Latin does not have an oral exam: is that a good thing?
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salve Reader! [For those wondering where my holiday photos are, just scroll to the bottom, where I have shared some. For everyone else:] A student has asked me today why Latin does not have an oral exam. Too right! Just what I had been thinking about in the last couple of days. It is not that I do not know why Latin does not have an oral exam... but if you are not weighed down by the burden of "traditionalists", it does not really make much sense, which is why younger students often ask. The gift of youth! And my student is not alone. After spending a long weekend surrounded by Latinists and, for much of it, speaking Latin, I have had a deep, hard look at the way Latin exams are organised (again). They are translation exams. They are not proficiency exams. And often that means students focus on translation and spend more time thinking in and about English than actually acquiring the language. I am aware that, for some, this is a benefit of choosing Latin as the MFL, as you think you are skipping a skill while getting to double down on your English. However, that skill comes back with a vengeance: if you are not used to thinking in a foreign language, any language becomes a puzzle, and a pretty hard one at that. This is why I have spent some time putting together some thoughts about the role of speaking Latin in the learning process. Is it not amazing that one even needs to write about why speaking a language might be useful for learning it? Below is a little souvenir of my recent trip to Andalusia, which I greatly enjoyed. I will be sharing a bit more about the area and what makes it so special archaeologically very soon. You can read about my journey to learn how to speak Latin here:
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