Sample Latin 3 PQA (January 15, 2013)

Inspired by the efforts of Rachel Ash, I offer this video.

Below you'll find a video of my Latin 3 class and I running through some PQA (Personalized Question and Answer). The target structures were:

• donum miserat, had sent a gift
• aperire non vult, does not want to open
• timet, fears, is afraid of

These structures ultimately lead to the story "Afraid of the Package" in Anne Matava's first volume of story scripts.

This is my first year of using TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling), but these Latin 3 students have been with me for the past two years. Therefore they have only had one semester of TPRS and CI (Comprehensible Input). Nevertheless we are comfortable exploring the new method and they have taken to it like fish to water. You might notice that the structures and conversation are very basic for a third year class, but that's just where we are at. At least everyone understands everything.

One sad thing before you watch: I wish I had read this review before class because I learned only after-the-fact that the camera I used records for a mere 25-30 minutes at a time. It cuts off right in the middle of things--right before we begin on aperire non vult, I think--but hopefully it gives you something useful anyway. And hopefully it gives you something to critique as well!



Note: On the wall you might be able to see I have taped up various question words and their translations. I point to these with a laser pointer during the PQA. Also, On the board before class I wrote the target structures with their translations, and throughout the PQA I write various phrases with translations on the board. Oh, and a GoogleDoc of the daily agenda (accessible for parents, admins, and absent students whenever via the class website) goes over the projector at the beginning of every class, to help up walk through quickly what we'll do and how each activity lines up with our various standards. I'm sorry that the quality of the video might inhibit your view of everything that's going on.

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