SALVI's Rusticatio Virginiana

Thanks to the generosity of the American Classical League scholarship committee, I had the opportunity to attend SALVI’s Rusticatio spoken Latin immersion workshop for the second time this July. My first time at Rusticatio was in 2014, thanks to a Parent Association teacher grant fund at my school, which has since been discontinued. What follows are my observations and lessons learned from both experiences, since repeated Rusticatio experiences are truly cumulative, and in no way redundant.

Upon arrival at Claymont Mansion in rural West Virginia, the quiet and solitude of the place is striking, but also intentional. The “dux,” “repititores,” (i.e. instructors) along with “sodales,” and “curatores” (i.e. support staff) greet participants warmly and casually. Though we are still speaking in English until bedtime the first evening, the nervous anticipation of the first-time participants and the excitement of the staff and returning participants is palpable. Accommodations are cozy though a bit spartan, and always with fellow participants so the immersion may continue even between programmed activities. It really is like summer camp for Latin enthusiasts.

After my first experience, I was lured back for a second time by the incredible warmth, camaraderie, and joyful attitude from the instruction staff, which filtered down to all participants. Expectation to speak or “perform” your Latin skills is minimal, and nervous participants are often treated like beginning students in order to ease the transition to a fully immersive environment.

To continue the immersion, most meals for the week are prepared with the assistance of participants on an assigned rotation, with the “coqua” and “subcoquus” overseeing and teaching “kitchen Latin” along the way. My first year I was terrified at this prospect (I do not particularly enjoy cooking), but during the meal prep I was surprised at how easy the coqua and subcoqua made the process, and I enjoyed the hands-on aspect of learning the names for utensils and foods.

The lessons I learned at Rusticatio for my pedagogical practices range from the philosophical to the practical. On the philosophical end I have internalized the importance of providing input to my students that is comprehensible and compelling. Limiting all the Latin a class reads or hears to stodgy stories about dead Roman men is rarely compelling for all but a few. I’ve learned to season the selection of Latin stories in our textbook with personal anecdotes about my life or my weekend or my dog, or through relatively simple conversation with students in the class. I have also been introduced to the concept of sheltering vocabulary but not grammar. Bombarding students with new words to learn while also learning new language structures is far more frustrating for them than being exposed to new ways to use the words they have already learned. I have also begun to shift my methods of assessment from verbatim translation to assessing their actual comprehension, often in Latin. I.e. many comprehension questions are in Latin, and their answers may be too. I do still occasionally ask for direct translation, particularly as part of an all-class reading of a story and for particularly tricky sentences or phrases, in order to check for understanding, but that’s usually as a last resort.

I have picked up a number of practical techniques and activities as well. I recall from my first Rusticatio learning methods of interactively practicing morphemes aurally and orally by establishing a comprehensible noun-verb phrase and then asking for one-word student input - a verb form - prompted by an instructor-provided noun or pronoun. I have used this method in my class in addition to or in place of grammar notes and worksheets. 

During Rusticatio this summer the “repititores” (i.e. assistant instructors) introduced a number of methods of practicing and reinforcing vocabulary which I plan to use this school year. One was a simple listing of known words by alphabet letter, an “abecedarium” As the students during the activity, we listed either words for things in sight of us at the time, or just words we know or had learned, e.g. under P, I wrote “pictura” and “phantasma.” A partner share followed, which included an element of competition as well; if one partner came up with a word the other didn’t, they got a point. Another activity included looking at a work of art (not necessarily ancient or Classical art, but could be) and choosing from a provided list of words to describe it, as well as the open option to provide our own known Latin words to describe the art.

Probably the most simplistic classroom practice that I picked up this summer (although the instruction staff did this in 2014 as well, it just hit me this summer how useful and helpful it was to me from the student’s perspective): keeping a running list of Latin words on a large-sized sticky note pad. As I talk about the weather, or my weekend, or my dog, or ask about how the students are doing, I may use Latin words or phrases that are new to the class. They aren’t going to be in any official vocabulary list in our textbook, but I still think they are good words to know and reinforce. I write the words (often with English meaning written, or a rudimentary illustration) on the large sticky note pad that hangs from my dry erase board for all the class to see. Things may get added throughout the class period, and maybe the list for a particular class continues onto a second sheet if the conversation or story goes for awhile. So far with this method, I’ve reviewed impersonal phrases like “me dolet” with my Latin 4s (upon the occasion that a student complained that his back hurt from a fall in dance class), and comparative adjectives “maior/minor” with my Latin 2s when we were talking about siblings and our age orders within our families, and many other random but useful words. By putting these ad hoc terms on the large sticky pad paper, I can keep each sheet after each class, instead of erasing it from the white board, with the intent of reinforcing these words and phrases. Students are also writing many of these words in their personal vocabulary lists that they keep in their class spirals for continued review.

Rusticatio has been a very eye-opening and mind-changing experience for me. The first year was much about simply changing my overall mindset about how to approach the teaching of Latin, and I’ve been on a journey since then. My second time this summer I was acquiring and refining the applications for my new mindset of teaching Latin. It’s also important, as it is for any language, for its teachers to simply have the experience of speaking and living in the language, even if it’s just for six days. Thanks to my time at Rusticatio I feel much more confident launching into a story, or discussing a Latin passage, or asking questions about a story in our target language during class time, all of which provides more input of the language for the students.

--Lauren Dill

For more information about upcoming "Rusticationes" and "Bidua" (Latin immersion weekends) visit SALVI's website.