From: Tom Launder (ae298@lafn.org)
Date: Sat Jul 13 1996 - 06:22:56 EDT
At 04:59 PM 7/13/96 +0900, you wrote:
>Dear B-Greeks,
>I am sorry, but I suppose i did'nt express myself properly. I am not old
>enough to say that the level of Greek teaching (or learning?) has dropped
>in comparison with my yong days.
>Let I rephrase it!
>What do you people think is/are the tips for Greek teaching?
>I should like to know how you are doing.
>Yours sincerely,
>Akio ITOU
>Tokyo Christian University
Perhaps this will help?
Our instructor used a combination of inductive and deductive teaching
methods. We started learning the basics of Greek following chapter by
chapter in William Mounce's excellent book "Basics of Biblical Greek."
We also were quizzed on the vocabulary every class period (Mon, Wed, Fri) to
ensure our learning of the vocabulary. We were also quizzed on our parsing
skills. Another helpful area was our instructor's brilliant insights into
all the problems areas that we new Greek students might face. Our
instructor had the proverb "working smarter not harder" always in the
forefront of every discussion. He went to great lengths to make sure that
we did not just memorize chart upon chart. We concentrated upon the things
neccessary to get us into the NT, which meant that some of our parsing
skills might not have been the greatest, but he knew that if we stuck with
it we would learn the difficult things eventually.
Another helpful area was that we went to the simple passages of John and I
John to "cut our Greek teeth" on. The focus was to get us into the NT
quickly and to begin to see the benefits of translating Greek.
Our instructor also made up helpful ways of memorizing the material. We had
funny little sayings to memorize the endings. He also made supplemental
handouts of the important material that we would need to know.
Most important was the our instructor loved us and prayed for us constantly.
A paradigm is a paradigm, but what can take the place of an instructor who
stands before you and sheds tears boasting of his great love for you? My
instructor's love for Jesus and his constant availabilty made all the
difference in the world with us. He even gave us his home phone number with
the demand that we call him *anytime* with any question we might have.
Our Greek program lasts a total of two years which is four semesters. We go
from knowing nothing to "Discourse Analysis." The first year is going
chapter by chapter through "Mounce." The second year is the learning of
diagramming, intermediate grammar, and discourse analysis.
There is also an additional summer study that is free for any who will come.
This study is a reading and translating of the Gospel of Mark and a noting
of the different points of grammar. This is really helpful! I have
graduated but am still going every tuesday just to refresh and solidify what
I already have learned.
Be encouraged and continue to pray that God will open the minds and hearts
of your students to the beauty of NT Greek. My instructor refered to Greek
as going "from powedered milk, to whole." He also likened it to going "from
a 13" black and white televison, to a 31" color surround sound!" :)
I leave you with a quote from Martin Luther which we received in the first
days of our first semester:
"In the measure that we love the Gospel, so let us place strong
emphasis on the languages. For it is not without reason that God
wrote the Scriptures in the two languages Hebrew and Greek.
That language which God did not despise but rather chose above all
others for the final revelation of His Word is the language
which we also should honor above all others. *It is a sin and shame
that we do not learn this langugae of our Book*, especially since
God has now provided us people and books, and gives us all kinds of
things which both help us with this task and at the same time
stimulates us to do this."
Blessings,
Tom
I am not permitted to let my love be so merciful as to tolerate and endure
false doctrine. When faith and doctrine are concerned and endangered,
neither love nor patience are in order.
Martin Luther
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