New beginner group forming on Greek study list

[epikeia]

A new beginner's group called Agora is starting on the Greek Study list, http://www.quasillum.com/greek/greekstudy.html, using Taylor's Greek to GSCE1. I completed book one with the group over the past year and found it to be extremely valuable for someone (like me) who needs regular weekly assignments. I had one year of college level Greek many years ago, and have always wanted to get back to it. I'm happy to say that now I'm looking forward to tackling Taylor's Greek to GSCE2 via the same process.

I've noticed that someone occasionally posts on Textkit looking for a study group to join, or a way to be supported on the difficult journey to learn to read ancient Greek (in addition to the resources and forum on this wonderful site, of course.) For one who wants to commit the time and effort (buy the textbook and do about an hour or two of Greek each week) it's a great free opportunity.

Taylor's series was originally aimed at high school students (well, the British equivalent) who were planning to take an exam (the "GSCE", which is changing to some other name currently) for university admittance. I like it especially because there is no early emphasis on accents, which I believe just add unnecessary complication for a beginner. I speak as a former inner city high school Spanish teacher who required only word-differentiation accents for my beginning students. GSCE1 has a well-controlled vocabulary and carefully scaffolded grammar progression. Book 2 looks to be a jump to lengthier and more complex reading. I'll try to remember to post at the end of this next year to sum up my "two years with Taylor and the Greek Study list".

[daivid]

Taylor's series was originally aimed at high school students (well, the British equivalent) who were planning to take an exam (the "GSCE", which is changing to some other name currently) for university admittance. I like it especially because there is no early emphasis on accents, which I believe just add unnecessary complication for a beginner. I speak as a former inner city high school Spanish teacher who required only word-differentiation accents for my beginning students. GSCE1 has a well-controlled vocabulary and carefully scaffolded grammar progression. Book 2 looks to be a jump to lengthier and more complex reading. I'll try to remember to post at the end of this next year to sum up my "two years with Taylor and the Greek Study list".

The grammar explanations of Taylor Book 2 are just as clear as in Book1. It is indeed harder because he does not provide quite enough exercises which is a shame because he is rather good at coming up with original sentences while at the same time sticking strictly to the target vocabulary.

His Beyond GCSE makes takes this problem to extreme. The mi verbs - all types - all tenses is covered in a single section which is followed by 2 exercises totaling 15 sentences.