Little Children Learning Latin Books Teach Pre-Schoolers this Classic Language

(ARA) — If you want to cause some excitement at your favorite fast food restaurant, try this: Pull up to the drive-through window and have your kids practice their language skills by ordering chicken fingers and fries in Latin.

Your kids don’t know Latin? They’re not alone. Too few schools, especially those below college level, teach Latin anymore. Why “too few?” Because, if you want to give your kids an edge, there are few better ways than learning this “dead” language. Studies conducted by the Educational Testing Service show that Latin students consistently outperform all other students on the verbal portion of the SAT. Other studies indicate that learning Latin increases math skills, too: sixth-grade students in Indianapolis who studied Latin for 30 minutes each day for five months advanced nine months in their math problem-solving abilities.

“I will say at once, quite firmly, that the best grounding for education is the Latin grammar… Even a rudimentary knowledge of Latin cuts down the labor and pains of learning almost any other subject by at least 50 percent,” says British novelist and scholar Dorothy Sayers.

That may well be, but how can you make Latin interesting for your children? A good place to start is the new series of children’s books by Marie Carducci Bolchazy. There are currently two books in the series, with two more in the works. Now available are Quot Animalia? (“How Many Animals?”) and Quid Edam? (“What Will I Eat?”). Forthcoming titles include Who Loves Me? and What Color Is It?

These “I Am Reading Latin” books are created for children ages 4 to 8, but will delight the kid in every reader. They feature charming illustrations (done by talented high school art students) that enhance the simple text and help readers identify the vocabulary on each page. Translations for each page are at the back of the book, along with a pronunciation guide and basic grammar information. Additional help with pronunciation is available on the publisher’s website, where readers can hear the book read aloud in classical Latin.

“What Will I Eat?” covers breakfast, lunch, and dinner from a child’s perspective, with foods like fish sticks and pancakes. “How Many Animals?” teaches kids to count while learning the names of various animals, from lions to mice.

“These books are educational, but they are also just plain fun,” says Bolchazy. “I hope children find them entertaining and useful, but I think adults will enjoy them as well.” After all, who can resist a book that provides Latin translations for macaroni and cheese (collyra cum caseo) and hot dog (hilla calens)?

Bolchazy, an education specialist and co-owner of Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, developed these children’s books in response to repeated customer requests for primary-level Latin materials. “It is important to teach languages to children as early as possible,” she says. “The older they are when they begin to study foreign languages, the harder it is.”

Latin builds a solid base for acquiring other languages as well. A knowledge of Latin provides a foundation for about 80 percent of the vocabulary of the Romance languages (French, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish). About 723 million people in 57 countries speak these languages. Latin is also essential for understanding key documents of the Western world; it is a cultural link that binds Europe and America.

Latin also helps develop students’ reading, writing, and speaking in English. In Philadelphia, students in grades 4–6 who received 15 to 20 minutes of daily Latin instruction for one year scored one full year higher on the Vocabulary subtest of the ITBS than matched students who had not studied Latin.

Even if these benefits don’t sway you, you’ll want the books simply for the thrill of being able to say, “For breakfast, I choose Mickey Mouse (Michaelis Muris) pancakes,” in Latin.

Carpe diem and visit Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers at www.bolchazy.com for more information on the “I Am Reading Latin” series. Books are available at Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores.

Courtesy of ARA Content

EDITOR’S NOTE: Author Marie Carducci Bolchazy holds a doctorate in education from SUNY Albany and a master’s degree from Cornell University. She currently works full time at Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers.

Mardah B. C. Weinfield translated the “I Am Reading Latin” series. She holds M.A. degrees in both Latin and Education and has been studying and teaching Latin for over 20 years, most recently with her own three-year-old son, William.

Courtesy of ARA Content, www.aracontent.com, e-mail: info@aracontent.com