The old is new at Greenvale Elementary School, where nearly forty 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students have signed up for Latin club. Classics professor Rob Hardy started the club, and it is a collaboration between St. Olaf, Carleton, and the community. Latin students and professors from both colleges, as well as one homeschooled Northfield student, create curriculum and lead the club every other Wednesday in the Media Center at Greenvale. The club focuses on teaching the basics of Latin, as well as Roman culture and the ways it appears in everyday life.
The club was inspired by a similar program at Dickinson College, but Professor Hardy said he had been approached with classics-interested students for some time. “I’ve taught Latin on the elementary, and mostly middle school and high school level before … I thought there was interest out there, and I’ve had kids in Northfield come to me and ask “can you teach me Latin?” because it hasn’t been offered in the Northfield high schools since 1976, so [the club] fills a kind of gap.”
Hardy attributes a lot of the newfound interest in the language to the popularity of the “Percy Jackson” fiction series, which are imbued with information about roman culture and mythology. “They think the ancient world is cool,” he said. “I asked kids what they knew about classics and one of them basically knew the story of the Aeneid … it was pretty sophisticated, they know quite a bit. So part of the club just responds to what their interests are.” The has been club surprisingly popular, and the first meetings attracted twice the anticipated amount of students.
In response to those who say, “Latin is dead,” Hardy says there is a lot that elementary and college students alike can learn from the club. “In a way, the mental training you get from algebra is the same as in Latin … [and] even if you don’t know how to read Latin or you aren’t going to go on to read Virgil, for vocabulary learning and the connections with Spanish and other languages, I think the etymologies in Latin can teach students a lot.” Increasing vocabulary is especially attractive for young students interested in spelling bees (or for older ones interested in Med School).
Furthermore, for Hardy’s Latin 204 class, it provides Carls knowledge they wouldn’t find in the classroom. From students interested in teaching Latin in the future, to those looking to practice more conversational language, Latin Club allows them to practice new skills.
After the success of this pilot term, Hardy is looking to create more infrastructure to continue the club. Right now, the club relies on volunteers from Hardy’s Latin 204 class, and he would like to bring in more students. He would also like to collaborate more with St. Olaf and potentially take on student workers to create lesson plans. But for now, the club is going to make the most of its final four sessions.