Read Aloud Homework

Echoing Jennie's post below, I'd also like to say that I've been thinking more about what to give for outside of class work this year since moving toward CI. I'll admit that I've given a few worksheets to be completed for homework if I think that they'll help the kids get in more repetitions of new vocabulary and forms, but I've really tried to move away from giving much homework, because I doubt its effectiveness and utility. Also, many of my students seem over-committed with athletics, service projects, and other activities.

I was inspired by an activity that Jennie has done at our Upper School with her students. She has them go home and give an oral summary of the story they're working on to their parents or other care-giving adult. I liked that idea, but I knew that my beginning Latin students would have a hard time remembering the details of the story and communicating it clearly. So I changed the format of the homework assignment to a read-aloud assignment.

I sent this email to the parents of my students before I introduced the idea to the kids:

Dear Parents,
I wanted to take a moment to explain a homework assignment that will be coming home with your children soon. They're being asked to read a Latin passage aloud to you (or another adult caregiver) and try their best to communicate its meaning. The purpose of this assignment, as I've explained a bit in the attachment, is so that students can work on their Latin speaking skills and practice using Latin as a communicative language. In our class, we work on all of the modes of communicating (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) in Latin, and I hope that this assignment will be a great way to ensure that every student gets to practice speaking Latin. We also know that we learn best by teaching.
I hope that you'll find this fun and use it as an opportunity to see your child's progress in Latin. Don't worry if nightmares of conjugating amo, amas, amat flood your consciousness. But I don't think they will; our class is a lot of fun!
Feel free to ask them questions about the language or the story. Try reading it aloud yourself. Even do some acting. They'll love it.

Then, I created this document (attached to the above email as a sample) to use as a form any time I want to give this assignment. It explains the purpose of the assignment and reminds students what to do. (Sixth graders need a lot of that.)

I ran off copies of it and attached it to the script of our most recent story, Apollo and Daphne, which I'm using with major props to Magister Webb. I made a few edits to the story, but basically used it as-is.

I had the students practice with each other in class, because I wanted them to think about how to communicate the meanings of as many Latin words as possible in the story without using English. I also want them to think about which words can't be communicated easily without using English, e.g. mox in this particular story.

Here are few comments that I received from parents:

I’m out of town and traveling in California. Fortunately, FaceTime lets me stay connected with my awesome kids. [Student] just shared with me her Latin story from her homework, along with translation. Makes a daddy smile!!  

[Student's] drawing of a stick figure girl and his gestures helped us understand the story he told. His expressions made it easier to follow. Many of the words sounded similar to Spanish, which helped us understand the story. One part that we were unsure of was ... [...] but then he retold it with more gestures, and we understoon. Sad that she turned into a tree! :(

I enjoyed this story. [Student] clearly takes pride in his knowledge of Latin.

I did have questions, and [Student] was able to explain. There were words that once [Student] told me the translation made sense.

[Student] did a really good job getting his points across non-verbally. I think I understood the whole story. Couldn't the gods have just told Apollo to back off instead of turning her into a tree?

Great job! [Student] had enthusiasm and was very dramatic!