Latin Course Descriptions, Expectations and Requirements<br> Information for Students New to Seniorlearn's Latin Classes

Seniorlearn.org has a long history of success in teaching Latin, starting in 2004 on SeniorNet.org. We offer a unique experience with an instructor always present in the classroom and a proven success rate as evidenced by our students and their spectacular success on the National Latin Exam. As this is a pro bono project, we strive to keep the tuition extremely low: $55 for an entire year's classes. The slight increase is due to increased server costs. The information below will tell you what our classes are and what they are not.

Our Classes are

NOT canned lessons that go on despite the progress of the class. In our classes the Instructor makes adjustments to the class assignments, etc. as the class progress warrants.
NOT "do it when the mood strikes you" classes. Our classes attempt to replicate a bricks and mortar classroom. That means there is a real, live Instructor who checks the homework the students email to her per the assignments made by the Instructor. The Instructor is IN the classroom to answer questions, explain again a concept that students are having trouble with, etc.
NOT a class of thousands where the student fills in a blank or does the work on his own and hopes he has it right or is dependent on a listserv where others are also floundering.
Our class has a max of 30 students. This is a real course with classroom attendance, feedback from a committed Instructor, and help.
NOT a class which is done with Instant Chat. Our classes have students from a variety of time zones around the world, so there is no appointed time each day when the student must appear to know what's going on. The class is done in a bulletin-board/discussion style format. The student can appear at a time during the day that is convenient for that student. What has been posted by the Instructor and others in the class is there for the student now appearing to read and then add his/her own participation.

What we ARE
1. OUR courses meet in a classroom 2 days a week -Monday and Thursdays with the Instructor present.
2. Our courses are designed for those 50+ who do not need college or high school credit but who want to learn Latin for personal fulfillment. Our focus is on students who are older adults and who want to learn for the pure joy of it.
3. From about the hours of 8:00 am ET to 9:00 pm ET We work together, translating and doing exercises to increase the student's understanding of Latin.
4. Our assignments are made that include both IN CLASS work which the students post in the classroom. This is often a round robin type exercise so students can reinforce the concept being taught, use the new vocabulary, do translations, etc.
  
  Assignments labeled HOMEWORK are exercises that the Instructor wants the student to complete and email to the Instructor. This is a private correspondence between student and Instructor.
5. Our supplemental activities and information are provided beyond what is found in the text. The Instructor has made 29+ yearly trips to Italy and other countries with Roman ruins and she has presentations to round out the students' Latin experience.
  1. Because we are online in a discussion area, we expect students to be able to type and to send and receive email. Homework is a private correspondence between the individual student and the instructor. It is by email that the homework is sent to the Instructor and how she returns her feedback on that work.
  2. We prefer for the Latin to appear before the English in translations posted in class.
  3. The ability to copy and paste is an extremely useful skill. You'll will be glad you can do it, it will make the course much easier. You can google "copy and paste" and find lots of examples. You'll want it for assignments if you would like to print some of but not ALL of that page out.
  4. Students are expected to purchase the text required by the Instructor and to participate in the classroom. This means reading ALL the posts by the Instructor and the other students. To not do so is lessening the value of the entire Latin learning experience. Students will learn much from seeing other students' posts and those of the Instructor. It's comparable to being in a regular classroom. The student needs to listen carefully to everything the Instructor explains and to listen to the questions and responses of the other students.
  5. Keeping up is vital. This course is a group activity. It is not a one-on-one tutoring session between one student and an instructor. It's much more meaningful than that. There are others also learning, and students, as in a regular classroom learn from other students and their questions.
    
    [Yes, we know life happens and sometimes unfortunate things happen in our lives that make for situations that require some adjustment here. Please communicate these situations with the Instructor, so she can help you.]
    
    Format: The Latin courses on SeniorLearn.org are offered in a virtual classroom discussion or "bulletin board"-style format with other students and the instructor.
    1. This means you post as a message your own input to the subject at hand. It's comparable to contributing to a class discussion in a regular classroom. This classroom work can include translating, contributing a vocabulary word to an in-class drill, to making a sentence with words that have been assigned, etc.
    2. The class meets two days a week--Monday and Thursdays. Since our student body is international, there is no set hour when the class meets. The student can come in any time of the day and find the instructor, and motivated fellow students participating in the classroom. This is not live chat. Your messages and those of other students and the Instructor remain as long as the class does.
    3. There are written assignments to be emailed to the instructor which are returned with comments. We attempt to make the classroom experience as close as possible to what you would encounter in a physical bricks and mortar classroom.
    4. Latin is a discipline. It's vital, therefore, that you keep up with these assignments and with the classroom work, if you wish to learn Latin. Each lesson the Instructor explains, each classroom drill, each homework assignment builds upon what was done previously.

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