Cambridge University Press Minimus Secundus Pupil's Book: Moving on in Latin

Di lingua latina c'è ben poco in questo costoso testo: poche battute di dialogo in un latino elementare; per il resto, schede di miti e civiltà in inglese. Deludente

I was looking for a fun introduction to Latin for my 4th and 6th grade sons, and this was the ONLY material I found! And they loved it! Designed to both introduce the language and teach English grammar concepts, it is colorful, interesting, and motivating. Each 4-6 page lesson has 2 comic-style stories about a family living in Roman-era Britain, then the vocabulary necessary to "decode" the story, a grammar lesson covering a new concept, some Roman cultural information, and a myth. Written for elementary students (I'd say 3rd-6th grades), a few of the English words use British spelling since this curriculum is published in Britain, but this was not a problem. Minimus is not a complete Latin primer, but a very good "hook" to creating interest in the culture and the language. The student book could conceivably be used without the teacher's manual if the teacher were familiar with the language, but I'd highly recommend the manual as it contains answer keys, much more cultural and language information, additional activity suggestions across the curriculum, a glossary, and copy-ready activity sheets for each lesson. Also available is a tape of the comic-stories to aid in pronunciation. I'd recommend this to anyone teaching Elementary students Latin.

Lo primero avisar que la lengua vehicular es el inglés. Es decir que se traduce todo al inglés y se explican los conceptos en este idioma, no hay nada en español. Lo mirado por encima a ver si ya se metía en declinaciones y nada, solo he visto que hace mención en tres líneas al objeto de la oración y su terminación declinada. Nada más. Así como de paso. Que el 1 no entre a estas cuestiones pues bueno, digamos que es más introductorio, pero el segundo yo creo que ya se debería dejar de tanto verbo, que claro, es más apañado porque conjugar aunque sea mínimamente como ocurre en otras lenguas, se sigue conjugando y los niños están más familiarizados con este sistema,que con lo de declinar por casos que salvo en el caso de las lenguas que todavía lo hacen, el resto de los hablantes no estamos familiarizados con esta forma de señalar las funciones en la oración. No sé, habrá personas a las que le parecerá un método estupendo porque es más sencillo, pero claro si no te metes en el meollo de la cuestión pues tampoco es que estés simplificándolo, es que no entras a lo complicado. Por lo demás es muy agradable para estudiar, con dibujos, tipografía clara y fácil de leer, y lecciones cortas. Al final lleva unas páginas de vocabulario y en cada lección hay pequeñas listas de las palabras que aparecen, por lo que si es igual que el 1, no se necesita comprar diccionario aparte.

I find it extraordinary that someone finds this course unsatisfactory. I have been teaching Minimus One to 7-10 year-olds for some years, and in the final year before secondary school, the youngsters move onto Minimus Secundus. By the end they are able to translate into natural English simple Latin narrative and dialogue, with the aid of running vocabulary, so well on the way to getting the most out of their secondary school Latin experience. In fact they choose their secondary school according to whether it teaches Latin; all down to the inspiration provided by these wonderful books. The warped and off-putting way that Latin has been taught for children to pass Common Entrance is, thankfully, soon to be history. I hope therefore that more schools will come to Minimus, which is a much more fun way of learning about the language and the Romans.

I am an adult who is interested in learning Latin and am intimidated by sources for "grown ups." I purchased this for myself to investigate learning a new language on my own. I can see how this could be a great source to teach a child Latin as it has easy to follow lessons, activities and readings that are informative and interesting and are taken from actual historical examples and real historical personages. Very fun!