ELEMENTARY ANCIENT GREEK I (GK1005)

You will be able to understand and read fluently written ancient Greek at the level reached in the textbook.

You will be able to use the language actively yourself, e.g. by writing easy sentences.

You will improve your language learning skills through intensive experience in explicit and self-directed learning.

You will have a passive vocabulary of c.1000 ancient Greek words, i.e. you will know their meaning and understand them. You will also be able to learn new words effectively and make educated guesses about their meaning since you have understood basic principles of word formation and realized the presence of Greek in English, French and (depending on your language skills) possibly other modern languages.

You will have a good grasp of the grammar covered in the textbook, i.e. you will know the tables and be able to recognize (parse) the forms (morphology), you will understand how the words function together in order to form sentences (syntax), you will understand the meanings of the forms and the syntactic constructions (semantics), and you will also be able to explain the grammar of sentences -- all this up at the level you have reached in your textbook.

Talking about grammar in this explicit way will enhance your understanding of grammar and the workings of language in general. You practice applying elementary grammar terms to your own language as well when translating Greek into English and training your understanding of grammar concepts with English examples. You learn how to communicate more effectively about linguistic features of any text .

You will enhance your reading and writing skills in English (any other language you know): (a) You deepen your understanding of words deriving from ancient Greek; and you learn (b) how to pay meticulous attention to linguistic detail, and (c) how expressing your observations in precisely. (d) Continuous comparison between Greek and the other languages will alert you to characteristic features and expressive means in each of them.

You will enhance your ability to learn actively and independently in general, to be aware of your own needs and communicate your questions and needs effectively to your teacher. You will gain a better understanding of your role as a learner: that it is you who do the learning and how you can take responsibility for both the content and the success of your learning.

You will become acquainted with elements of ancient Greek culture and history, especially of 5th century BC Athens, and become aware of both alterity and continuity. You will thus encounter a common cultural and linguistic inheritance that stems from classical antiquity and still shapes our lives and languages today. This learning goal will be achieved through discussion of the textbook readings as well as study of Greek vocabulary and its etymology.

You will have widened your historical perspective on language also more generally, having reflected on the phenomenon of language change and having learned about the Indo-European background of Greek in English, French or any other modern language you know and speak. This learning goal will again be achieved mostly through discussion of grammar, etymology studies and our discussions of vocabulary in the readings.

Local and Global Perspectives: Students will enhance their intercultural understanding of languages, cultures, and histories of local societies and the global issues to which these relate. (CCI LO1)

Exploring and Engaging Difference: Students will think critically about cultural and social difference; they will identify and understand power structures that determine hierarchies and inequalities that can relate to race, ethnicity, gender, nationhood, religion, or class. (CCI LO3)