New method for learning/teaching Greek. Feedback desired.

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noren
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New method for learning/teaching Greek. Feedback desired.

Post by noren »

Hello all,

I'm developing a novel way to teach and learn Greek. I have a website where this method can be explored.

http://www3.telus.net/norbertre/index.html

You need a Polytonic Greek unicode font to be able to read the stories. There are links on the site where you can download them.

My approach is to teach paradigms and vocabulary in a story context. The user can interact with controls and select things like plural/singular, 1,2 and 3rd person, masculine or feminine, and whether to use pronouns or not. I only have a few stories online so far.
My conviction is that Greek would be easier to learn if it was presented in graded stories. Not everyone can learn Greek by memorizing endless paradigms and isolated words. My dream would be to offer dozens of stories, each graded by difficulty and grammatical categories. However, I am not a Greek expert, almost all of my 2 or 3 semesters of Greek as faded away. What I am looking for is for people to try out the stories I've got posted up there and play around with the controls and give me feedback as to whether they think that this mtehod of presenting Greek would be beneficial or not.
Please note that there are still some *holes* in my online database, so some words in some stories do not get replaced properly. You will see this with either a ***text***, or a Javascript message 'undefined' instead of the Greek word.
What I'm looking for now is feedback on the method not the content.
IMHO, the advantages of this is that any story entered in this site can be manipulated about 24 different ways offering the student a lot of reading practise at the appropriate reading level, with relatively small effort for the teacher for creating the story and for entering it.
The advantages for the student is that he gets lots of reading practise and gets to learn vocabulary and the paradigms in a more natural method.
So, let me know what you think.[/url]

Emma_85
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Post by Emma_85 »

Hi noren!

I just took a look at the website. I don't learn NT Greek so I don't really know how it is normally taught, but I've always learned ancient languages with little stories, so I know that's a good method. I'm surprised to hear that it's not the normal method for NT Greek :shock: .

Skylax
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Post by Skylax »

It works !

Please correct χαῖρε νικόδημε, λέγει πέτρος, not πέτρον, because the mistake is also multiplicated. :)

Geoff
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Post by Geoff »

Props to Noren. I've thought this was a great approach for some time. I'm teaching my kids and had decided to start developing my own stories. I think I'll try yours out with the kids and let you know how it comes along.

noren
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Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2004 8:19 pm
Location: Langley, BC

To Skylax

Post by noren »

Thank you for your observation on the spelling.

Do you think that this method of interaction can help students learn the paradigms and new vocabulary?

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