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IB LATIN STANDARD LEVEL
PHILOSOPHY The teaching of IB Latin at Marymount serves two main purposes. The first is to train students to translate Latin with fluency so that they can read the great literary works of the ancient Romans in their original form. This aspect of the course also deepens students’ understanding of etymology and syntax, which will be useful in their study of other languages. The second main purpose is for the students to understand the world of the ancient Romans. This is important so that we in the twenty-first century can understand the culture that we have inherited, but also so that we can interrogate that culture and the assumptions it has given us. Besides which, the culture of ancient Rome is simply a fascinating one - at once so similar and yet so different to our own - which we are privileged to be able to access. As in all IB subjects, IB Latin (and especially its Internal Assessment) offers students the opportunity to learn important research skills which become so important at college level.
COURSE DESCRIPTION This course is a second language IB course at Standard Level. It presupposes that an intermediate level of skills in the Latin language has already been reached. Over the two years of the IB, students develop their ability to translate Latin, to understand set texts including their linguistic features, historical context, and literary qualities, and to marshall their understanding of the texts into a literary essay. Above all, the course seeks to give students a deep understanding of and engagement with the language and culture of ancient Rome.
AIMS The Latin SL course provides students with the tools to achieve the following aims:
● develop international-mindedness through the study of languages, cultures, and ideas and issues of global significance ● enable students to read and interpret ancient Roman texts, both prose and verse, from a variety of periods and genres ● encourage, through the study of texts and through social interaction, an awareness and appreciation of the different perspectives of people from other cultures ● develop students’ understanding of the importance of language in relation to other areas of knowledge ● provide students, through language learning and the process of inquiry, with opportunities for intellectual engagement and the development of critical- and creative-thinking skills ● provide students with a basis for further study, work and leisure through the use of an additional language
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● foster curiosity, creativity and a lifelong enjoyment of language learning.
METHOD OF INSTRUCTION Instruction will consist of modelling and guided practice for translations and then lectures and class discussions on the set texts.
ASSESSMENT Each semester grade is comprised of a semester exam (25%) and coursework (75%). The semester exams will give the students practice of both Paper 1 and Paper 2. The semester grading breakdown is as follows:
● Unseen translation (Paper 1) 35% ● Set texts (Paper 2) 45% ● Research dossier (Internal Assessment) 20%
ASSESSMENT OUTLINE Paper 1
In Paper 1, students will translate an unseen passage from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. In class, therefore, we will spend time studying this work and its linguistic features so that the students know the kinds of syntax, idioms, and vocabulary to expect. We will first discuss Ovid and his Metamorphoses in general, including the poet’s life and the work’s literary significance, to give the students a sense of context for the passages we will study and so that they can derive more enjoyment from what they will read. We will then study the style and scansion of Ovid’s poetry before moving on to translate a selection of passages from the Metamorphoses. These will mostly be taken from Mathew Owen’s Ovid Unseens and from Margaret Worsham Musgrove’s The Student’s Ovid.
VOCABULARY
Students will study vocabulary from the Core Vocabulary List provided by Dickinson College (covering 65-70% of the words in the standard Latin corpus) in the first year. In the second year, they will focus on vocabulary in the two Ovid collections mentioned above that are more specific to this poet. They will also practise using a dictionary so that they are ready to make the most of this resource in the IB exam.
GRAMMAR
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Students will review all accidence and syntax covered in HS Latin I and II using James Morwood’s Latin Grammar. They will also keep a log of new grammatical features that they meet in Ovid and be quizzed on these.
Paper 2
In Paper 2, students will study two literary themes: ‘Virgil’ and ‘Villains’.
VIRGIL
For their study of Virgil, students will read Aeneid 12.614-952 in Latin. They will work towards an understanding of the text’s meaning as well as its literary qualities and historical context.
VILLAINS
For their study of the ‘Villains’ theme, students will read part of Virgil’s Aeneid (10.689-746), part of Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita (1.57-60), and part of Sallust’s Bellum Catilinae (chapters 1-2 and 5-9). They will work towards an understanding of the meaning of these texts, their literary qualities and historical contexts, and the characters whom the texts portray.
Internal Assessment
For their IA, each student will choose an aspect of ancient Roman culture (literary, historical, or archaeological) and research it both in class time and at home. They will choose a research question on this topic and then choose between seven and nine sources that help to answer this question. The IA itself will then consist of an introduction, the sources themselves with annotations from the student (analysing each source and explaining how each one helps to answer the question) and then a conclusion. The maximum word count for this piece of work is 1000 words, though this does not include the sources themselves or any footnotes, bibliography, or appendices that the student provides.
PROGRAM OUTLINE
Year 1: Semester 1
● Linguistic points from the IB’s grammar list are reviewed with detail added on some elements of syntax using Morwood’s grammar book. Students learn the first half of the ‘Latin Core Vocabulary’ list from Dickinson College, much of which will be review. Students learn how to make the best use of a Latin-English dictionary when translating
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and practice rendering unseen passages from Catullus, Ovid, and Horace (some lightly adapted). ● The first half of the Virgil prescription is covered. ● The research dossier is not yet begun.
Year 1: Semester 2
● Students translated more difficult and now unadapted passages from Latin verse authors, learning the grammatical points that arise from these. They use a dictionary for these translations but also learn the second half of the ‘Latin Core Vocabulary’ list from Dickinson College. ● The second half of the Virgil prescription is covered. ● The nature of the research dossier and the best ways to approach it are explained to the students. They are to choose their topic and begin research over the summer.
Year 2: Semester 1
● Students now focus specifically on the style and works of Ovid, translating passages from his Metamorphoses, unadapted, using a dictionary. Grammatical points are studied as they emerge from these unseen translations and the vocabulary to be learnt is specifically that which is common in the Metamorphoses. ● The first half of the ‘villains’ prescription is covered (Virgil and Livy), with essay-writing practice on the Aeneid. ● The research dossier is completed.
Year 2: Semester 2
● Students review important vocabulary and grammar, continuing to translate unseen passages from Ovid’s Metamorphoses using a dictionary. ● The Sallust prescription is covered, with more essay-writing practice on the Aeneid. The Virgil prescription is reviewed. ● This will have been completed by the end of Year 2: Semester 1.
RESOURCES
James Morwood, Latin Grammar (Oxford, 1999).
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Dickinson College, ‘Latin Core Vocabulary’: http://dcc.dickinson.edu/latin-vocabulary-list. D. A. Kidd and Mary Wade, Collins Latin Dictionary and Grammar (Glasgow, 2016). Matthew Owens, Ovid Unseens (London, 2014). Margaret Worsham Musgrove, The Student’s Ovid (Norman, Oklahoma, 2018). Richard Tarrant, Virgil: Aeneid Book XII (Cambridge, 2012). S. J. Harrison, Vergil: Aeneid 10 (Oxford, 1997). R. M. Ogilvie, A Commentary on Livy: Books 1-5 (Oxford, 1965). J. T. Ramsey, Sallust’s Bellum Catilinae (Oxford, 2007).
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