The Iris Project

Term one - first half

1. WHAT IS LATIN?

a simple introduction to Latin and why it’s useful!

You will need... Card, pictures.

Firstly... Find six different Latin-related pictures, of, for example, a Roman god, a Roman building, map of Italy, and a dictionary. Ask the pupils to identify and write down what they think the pictures show.

Take answers, give correct answers and explain the connection – Latin. Brief explanation of what Latin is after taking guesses and suggestions from the class.

Read more: Term one - first half

Term one - second half

Continued from Term one - first half

6: VOCABULARY CONSOLIDATION

You'll need... card cut into playing card size.

Firstly... Write lots of Latin words and their meanings on the board.

Secondly... Ask children to make 6 playing cards, with a Latin word(s) from the board written clearly on the card, and a picture depicting what these words mean. Once they have made a sufficient number of cards, then they can play a game of snap with one another in front of the class taking turns... These cards can be used in a variety of ways to consolidate vocabulary!

Telling Tales...

Tell them the Classical myth of creation. Ask what they thought the beginning of the world might have been like. Explore as a class imaginative interpretations and possibilities. Use images to show how artists have depicted these, and ask them to produce their own images.

Read more: Term one - second half

Term two - first half

1:BOSSY VERBS!

You'll need... paper and verb sheet

Firstly... write "curro" on board, ask if they remember what it means. Write up full conjugation of the verb. write "curre" and currete" and see if they can guess what it might mean, then tell them if they can't. Introduce the idea of an imperative (or 'bossy' verb!)

Secondly... Ask the children to make a series of road sign shapes out of card or paper, and then to make some instructions using the verbs on the sheet. These can then be taken home and stuck in places around their homes (e.g. keep out! or watch out for the dog!), and / or stuck around the classroom (shut the door! listen!)

Read more: Term two - first half

Term two - second half

Continued from Term two - first half

6: ECHO AND NARCISSUS.

You'll need... paper.

Firstly... Tell the story of the Echo / Narcissus myth, writing up a Latin sentence on the board to represent each stage of the story. Ask the children in pairs and threes to dramatise just one section of the story, so that the whole story can be performed in sequence by the class!

Secondly... Ask the children to write down the Latin on the board. Then ask each pair / group to draw a cartoon representing the part they were allocated, writing in the Latin sentence onto the cartoon. These can then be made into a cartoon strip for the classroom wall displays.

Read more: Term two - second half

Term three - first half

1: VERB FLOWERS

You'll need... straws, sticky labels, coloured paper, verb sheets.

Firstly... Write a verb they recognise on the board, such as "videt"; see if they can recall all the conjugation endings for the verb. Include the infinitive and imperative endings. (It might be fun to explain how in the old days, teachers would get their pupils to chant the endings, and to get them to chant through them!). (Then move onto verbs in other conjugations they have met.) Explain that the unchanging bit of the word is the STEM.

Secondly... Tell them to make "verb flowers", using straws and bits of coloured paper cut into petal shapes. The stem is the straw, and using the verb sheet, they need to select a verb, write its stem onto a sticky label and wrap it around the straw. Then they need six or eight petals on every flower (depending on whether they use the infinitive and imperative endings as well), with the correct ending for the verb group written on each petal.
Telling tales... Tell them a myth involving a flower, such as the story of Hyacinthus. End by observing that lots of plant and flower names come from Latin, and the "proper" names which flower-growers use are all Latin names.

Read more: Term three - first half

Term three - second half

Continued from Term three - first half

6: THE UNDERWORLD

You'll need... worksheet with first two parts of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice.

Firstly... recap money last lesson, and discuss the sorts of things that people in Rome might have used money for. Tell them that one of the things the Romans did is when someone died, they put coins on the corpses to pay the ferryman who guarded the river Styx, which was the only way to get to the underworld! Hand them each a story about the underworld and somebody who dared to enter there before he was dead...

Secondly...the children translate the story on the sheet provided, using the vocabulary on the board. The story is split into three parts. Ask them to do just the first part.

Thirdly... Go through in class and then ask the children to pick out the verbs in the sentences (it can be helpful to project these onto the board, and ask the children to come out and circle the verbs).

Fourthly... Ask the children to have a go at the second part of the story. Do the same process with verbs in the second half. Ask the children to write down the heading "the past tense" and write out the full conjugation of the present and imperfect tense together with their meanings.

Fifthly... discuss in class what the children think might happen in the last part of the story, but don't tell them what happens! Save that for next lesson.

Read more: Term three - second half