reply-To: Classical Greek and Latin Discussion Group <CLASSICS%UWAVM.BITNET@cmsa.Berkeley.EDU>
Sender: Classical Greek and Latin Discussion Group <CLASSICS%UWAVM.BITNET@cmsa.Berkeley.EDU>
From: Bob Kaster <r-kaster@UCHICAGO.EDU>
Subject: Re: Expectations in Summer Elem. Gk.
X-To: Classical Greek and Latin Discussion Group
<CLASSICS%UWAVM.BITNET@vma.cc.nd.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list CLASSICS <CLASSICS%UWAVM.BITNET@cmsa.Berkeley.EDU>
Mark Williams asks, with regard to summer Greek programs
>3. Are these basics regularly covered in some of the summer
>Greek courses that are out there? How long does it take in the
>summer courses with which you are familiar? And what
>sort of commitment is expected of the student?
The intensive Greek and Latin courses here run for 10 weeks in our summer
quarter. The first five weeks are given over to covering all of Hansen
and Quinn or all of Wheelock; the second five weeks are spent reading
selections from different authors (prose and poetry). The aim is to allow
students who successfully finish the course to start our second-year
sequence in the autumn on much the same footing as the students who took
the normal, 3-quarter first-year sequence; with some expectable variation,
the success rate has been at least OK. But it is EXTREMELY grueling, for
both teachers and students: during the first 5 weeks (the only part I've
experienced), each morning is given over to drill-sessions (run by grad
student assistants) covering the material introduced the preceding
afternoon, and most of the afternoon is given over to regular faculty
introducing new material (averaging 2+ chaps of Wheelock / afternoon) for
next day's drill; and there are written exercises each day too. It's a
Classics version of total immersion, and it's a killer; no accident that I
taught in it only once. It also demands both an especially dedicated
student, and careful attention to maintaing morale and esprit de corps. If
you want more information you could contact the director of the program,
John Wyatt of Beloit College; I assume that the comparable programs in New
York and California would tell pretty similar tales. Sounds to me as
though your sibling institution deosn't have much idea what it's getting
into.
Bob Kaster
(r-kaster@uchicago.edu)