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Greek Primer Term: Yearlong 2020–21, September 2020–May 2021

ELIGIBLE STUDENTS Target Grade Levels: 4–5 Students should be reading English chapter books fluently, begin- ning a study of English grammar, and be able to follow instructions well.

Class Dates: Beginning Tuesday, September 8, 2020; running through Tuesday, May 25, 2021. (ORIENTATION: Tuesday, September 1) Class Times: Tuesdays, 2:15 pm (EST,) running 45 minutes Instructor: Mallory Stripling E-mail: [email protected]

SCHEDULE FOR GREEK GRAMMAR PRIMER

CLASS SESSIONS DATES Classes will take place on Tuesdays: 2:15–3:00 pm (EST) for 30 weeks and 30 classes on the following dates*

September (Orientation + 4 meetings): 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 October (4 meetings): 6, 13, 20, 27 November (3 meetings): 3, 10, 17, [Thanksgiving Break] December (3 meetings): 1, 8, 15, [Christmas Break] January (2 meetings): [Christmas Break], 19, 26 February (3 meetings): 2, 9, 16, [Semester Break] March (5 meetings): 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 April (3 meetings): 6, 13, 20, [Holy Week Break] May (3 meetings): 4, 11, 18, [End Second Semester]

*Please note: The above dates and times are the anticipated class sessions for this course. However, all dates are to change as the instructor’s circumstances might dictate (e.g., illness, family emergency). Any classes canceled by the instructor will be made up at an alter- nate time designated by the instructor, usually via a pre-recorded video lesson.

GREEK GRAMMAR PRIMER COURSE MAP: QUARTER 1 QUARTER 3 Greek alphabet Present-tense conjugation of ειμι ( am) Simple sentences (subject-) Present-tense conjugation of –ω Direct / Sentences with above verbs Bless the Crown of the Year As Many As Have Been Baptized Rejoice, O Unwedded Bride! Rich Men Have Turned Poor QUARTER 2 QUARTER 4 subjects and verbs Second- Masculine Second-Declension Neuter nominative Second-Declension Feminine Makes His Angels Spirits Before Thy Cross The Virgin Cometh Today O Son of God Seated on the Foal of a Donkey Christ is Risen!

OFFICE HOURS: To ask or discuss concerns, please contact Mrs. Stripling to de- termine the best time to meet via Zoom or to talk on the phone. (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons are usually the best times.)

REQUIRED COURSE TEXTS Elementary Greek: Year by Christine Gatchell, published by Memoria Press. Please pur- chase the student textbook, test book, workbook, and the teacher key. Do not purchase the audio CD, which uses a different pronunciation, or flashcards, which students will make on their own.

Mrs. Stripling will upload all other course materials to Schoology.

GREEK GRAMMAR PRIMER COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course is intended to be an introduction to biblical Greek for late elementary students will benefit from a very thorough treatment of the basic elements of the Greek language, with strong emphases on decoding and pronouncing correctly, un- derstanding grammar concepts, memorizing vocabulary and paradigms, and working with the structure of the in both English and Greek. Over the course of one school year, students will study the material covered in the first semester (approximately half) of the St. Raphael Greek 1 course. The class meets once a week, which defines the scope of the students’ and teacher’s work together. The purpose of the class meeting is to offer live instruction from a skilled teacher, who can explain the content of the course in a responsive way, giving students closer guidance than would receive from a textbook alone, in a difficult subject many parents do not feel equipped to teach. The class meeting is also a time to coach students in their practice of skills they will need as they study Greek on the other four days of the

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week. Finally, Mrs. Stripling intends the students taking the course to be a community of learners, who gain strength and inspiration from each other, integrating their Orthodox faith and their study of Greek. The following is a description of how classes will generally be conducted. Each class meeting will begin with prayer, usually the Lord’s Prayer, in Greek. Mrs. Stripling will then lead the students in reviewing the previous week’s work. Students will translate sentences, recite or sing paradigms, and be quizzed on vocabulary words. Mrs. Stripling will then teach new material or lead students in practicing skills. During each class, students will practice singing the hymn currently in focus and re- ceiving (encouraging) critiques of their Greek pronunciation. During some lessons, stu- dents will listen to recordings of native Greek speakers singing hymns and will study icons with Greek inscriptions, both of which will lend color and deeper understanding to the les- sons. Parents with no background in Greek can find this subject daunting. Although isn’t required that parents give their child homework help, they are encouraged to at least try to learn the alphabet along with the class during the first month of study. Then parents will at least be able to decipher the material and quiz students on their flashcards. Parents will probably find that if they do learn the alphabet, the rest of the content of this course will be no more difficult to grasp than an entry-level course, since the grammatical principles being discussed are universal to all languages. Please contact Mrs. Stripling with any ques- tions that come up at home!

STUDENT EXPECTATIONS: CLASS BEHAVIOR ! Students are expected to be able to sit quietly and listen respectfully for the dura- tion of the class (45 minutes). Students will frequently be called upon to participate actively, and should be seated at the computer, listening and ready to contribute when asked. ! Students should be able to operate the Zoom program without frequent parental in- tervention. ! Students should come to class with a notebook and something to write with. ! Students should take care of all their physical needs (using the bathroom, getting a drink, having something to eat) before class begins. ! Students should strive to answer questions correctly and clearly during class times and respond willingly to guidance from Mrs. Stripling. For example, students should give their best try at pronouncing Greek words, and then listen carefully to the teacher’s correction, and try again, until they pronounce the words correctly.

STUDENT EXPECTATIONS: WORKING AT HOME At home, parents will determine how the material is incorporated into the child’s education (examples would be choosing on what days to do which activities or deciding whether a child needs to repeat an activity until mastered). It is understood that every homeschooling family is different, and that life frequently disrupts the best-laid plans, but an ideal week would include engaging in each of the following activities. Throughout all these activities, the student should be constantly saying and writing Greek words.

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! Daily: Reading the assigned material, divided into short daily lessons. Mrs. Stripling will have taught from these lessons during the class, so students will not be encoun- tering anything new on their own. The written lessons will be a reminder of what was learned in class. ! Daily: Working through exercises, including translation, diagramming, and classify- ing. Consider doing some exercises on erasable surfaces, such as a dry-erase board, so that the focus is on the process and not the finished page. ! Daily: Making flashcards and using them for quizzing to improve vocabulary (stu- dents could use a variety of approaches: English to Greek, Greek to English, writing from an oral cue, etc.). ! 2–3 times per week: Practicing the assigned Greek hymn by reading it aloud, writ- ing sections of it as copywork, and of course, singing it! Incorporating the hymn into family prayers or morning time is a fun way to learn it together. ! 1–2 times per week: Looking at the icon presented in class that week (have it printed out if possible), telling a family member about the icon, and reading and writing the Greek inscription on the icon. Mrs. Stripling will also be sharing icon col- oring pages with Greek inscriptions, which would be an optional fun activity each week.

STUDENT EVALUATION: GRADING Students will be assessed on their oral participation in class, as well as on assignments submitted via Schoology. Tests will be given bi-weekly and other work may be assigned for submission on “off” weeks. Mrs. Stripling will provide quarterly assessments in the form of comments, as well as providing a record of test scores. See the following Mastery Portrait section for assessment criteria concerning skills and content specific to Greek. Students will also be expected and encouraged to exhibit development of good scholarly habits such as preparedness, engagement, and self-assessment/correction.

STUDENT EVALUATION: MASTERY PORTRAIT Since the class will include students of varying ages and levels of preparedness, Mrs. Strip- ling does not expect every student to fully master the following content and skills by the end of the year. Instead intends this portrait to be an image that students seek to em- body over the course of the school year. The list proceeds in ascending order, from the most basic skills to the most complete mastery. ! Can fluently decode and pronounce any Greek text (whether the meaning is under- stood or not), including inscriptions on icons ! Can sing assigned Byzantine hymns in Greek, eventually from memory, and know generally what the hymn is about, picking out a few important words ! Can accurately define Greek vocabulary words given in their lexical form (as seen on the flashcards) and, in many cases, relate those words to an English derivative ! Can recite the endings of all assigned paradigms ! Can classify, diagram, and translate the simple Greek sentences assigned as exercis- es

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! Can find the stem of any given vocabulary and accurately decline or conjugate it according to assigned paradigms ! Can understand why Greek have different endings for different cases, num- bers, and genders ! Can understand why Greek verbs have different endings for different persons and numbers ! Can understand the concept of grammatical between words

THE VIRTUAL CLASSROOM For this course, teacher and students will be utilizing the free online “virtual classroom” software provided by Zoom, one of the leading online meeting application providers. The virtual classroom will provide students with interactive audio, text chat, and an interactive whiteboard in which texts, diagrams, video, and other media can be displayed and ana- lyzed. Students will be provided with a link (via e-mail) that will enable them to join the virtual classroom.

Specific information regarding the technology used by St. Raphael School and Scholé Acad- emy (including required technology) can be found by visiting the Classroom Technology section of the Student-Parent Handbook.

Students will also be using an online learning management system called Schoology to communicate about assignments. In a traditional classroom, the teacher would be physical- ly handing out materials to the students. Consider Schoology the medium for sharing in- structional materials. This is where Mrs. Stripling will be sharing all of the printable con- tent for the course and music recordings, as well as anything she finds interesting and per- tinent to the course. Note: Students in this age range are not expected to be able to use Schoology responsibly, and it is strongly recommend that parents are responsible for or at least aware of all of their children’s online communications.

New tools for learning are always being developed. Throughout the school year, Mrs. Strip- ling may experiment with new programs to find the best ways to help students engage ac- tively with the material and the group. If anything requires downloading or signing up, Mrs. Stripling will communicate this clearly via Schoology assignments or messages.

Note from Mrs. Stripling: This explanation was written for students in higher-level Greek courses, but may find it helpful to give context even for young students who are just beginning to learn the Greek alphabet. When your child tells someone that she is studying Greek, the next part of the con- versation may be confusing if you are not clear on what kind of Greek she is learning. Stu- dents taking this course will be learning biblical Greek, using Modern pronunciation. Biblical Greek is essentially the same language as “Classical” or Attic Greek, which was used by Plato, Aristotle, and Thucydides in the century before Christ’s birth. The Sep- tuagint was translated into, and the New Testament was mostly written in, a variant of Greek called Koine, meaning “common.” Koine Greek is a simpler form of Greek than Attic

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Greek. Koine Greek persisted into the Byzantine era, which is why Orthodox hymns, liturgy, and much of our theology were written in this language. Today, the Greek language is very different from the language of the Bible. The in- fluence of Turkish and other languages has infused new vocabulary into Greek, and the grammatical structure has become even simpler. To give you a rough idea of the different eras, I like to compare Homeric Greek to (think Beowulf, which is basically in- comprehensible to speakers without intense study), Attic Greek to (for instance, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, which are readable with some knowledge of French and extensive footnotes), and Koine Greek to Elizabethan English (which is what Shakespeare wrote in, and which is understandable to us with a bit of effort if have grown up hearing the King James Bible). Modern Greek speakers understand Koine Greek pretty well if they have grown up in the Orthodox Church, but learning Koine Greek will not teach students how to ask a modern Greek person where they can buy a fish sandwich. The other important thing to clarify is that we are using the Modern pronunciation. Scholars differ on how Greek sounded during classical and biblical times. In the Middle Ag- es, a German monk named Erasmus came up with a system of Greek pronunciation that is still used in academic circles today (including non-Orthodox scholars of the Bible). This system sounds different from the Greek spoken today (mainly in vowel sounds, but also in a few of the consonants). In Greek Orthodox churches and any Orthodox seminary that teaches biblical Greek, the Modern Greek pronunciation is used for the liturgy, chanting hymns, and reading the Bible. At St. Raphael School, we have chosen to use the Modern pronunciation, because our study of Greek, besides being an essential part of a classical ed- ucation, is also an element of our catechism in the Orthodox faith. So, when a Greek parishioner tries to make conversation with your student in Greek, or when a friend with a classical education quotes the Bible or Homer in a strange- sounding accent, you will be able to help your student explain that she is studying biblical Greek (the language of the liturgy) and using the Modern pronunciation.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

Mallory Stripling begins her sixth year of teaching Greek with St. Raphael School in Sep- tember of 2020. She embarked on her teaching career as a founding faculty member at Ha- gia Sophia Classical Academy in Indianapolis, Indiana, where she taught Latin, art, language arts, and science. Mallory is a homeschool alumna and a 2010 graduate of St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she studied philosophy, history, literature, French, Greek, mathematics, science, and music. In Santa Fe, she also met and fell in love with the Ortho- dox Church (into which she was baptized in 2008) and her husband, Matthew (whom she married in 2011). Matthew and Mallory live in Annapolis, Maryland, with two kindergar- teners and a baby.

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