Last week, the first week of classes, we started the stories, one at each level. I wrote down all the vocabulary (not just the new since I don’t know what they know) and am, as I write this, reworking the vocab into the categories in which I have my Picture Files sorted. Each word, incl prepositions and conjunctions where possible, has its picture and on Monday, tomorrow, we will retell the stories in various ways using the pictures. It drives me nuts when students don’t know vocab but it drives me even nutser when I see teachers and textbooks “present” vocabulary and then expect students to remember it two and a half years later (“But we COVERED that”, whines magister). So this way we’ll be reviewing a good deal of the vocab and then showing we can use it in sentences by retelling the stories. That’s the start.
As far as grammar is concerned, I’ll just give them work sheets and translations to do as homework since that’s what their regular teacher has them do. Each day they can ask questions about the homework before they turn it in and then we’ll get to talking to each other about interesting things…….. in Latin.