Bridging the Gap: Tiered Readers and the Intermediate Latin Classroom

Please join the WashU Classics community in joining Anna Pisarello of the Stanford Online High School. Anna is a Latin instructor who received her BA in Classical Languages at the University of Chicago and an MA in Classics at the University of California, Berkeley. Anna has taught at the Stanford Online High School since 2013 and has taught Latin at a variety of levels, as well as Greek Myth, Roman History, and Roman Civilization and Literature. 

Abstract: The practice of adopting and adapting teaching approaches from modern language acquisition theory gained mainstream momentum among educators in ancient languages in the 2010s. These include spoken Latin (and Ancient Greek) in the classroom, language acquisition through comprehensible input, and scaffolded approaches to reading unadapted ancient texts. Scaffolded, or tiered, readers seek to address the tricky pivotal point for intermediate learners between elementary language instruction and proficient reading of authentic ancient texts. As a fairly new pedagogical genre, tiered readers are continuing to evolve in format and practical application. This presentation will trace the development of Latin tiered readers as a teaching resource, explore ways to incorporate them into a variety of classroom settings, and open up discussion about the efficacy of this and other approaches.