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Student authors Guide for Latin

Irene Morrison-MoncureThis summer I drafted a Latin grammar guide entitled "The Real Guide to First Year Latin" for my Monroe Project.  I put an emphasis on encouraging students to continue their study and take a genuine interest in the language and culture. The project had a “for students by a fellow student” approach that attempted to connect the ancient language to this newer generation. I facilitated a connection through the incorporation of popular culture, humorous anecdotes and an informal writing style. I meant this project as a supplement, either for students who wanted a different perspective on what they are learning in the classroom or for those who were looking for more approachable texts in general. The guide is divided into chapters containing all the major topics of elementary Latin organized in an order I deemed most natural and efficient to study. There are also sections throughout to break up the main action. They include "The Little Things" which investigates those small but important sub-topics that often need to be highlighted on their own, "Making it Stick" a section which features some inventive ways to memorize new grammar, and "Cool and Unusual" which showcases some of the amazing ways Latin can be entertaining and fascinating even in the modern world. I had so much fun working on this project, and I laughed at my own bad Latin jokes more than once.