June 21st, 2021

χαίρετε, ὦ μαθηταί - chairete, ō mathētai! Hello, students!

I'm beyond excited that we'll be learning some Greek together this summer! This will be your chance to figure out what all those "squiggly letters" mean, other than being weird symbols from math class. Remember what it was like to learn Latin for the first time, including some of the games we can play in an online environment! Not to mention all of the similarities you'll find between Latin and Ancient Greek!

Our focus in Ancient Greek class will be on building vocabulary and reading. We'll do a little bit of grammar along the way, but it won't be the center of our attention. And since we can't do much with the language until we understand the alphabet, we'll start Academy today with a mini-session on the Greek letters - and yes, I'm going to make you sing the alphabet song, even though you're on the other side of a Zoom screen. 🤗

After that, we'll dive into a small sampling of stories from Ancient Greek literature, tackling a different genre every day. First up - Homer's Odyssey to give us a flavor of epic poetry: it'll be Odysseus in Polyphemus' cave. Then we'll read a few scenes from a tragedy with Aeschylus' Agamemnon and explore what happens when Klytemnestra sees Agamemnon return from Troy (hint: she's pretty mad... oi moi!). On our last day, we'll explore the genre of comedy with Aristophanes' The Birds, where we're building a safe haven for birds in Nephelekokkugia ("Cloud-Cuckoo-Land").

Each of these stories will play off of our theme for Academy this year - colamus humanitatem. What does it mean to be human, how do you protect humanity, and what do birds have to tell us about ourselves? Whether you've read some Greek before or not, there's something here for everyone as we journey into Ancient Greek together!

-- Mr. Jefferson, your διδάσκαλος