[b-greek] GREEK FOR DUMMIES

From: Clayton Javurek (javurek@asu.edu)
Date: Tue Nov 21 2000 - 11:51:34 EST

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Clayton Javurek
 E-MAIL: javurek@asu.edu

 

Seeing that MOST people (75% of them) will not exert
 the effort to learn details and memorize vocabulary words
 and practice doing Greek, I would assume that students
 will take the shortest and easiest route (just like
 the flow of electricity and water). Therefore, I have
 adapted GREEK FOR DUMMIES which eliminates nearly
 90% of memorization and immediately plunges them
 into the Greek text. This GREEK FOR DUMMIES class is 
 NOT intended to replace academic training.


Tools Needed:


1. Greek English Interlinear NT by Marshall (no vocabulary memorization needed)


2. Analytical Lexicon to the Greek NT by Mounce (no grammatical memorization needed)


3. Greek English Lexicon by Thayer (inexpensive but effective lexicon)


Students will have to memorize the Greek alphabet and the cases of the noun articles.


Students will be able to grammatically parse any word in the Interlinear Greek NT
 and find its root word with the use of Mounce.


Students will be able to look up the lexical meaning of any root word
 in the Greek NT with the combined use of Mounce and Thayer.


The purpose of GREEK FOR DUMMIES is to get them started and to
 feel comfortable with the Interlinear Greek NT. If they want
 to go on to formally learn Greek Grammar, they can do so
 in a formal academic setting. I have found that drop out rates
 in GREEK FOR DUMMIES is about 10% - 20%. Why, because memorization
 is kept to a minimum, students always know where they are at
 when reading the Interlinear NT, and students can research any
 word in the Greek NT.

 
 

-----Original Message-----
 From: Mark Wilson [<A HREF="mailto:emory2oo2@hotmail.com">mailto:emory2oo2@hotmail.com</A>]
 Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2000 9:07 AM
 To: Biblical Greek
 Subject: [b-greek] Greek 101 drop outs - Follow up

 
 

Carl wrote:


----
 I tell students in the opening class that they should drop immediately 
 unless they are prepared to work industriously and consistently for the real 
 rewards which will come only when they have mastered an awful lot of
 tedious rote learning and achieved a good grip on the Greek verb as well as 
 a powerful lot of vocabulary.
 ----


What I think this statement might do, as much unconsciously as consciously, 
 is to put students in a stressed out pre-disposition toward learning Greek. 
 (Remember, there may be many sitting in your class that will just find it 
 much easier to learn than us B-Greekers did. Maybe Greek will just come 
 natural to them... who knows.)


Consider this: Suppose you used the opposite approach. Suppose you told your 
 students that learning Greek is quite easy and extremely rewarding. In fact, 
 by the end of this first year, you will be able to translate many passages 
 in the Bible. And further, you will not believe how quickly you will begin 
 picking up more advanced Greek, because it all builds on previously learned 
 material.


And then, of course, you go into my previous posting, and begin the sales 
 job, etc. :o )


But what happens is this relaxes the students. Their entire disposition 
 begins with a radically different paradigm.


And don't feel like they have to learn a lot of material by some end point. 
 (That may be imposed on you by your University or Seminary, but only you 
 know how tough it was for you when your Greek teacher taught you. Why put 
 your students through THAT.)


They have the rest of their lives to learn it. Simply tell them this: "We 
 all learn at different rates, so just how fast you progress and advance will 
 relate to how much time you invest. And like any language, if you do not 
 "keep it up" you begin to forget and eventually lose what you had learned. 
 So, never stop learning Greek, if only a little a day (or week). But 
 remember folks: learning Greek is only a means to an end: knowing Him."


And once you teach them just a few basic declensions and conjugations, and 
 they then "translate" John 1:1, just watch their eyes! (Imagine what happens 
 to their interests and motivations when they are translating ALREADY!)


After they do this, here is what I would say: "Well, essentially, you have 
 learned Greek. That's all there is to it. For the rest of your life you will 
 begin learning more vocabulary words and grammatical principles which will 
 allow you to translate more and more of the Bible...


So, congratulations... you are well on your way to understanding the BIBLE. 
 (Notice I did not use the word "Greek" here. Pretty sneaky, eh?)"


Finally, most of us on this list, I would imagine, have a very strong desire 
 to learn Greek, so very little is going to detour us. But imagine how many 
 dropped out because of their "fear." (A fear that was unfounded.)


BTW, I wonder how many drop outs had a natural ability to retain Greek
 vocabulary, declensions, conjugations, grammar, etc... only to conclude 
 after Greek 101, "Well my teacher said it is going to get really hard, so I 
 better drop out now before I get in too deep."


Today's motto: Teachers: be very upbeat, creative, and "sneaky"  :o )


Still rambling... sorry.


Mark Wilson


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