I see that London’s CityLit runs online Latin courses at various levels starting next week. The courses are based on “Reading Latin” by Peter Jones & Keith Sidwell, 2nd edition. Has anybody attended these courses, or perhaps taught them, and would like to comment?
I thought you were pursing your studies using Familia Romana and the other Lingua Latina volumes? Changing horses to Reading Latin might not be a good idea given how far you have come in your studies. What level were you thinking of starting at? Reading Latin is an excellent course especially in its revised form which reduces the amount of adapted Plautus which it formerly contained. Many years ago I attended an intensive course at city lit run in conjunction with Birkbeck as a preparation for a classics degree. Not sure they still do that.
Why dont you ask to speak to a tutor and get some advice about what level you should start at?
The problem with these courses is that some of the tutors might be excellent but most will be graduate students and perhaps not that interested in teaching. (this is a guess based on very old info).
I would be happy to try to answer any questions you might have. But any info I have is well over 20 years old. I think your biggest problem would be to work out what would be the appropriate level to start at and whether you would be happy to make the adjustment from the Oberg style to a more traditional kind of course.
I never like changing horses in mid-stream and was wondering about that. But might that not be outweighed by the interaction with a tutor and fellow students made possible on these Zoom courses? In any case, I would still continue with LLPSI and would drop the CityLit course if I found it too much. I’m going to have a look at the course book first and if of interest may join a class at a later date.
Thanks for your thoughts on this, seneca, much appreciated!
Hi
What did you decide to do?
Hi Seneca -
I didn’t enrol with CityLit but am working through the Reading Latin course at my own pace and in parallel with Roma Aeterna. I am pretty sure RL Grammar and Exercises will fill in all those gaps left by LLPSI. It’s quite refreshing to be told in plain English that where “habeo” is constructed with two accusatives it is likely to mean “regard X as Y” and similarly where “facio” is constructed with two accusatives it will usually mean “I make X into Y”. I’m sure FR expected me to pick that up by osmosis or subliminally.
Roma Aeterna is tough, but I now have the Loeb Classical Library Aeneid which is a great help.
An excellent point!
Hi, a late reply from me as I’ve been away from this site for a while. I enrolled at CityLit and am enjoying it tremendously (and Sidwell and Jones). I am about to finish Latin 1 Module 2 and enrol on module 3(Section 2) I am a poor student but am struggling away and making slow progress. I have just bought LLPSI Familia Romana as an extra. You sound much more advanced if you’re on with Roma Aeterna. If you do change your mind speak to them ( CityLit) and they’d direct you to the course at the right level.
Uale,