Latin Alive and Well

Book excerpt: A student-friendly introduction to Latin Learning Latin can prove daunting even to the brightest students. But this innovative text draws students into the story of Rome and lets Virgil and Livy lead the way in learning declensions and conjugations. Latin Alive and Well is a classroom-tested textbook consisting of 36 units. It is designed for both high school and university classes, in both two-semester courses and intensive one-semester courses. Clear and direct, it avoids lengthy explanations in teaching grammar, instead introducing modern students to this venerable language by focusing on exercises and translations that make fine points of grammar more readily understandable. P. L. Chambers presents essential elements of grammar in a way that enables students to read classical authors immediately, introducing them to a passage from Virgil as early as the fifth chapter. In addition to using selected readings in Roman mythology, history, and philosophy to illustrate grammatical points, she has adopted an informal, encouraging tone, with a healthy dose of humor when appropriate. Latin Alive and Well is written so simply that students with no previous exposure to a foreign language can understand and learn the grammatical concepts. Previously available only in privately published editions, it has been used nationwide.