1. Adventures in 24/7 Latin
I. VLE MARKING & FEEDBACK SYSTEMS
1.
•
how to make it work
have an agreed dictionary
use the first dictionary entry
follow the Latin
reproduce the punctuation
preserve the masculine bias
options to ditch:
- contracted verb forms
- aspect variations: present continuous,
past perfect
2.
-
workflow for Moodle
prepare answers in an outliner
convert to GIFT format*
upload into Moodle
preview the test & tweak/repeat if needed
*http://docs.moodle.org/23/en/GIFT_format
Example self-marking sentence exercise
1. Aquam ferventem in poculo porto.
{I am carrying|I carry|I’m carrying} {boiling|intensely hot|boiling hot|hot} water in {a|the|my}
{cup|drinking-vessel|drinking vessel}.
2. Da mihi poculum aquae ferventis.
Give {|to} me {the|a} {cup|drinking-vessel|drinking vessel} of {boiling|intensely hot|boiling
hot|hot} water.
3. Puerum dormientem excito.
I {wake|rouse|am waking|am rousing} {up|} {the|a} sleeping boy.
4. Hostes Caesarem venientem vident.
The {enemy|enemies} see Caesar coming.
5. Parentibus nostris honorem damus.
We {give|are giving} honour to our {parents|fathers}.
6. Video hominem librum scribentem.
I see {a|the} {man|person} writing {a|the} book.
7. Ciceronem dicentem audimus.
We {hear|listen to|are hearing|are listening to} Cicero speaking.
8. Oratio eius decens est.
His speech is {fitting|becoming|decent|good}.
9. Ex praesentibus bonis voluptatem capimus, mala imminentia timemus.
{From|Out of} {|the} {present|immediate} {good things|goods|wealth|benefits} we take
{delight|pleasure}, {and|but|} {we|} fear {impending|imminent|threatening|overhanging}
{evils|bad things|calamities|misfortunes}.
We take {delight|pleasure} {from|out of} {|the} {present|immediate} {good
things|goods|wealth|benefits}, {and|but|} {we|} fear
{impending|imminent|threatening|overhanging} {evils|bad things|calamities|misfortunes}.
10. Scribit Ovidius in primo libro Amorum:
{Ovid writes|Writes Ovid} in {the|his} first book of {|his|the}
{Amores|Loves|'Amores'|'Loves'|"Amores"|"Loves"}:
11. 'Militat omnis amans, et habet sua castra Cupido.'
'{Every|Each} lover {serves as|is} a soldier, and {Cupid|Desire} has his {|own} {|military} camp.'
'{Every|Each} lover {serves as|is} a soldier, and {Cupid|Desire} has his {|own} {|military}
camps.'!<B>castra</B> is plural in form, but singular in meaning, so "camp" rather than
"camps".
12. In illo carmine multas similitudines monstrat inter militem et amantem.
In that {poem|song} he {points out|reveals|shows} many
{likenesses|resemblances|similarities|comparisons} between {a|the|} soldier and {a|the|} lover.

2. macros used (these are mostly just GREP expressions in the Nisus Classic dialect)
1.
// syntax unpacker:
Find
({.:+)|([^|{}]:+)|}s
:<[{|]([^s|]:+)|([^s|{}]:+)s|
|}s
s{([^|]+|}[.?])$
start:
^([~%-100%-]ss.*{)(.*)|(.:*)(}.:*)$
If(Error) Exit
{([^|]:*)}
If(Error) Exit
Goto start
If(Error) Exit
2. // converter to GIFT format:
s:>[;:,.]
r•ss(.:+)$
^-ss(.+)$
^:s(.+)r}
r:e
[‘’]
:<[^~%-100%]s:>[s?.;,]
~%-100%ss
t
:::
Replace
1s|2s|}
1s|2s|
s|}
{s1
124r134
1
r}rr::1::1 {
=1
$CATEGORY:s1
}r
'
=%0%
s#s
::
II. RESOURCES FOR SPACED-REPETITION LEARNING
Frequency lists of vocabulary:
James H. Dee, “The First Downloadable Word-Frequency Database for Classical and Medieval Latin”,
CJ 98 (2002) 59-67 (5500 words, sortable; online in various places as latinfrequencydb.xls)
Dickinson College Commentaries Latin Core Vocabulary, http://dcc.dickinson.edu/latin-vocabularylist (2013; 1000 words; also for Greek, 500 words)
Paul Hudson, Latin Frequency Dictionary (Kindle, 2013; 5000 words)
Wilfred E. Major, “It’s Not the Size, It’s the Frequency: The Value of Using a Core Vocabulary in
Beginning and Intermediate Greek”, CPL Online Winter 2008:
www.camws.org/cpl/cplonline/files/Majorcplonline.pdf (1100 Greek words, alphabetical only)
Jerry Toner, Latin Key Words (Oleander, 2002; 2000 words in 20s; print only; also for Greek)
Key spaced-repetition apps
Anki
http://ankisrs.net
cross-platform, cloud syncing, free except for iOS
Mnemosyne
Supermemo
StickyStudy
free, desktop & Android only
commercial, abandonware except on Windows
commercial, iOS
http://mnemosyne-proj.org
www.supermemo.com
App Store
III. CATCH UP WITH THE GOVE GENERATION
LiveCode community edition: http://livecode.com
Wallace Wang, Beginning Programming for Dummies All-in-One Desk Reference (2008)