Practical guidelines for all

1.      Reading and writing Greek

It is of the highest importance, especially for weaker students, that Greek is read aloud and written as much as possible during the first month of learning the language. This may seem to slow down progress, but the rewards are immense, in accurate recognition of words and forms, in speed of learning vocabulary and general confidence in handling the language. Here are some suggestions on how to encourage reading aloud and writing.

(a)               Read out a sentence or clause, and ask the entire class to repeat it after you; then choose smaller groups to imitate you; then individuals. (On choosing between dynamic and melodic accents, see below, pp. 6—7.) Then ask them to read another sentence or clause alone, without your prompting, after they have first prepared it; finally, ask them to read aloud at sight. Always read aloud, or have read aloud (preferably by the student about to do the trans­lating), the Greek that is to be translated. The Speaking Greek CD is invaluable for practice at home in pronunciation and accentuation (partic­ularly in the first month, when special attention should be paid to Professor Langslow’s talk, on tracks 1—8 of the CD).

(b)                In the first month and periodically thereafter, students should write out in Greek, with diacritical marks, the passages they are translating, and, perhaps without diacritical marks, the exercises and their answers. These papers should be checked by the teacher for accuracy. It is astonishing what kinds of problem are revealed, and how easily they are cleared up, by this simple, though time-consuming, device.

1.        Grammar

Teach only the grammatical points which GE specifies as requiring to be learnt for any section (though of course explain any phenomenon in which a student is interested). Everything lying outside that listing is glossed in the running vocabulary and can be ignored until the time comes for it to be taught fully. Underline in your text all examples of the grammatical point(s) to be learnt for each section, so that you remember to emphasize it/them and treat it/them with special care during the reading.

Some teachers prefer to give students a fuller picture of the grammar than that specified by GE at any one time, e.g. asking students to learn all the cases at once. The Reference Grammar at the back of GE gives the full picture, and should be consulted if required.

2.       Definite article

Insist that the definite article be mastered thoroughly, by heart, at the beginning. It is used generously in RG and gives immediately the key to case, gender and number of any noun (irrespective of type) to which it is attached. This gives much help to the student when learning noun-types.

James Neville recommends encouraging the students to construct their own morphology charts, empty ‘grids’ awaiting the new forms to be inserted as they are met in the readings. Modern technology makes this very easy to do.

3.       WoA

Constant reference is made to WoA throughout these Notes.

4.        Vocabularies

Constantly check that students are learning at every point the vocabularies set to be learnt in GE. The result will be a much greater confidence in translating and a considerable saving of time.

Peter V. Jones Edward Phinn