English & Foreign Language

Are you taking Grammar and Composition (Holt Traditions)? If it’s easy for you to push grammar as the last subject you do every day, you will probably get behind. As Lucia said below, I recommend working on it 30 minutes to an hour each day, doing the rest of your school, and then doing the rest of the grammar at the end of the day. If you are behind, ask your consultant, teacher, or parents if you can do every other sentence orally.

If you are doing Cambridge Latin, Patrick, a sophomore, said that he “…always found it helpful to study the endings of nouns and verbs along with memorizing vocabulary. It makes it a lot easier while translating stories because you don’t have to go to the back of the book for the charts.”

If you’re taking Latin 1/1B (Henle I – Units 1-7), Elizabeth, a sophomore, gave some vocabulary tips: “Flashcards are amazingly helpful with remembering vocabulary. If the flashcards don’t help you enough then I would suggest getting your Latin notebook out (or binder, folder etc) And writing the vocabulary words down and then the meaning next to them. This helps to imprint the vocabulary and their definitions in your mind and is great because you can also keep that to use later on.”

Doing Latin IA (Henle 1 – Units 1-3)? Maya, a freshman, had several tips:
“1. Work on memorizing the vocabulary and the declensions at least once every day. You’ll do better at the translations if you have those memorized!
2. Ask for help. If you are working on an exercise and cannot find the answer after some time, ask for help! Teachers and parents can usually always resolve any problems you have.
3. Complete the exercises you need to do on the day they were assigned if possible. Putting them off for another day will only lead to you getting behind, and it might be hard to catch up again.
4. Don’t skip the chart worksheets, if you can. They will help you to remember all the endings, which will be especially helpful during quizzes.
5. Create simple phrases or acronyms to help you remember the noun/verb endings. These can be very useful when trying to figure out which of the many endings applies to a specific sentence.”

Are you taking Latin II (Henle I – Units 8-14)? I have a few tips:
Do Latin in the morning. Our consultant recommended doing math and Latin first last year, and it guarantees that you will do Latin every day! This will help you review the vocabulary and internalize the concepts.
Have a good vocabulary system! Learn new words, review old words, and go over the ones you got wrong. It will take you a while to do the exercises if you do not know the vocabulary.
If you find the quizzes to be challenging, preview them a day or two before. If you don’t understand the questions, ask one of your parents or your teacher!
Some teachers go over the lessons in class word for word, and some go over the concepts. Read the lesson before or after class, and make sure you understand it. If you don’t, ask in class or email your teacher!

Are you currently in Henle Latin III? JohnPaul Pascale, a sophomore, has some suggestions. 

First, find someone to do Latin with. Whether this means sitting down with an older sibling or meeting over zoom with someone who’s in your class, find someone with whom you can study vocab, memorize charts, translate texts, or discuss reading. This course can be challenging as the first semester is incredibly dense, and if you have someone to study with, it will make it easier as well as altogether more enjoyable.

Second, don’t procrastinate. Again, this course can be challenging. If you procrastinate, you can very easily get behind, and it is very difficult to get caught up. So, stay on track, take your quizzes when they are assigned, do exercises when they are supposed to be done, and study vocab the day you learn it. 

Finally, try to enjoy Latin. I have been taking Latin for over seven years, but it is not until this year that I have really learned to enjoy it. Appreciate the beauty of the Latin as you are reading scripture. Appreciate the story and adventure in Caesar’s Helvetian Drive to the West. Appreciate that you are learning the language of the Church. Don’t just learn Latin, learn to love Latin, and if you do so, your school experience will be transformed for the better!

Is MODG Latin I Beta one of your subjects? Cameron, a junior, had a few tips for students taking MODG Latin I Beta:
“First things first: vocab. If you’re given a sheet of all the vocab for the year, I suggest printing it out to refer to when necessary. Looking at the vocab you don’t know will help you remember them during tests. Also utilize Quizlet, which is one of my favorite websites ever! MODG even has created flash cards on Quizlet for Latin I Beta!
Another tip is to always do the drills. They will help you in the end, and while I know they’re monotonous, believe me, it pays off in higher level Latin classes!
Finally, ask questions! MODG teachers are absolutely wonderful and want to help! It’s better to ask questions early on so you have a firm foundation for the harder concepts.”

If you’re doing MODG Latin III Beta, Lucy, a junior, shared a few tips:
“Although first semester is mainly stuff that you’ve already done make sure you have it down. Second semester builds off of that and you don’t want to hesitate on all the small details. Subjunctives are the main concept that I’m thinking of here.
Vocabulary is important throughout every year, but I think the higher you go the more important it gets. Make sure you’re memorizing all principal parts because you’re now using all of them.”
Take advantage of your classes. Ask questions, prepare beforehand, and participate in the exercises. By doing so, the teacher will be able to help you with the concepts that are actually difficult for you, not just stuff that you needed to read over again.”

If you are taking MODG Latin IV Beta, I have several tips:
As I said earlier, our consultant recommended doing Latin in the morning. This helped me a lot! If you like Latin like me, you will be excited you did it! If you don’t or if it’s a hard lesson, then you don’t have to do it later!
You are reading the Gospels and sentences written by the Saints, so don’t just translate to be done with Latin! I loved when we learned that different Latin words had different contexts and realized why the authors used a specific word.
You may already have a good vocabulary system, but if not, look at the Latin tips above to finalize your vocabulary system!
Preview the quizzes a day or two before. Even if they are open book, it is good to know you understand the quizzes: it will take you longer if you don’t!