4 Reasons You Should Try Teaching Latin this Year (and 1 Reason You Shouldn't!)

How to expand access to Latin this Fall by starting a Teaching Literacy with Latin site in your community.

For over ten years, we here at The Paideia Institute have expanded access to the Classics by creating Teaching Literacy with Latin sites across the world. Teaching Literacy with Latin is a service learning program for high school and university Latin students that aims to introduce young kids to the classics. These sites have reached almost 1,500 elementary and middle school students who otherwise would never have had the opportunity to get to know the ancient world through the study of Latin. In 2024, we ran 20 sites during the school year and 10 sites during the summer. Here are some of the reasons, via our summer volunteers, why you–yes YOU–should join us in our mission to teach literacy with Latin this school year, and how to get started today!

1. You may receive hand-written notes.

Yeonwoo (Kelly) Sung, a student at St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire, ran a site in Seoul, South Korea this summer, as she’s been doing for the past two years. While her students started out as young middle schoolers when she first created her site, this year they were a bit older. Sung adapted the curriculum to their needs by giving her students more challenging material, which they mastered with confidence.

“I always get attached to my students, so I was especially moved in our last class, as a couple of my students gave me handwritten letters, thanking me for teaching them Latin, as well as some tokens of their appreciation. Additionally, every year, several of my students tell me that they have decided to continue studying Latin independently because they have been inspired to do so over the summer, and this year was no exception.

Three of my students told me that they decided to continue studying Latin, while one told me that he decided to apply to boarding school so that he could also study the classics more intensively like how I am doing.”

2. You can finally rehash the Peloponnesian war.

Reid Roberts hosted his camp in Tallahassee, Florida. Each day was structured around a theme such as "A Day in Old Rome" or "Aeneid Day". Students were split into three teams, with opportunities to earn points for their team through certamen, good sportsmanship during the outdoor activities, and attentiveness during class. By taking traditional elements of summer camp and “classicizing” them, Roberts and his fellow volunteers (all students at Christ Classical Academy in Tallahassee) engaged with students on a level beyond the straightforward academic one. Their camp exemplifies a core goal of Teaching Literacy with Latin: make learning fun!

“On the final day of camp, we discussed Junior Classical League and the wide variety of ways to get involved in the classics starting in middle school. After our final grammar lesson and certamen round, we counted the coins in the jars of Athens, Sparta, and Thebes, and Team Athens came out the winner. They were very excited!”

3. You can experiment with fashion.

Roman Rawie’s camp was held in Austin, Texas. Rawie, a student at St. Andrew’s, began his camp with enthusiasm. However, despite his hours of meticulous planning, his students were not as keen to learn about the ancient world as he had hoped. That is, until he accidentally stumbled upon one of our favorite educational theories, Howard Gardener’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, summarized brilliantly in the quote below.

“Jose wasn’t biting. He gave the wood grain on his desk more attention than me, his tunic-wearing teacher; that is, until the Roman engineering lesson when the gears of his mind visibly activated. He immediately took control of his group and constructed a primitive aqueduct using plastic tubing, HotWheels track, and Jenga blocks.

Another student, Jennifer, refused to participate in our Mythology discussion, but next session, she morphed into Gaudí, composing an intricate and beautiful mosaic. Their sudden enthusiasm led me to a profound realization: every student has a spark, and it’s our job as teachers to discover that flame.”

4. You can start a Latin program!

Pathways Preparatory High School decided that Latin would be a great fit for their summer intensive for rising 9th graders. Four volunteers in the NYC area, Jaya Shah, Natalie Yung, Spencer Yang, and Saiya Mittal, stepped up to the plate. For three weeks in July, they taught grammar, mythology and culture lessons to two classes of 25 soon-to-be high schoolers. The school was so inspired by this that they’ve decided to launch their own school day Latin program beginning this fall.

“One of the most memorable moments was the Mythology lesson—we had kids split into groups and make a presentation about a god/goddess, and then had them present. They presented facts about the god/goddess and also created an arts-and-crafts presentation about their god/goddess. It was so amazing to see how some kids who initially were not as eager to participate become excited about the attributes and qualities of each god/goddess and present them in front of the class.”

5. Your students can become so good at Latin that they take over the world!

Your students will improve their reading comprehension, put themselves a year ahead of school, and develop better math skills. With this they can achieve their dreams and eventually take over the world. And hey, I for one welcome our new Classics-loving overlords!

If our volunteers’ accounts piqued your interest in Teaching Literacy with Latin, you can sign up to volunteer here. It is free to volunteer, free to host a site, and you can volunteer all year round, anywhere you’d like! We will also be hosting an informational and training session for new and returning volunteers on Tuesday, October 15th at 8pm and Wednesday, October 16th at 5pm. If you’d like to start a camp next summer, our grant application will open in Spring of 2025. Have more questions? Feel free to contact me at [email protected].