Getting Started with Beginner Latin III
Hello! Welcome to the Ancient Language Institute. We’re so excited you’ll be studying Latin with us this 2025 summer term.
You are now enrolled in Beginner Latin III (L103). Classes will begin the week of May 4, 2025. Please read on to learn more about logistics, course materials, first assignment, and your Zoom classroom.
If you have any questions about the program at any time, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We want to make sure you have the best, smoothest experience with ALI possible. We have and will continue to put in lots of work to ensure your success and happiness, but we do need you to do some work to help us, too. Please read on and we will explain.
Please bookmark this page for future reference – it will be helpful as you prepare for your course. The information presented here is critically important and has several action steps that require your attention.
Overview
- Note down your class meeting schedule.
- Get to work on your first assignment (explained below) as soon as possible.
- Look for an email from your teacher one week before classes begin. This will contain your class Zoom link.
- You will receive your full class syllabus on the first day of class.
Class Meeting Time
When you signed up, you selected a course section with a weekly meeting time. That is the day and time your class will meet over Zoom every week. Please save this to your calendar so we don’t have any conflicts arise! If you have forgotten, please check the order notification email you received after checkout. That email will have your course section meeting time. If at any point you need to switch sections, please let us know ASAP. We’re happy to help.
The first week of classes begins May 4, 2025. The last week of classes begins Aug. 3, 2025.
Your teacher will be in touch one week before classes begin with a Zoom link and other logistical information.
Course Materials
Besides in-class meetings, in this course, you will also be working through an interactive digital workbook (included with the price of tuition), a bunch of immersive Latin videos (also included with the price of tuition), and two hardcopy Latin books (you’ll need to buy these).
- Go ahead and buy your books now: Lingua Latina: Familia Romana as well as Fabulae Syrae.
- As for the interactive digital workbook, we will send you log-in information about that one week before classes begin – plenty of time to complete that first assignment, particularly if you’ve already gotten started on your opening assignment (explained below).
- There are two sets of recordings for you to keep track of:
- Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata: This set of audio recordings created by ALI Fellow Luke Ranieri consists of chapter-by-chapter read-alongs of your course readers, Familia Romana and Colloquia Personarum. We highly recommend listening along as you read your assignments (both to enhance your language learning process with audio input, as well as to hone your Latin pronunciation).
- Familia Romana Circling: These videos, found in Dropbox, are fully immersive Latin-language lessons by ALI Fellow Katherine L. Bradshaw, which walk through the text of Familia Romana. They are available exclusively to ALI students. We recommend watching these after you’ve read the Familia Romana chapter for the week.
First Assignment
Before you show up to your first class session, we want you to do a few assignments in preparation. That way we will be able to use the first class session as effectively as possible – and set the stage for a successful term! So, please complete the following things before your first class session.
Go buy your books (see above) and get to work on your first readings (see below). And then, as soon as your digital textbook user account is set up (we’ll email you about a week before classes begin), log on and complete the first digital workbook assignment (also see below).
Don’t worry about the digital workbook modules for now – just get to work reading Chapter Twenty-Five in Lingua Latina: Familia Romana, listening to that chapter using the YouTube playlist, and watching the Circling video for Chapter Twenty-Five. Once you receive your digital workbook log-in, complete those Chapter Twenty-Five exercises in the vocabulary module – you’ll find that a lot of it is review from what you already read in your books. NB: There are no exercises for Chapter 25 in the grammar module. Here it all is in short:
- Read and listen to Familia Romana Chapter Twenty-Five (multiple times).
- Watch the Familia Romana Chapter Twenty-Five circling video.
- Once you receive your digital workbook log-in (one week before class), complete the Chapter Twenty-Five exercises. The digital workbook has two modules, but for the first week, you only need to do the vocabulary module (“VB”):
- Grammar module: “SALC” (Saint Andy’s Latin Companion) – Not Applicable for Chapter 25
- Vocabulary module: “VB” (Vocabulary Builder)
Thanks again for joining us. We are excited to have you in class. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!
Very best,
The Ancient Language Institute Team
hello@ancientlanguage.com