2018 Year in Review

2018 has (almost) gone, so I'd like to reflect briefly on some of the highlights of my year. 

2017 was a year of life-changing highs and lows. I passed the edTPA, got and accepted my job in Georgia, completed student teaching and my Masters, moved to Georgia, and finished my first semester in my new job. All these helped me through 2017, my most painful year personally. 2018 has had its ups and downs too, but I am grateful to be in an even better place now.

2018 was my first calendar year as a Latin teacher at Parkview and as a 100% CI teacher, so it's overwhelming to narrow down a list of highlights. 

Teaching:

• TPR - I first used TPR in 2017, but I did not feel that I was as successful as I wished to be. This past August, I really felt successful doing it again. See my post about it here.
• Brain Breaks - I first used Brain Breaks in 2017, but did not implement them consistently. Starting in August, I have made them a routine. See my post about it here.
• Writing my own novice-level Latin texts - Most of these have been translated and adapted from primary sources like Hesiod's Theogony (Saturn's overthrow of Uranus, the Titanomachy) and Homer's Iliad (Jupiter, Neptune, and Hades drawing lots) for Latin I students.
• Modifications for special ed. students - Miriam Patrick and I have been working closely to create activities and supports for our special education students, especially in Latin I. More details to come in a future post!
• Acting in the faculty play - Students invited several of us faculty to star in Check, Please, a play about a series of blind dates gone horribly-yet-humorously wrong. I played the role of Tod, a little boy who fools a woman into a date. 

  

  At 29 I could still pass for a kid. Yes, I am wearing a Mickey Mouse hat. Thanks for the youthful genes, Mom and Dad!

• Dressing up as Luigi for Halloween!

  

  Luigi forgoes Italian for the day because of half-off burritos at Chipotle on Halloween!

Greek & Latin:

• Biduum Georgianum - I had so much fun! I would love to do the longer immersion programs for both Latin AND Ancient Greek! See my post about it here. 
• Batrachomyomachia - I read two Greek texts this past year. First was the Batrachomyomachia, an epic poem that parodies Homer's Iliad. Instead of Greeks vs. Trojans, it's mice vs. frogs. I loved it - especially the deus ex machina ending!
• Digenes Akrites - The second Greek text I read was Digenes Akrites, a Byzantine poem about the life and adventures of Digenes Akrites ('Biracial Frontiersman'), a half-Arab, half-Roman hero who lives on the nearly-lawless eastern frontier of the empire (eastern Turkey today) and fights wild beasts, a dragon, and guerrillas. I graciously consulted Elizabeth Jeffrey's editions and translations of the Grottaferrata and Escorial manuscripts. This experience was a fun introduction to demotic Byzantine Greek and I'd love to learn more Modern Greek!

Travel: 

• The Midwest - In May and June, I enjoyed a nice roadtrip through the Midwest (Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio) with my girlfriend. It was great to see my family and best friends again in the Chicago area. Cedar Point was AMAZING! The best amusement park I've ever been to!
• Egypt - Also in June, my lifelong dream of going to Egypt came true and it was everything I had hoped for and more. Let me travel geek right now - I stayed in Cairo (just blocks from Tahrir Square!), Aswan (on Elephantine Island!), Luxor (steps from the Nile!), and Alexandria (right across from the Mediterranean!). I saw and did so much and I can't wait to go back!

  

  The Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza! I went inside too!

• Istanbul - Coming back home, I had a long layover in Istanbul thanks to flying Turkish Airlines, one of my favorite airlines. Since it is Istanbul - AKA my favorite place in the world - I had to go see it even for those brief hours I was there. I got on the metro shortly after it starts at 6:00 AM and explored the city on foot. I checked out some Byzantine churches, walked along the Sea of Marmara, and visited Hagia Sophia (my eleventh visit - yes, I'm shamelessly obsessed!) - all with more than enough time to hop back on to the metro and return to the airport to fly home. 

  

  Under Hagia Sophia's legendary dome for the eleventh time, but just as excited as ever!

Annum novum faustum felicem tibi, lector!

Biduum Georgianum

This past April, I attended the first ever Biduum Georgianum, hosted by the Septentrionale Americanum Latinitatis Vivae Institutum (SALVI), an organization that hosts and promotes opportunities for Latinists to speak Latin actively. For most world language teachers, they can seek communities where their language is spoken and/or travel to countries where their language is spoken to get a fully immersive experience. We Latin teachers do not have the same opportunity - so SALVI addresses this need. SALVI is most famous for hosting Rusticatio, a week-long summer program in West Virginia.

I first heard about SALVI's first Biduum (essentially a weekend-long sampler of the week-long Rusticatio experience) in Georgia from my dear friend, pun partner in crime, and fellow Latin teacher, Liz. I jumped on the opportunity to go because 1) it's with her so I was guaranteed at the very least a weekend of mischief and laughter, 2) it was much cheaper than the week-long Rusticatio experience in the summer, and 3) it was within driving distance, unlike Rusticatio. My four Latin teammates at work gave me helpful suggestions, as they have all done immersion programs like Rusticatio before.

For about 36 hours at a campsite in rural Georgia, around 30 participants and I were allowed to speak only in Latin. We did a variety of group activities like games and lessons, read some Latin texts on the bodily humors, shared and prepared meals, played frisbee, went hiking, had a campfire (complete with Latin campfire songs), had conversations, and more. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and especially loved (surprise surprise) being goofy and humorous in Latin (yep, I made at least one yo-mama joke in Latin).

The SALVI dinner chant

I attribute a large part of my enjoyment of the experience to my own self-awareness. I have always considered language a tool or a toy with which to express myself and manipulate for my own amusement, so I have never had the hang-ups experienced by other Latinists who enjoy Latin purely for its literary value and scorn any active use of the language (e.g. prose composition, conversational use, et al.). My previous enjoyment of using Latin actively made me excited to make the most of my 36 hours in this Latin bubble in the middle of nowhere.

Vocabulary from various activities

Body parts

Besides my own comfort with the language, I was aware of my own emotional limits. For example, I am a strong introvert, so for my sake I did not participate in many conversations at breakfast time. I knew that I needed that time in the morning to wake up both physically and mentally. Conversation too soon in the day - before I was mentally ready and had mustered enough social energy - would have exhausted me. I also made sure to be aware of my affective filter (the impact one's mental and emotional state has on their comfort with second language use). Whenever I felt overwhelmed, I withdrew and refocused. I did not strike up conversation for the sake of conversation - that is how I am in English anyway. There were, however, some interesting conversations over dinner, such as my attempt to explain comprehensible input to another teacher.

Adds a whole new spin on "I'm your Venus, I'm your fire" 😂

My conversational Latin is still a work in progress, so I hope to acquire an arsenal of go-to phrases and expressions that could apply to most conversations. Besides immersion programs like Biduum, conversing in Latin with my teammates and reading comedy has helped me work on this. Overall, Biduum was worth it and I definitely would love to do the full Rusticatio program in the future.