As an incoming freshman at Ursuline Academy, the language field was very open for me. Coming from a grade school where I had taken one Spanish course in my eleven years in which we listened to music in Spanish and ate Mexican food, I had almost no experience with any other language. So why Latin? Latin had been my number one choice in the back of my mind for a while even though I knew very little about it. I chose it because I wanted to learn more. I wanted to learn not only about the language but also about the culture. At first, though, I was a little worried, seeing that I almost had a meltdown trying to translate the first story of Ecce Romani because I didn't realize the vocab was listed underneath the story. However, as my freshman year continued (and I started using the vocab help), I fell in love with the language. It quickly became one of my favorite subjects and I looked forward to going to class every day.
Not only did I love being able to read and translate but I also enjoyed learning about the culture introduced each chapter. I had really only known about a few of the Roman gods before, so to learn more about Roman culture and daily life was fascinating. As my freshman year continued, I began to realize that Latin was something that clicked with me. The grammar, Latin vocabulary, and cultural aspects came quickly to me which caused me to love the language more and more. Latin also enhances my learning in other subjects. Grammar comes much easier to me now than it ever had. One day, when we were learning about possession in English class, when explaining my answer, I carefully explained how an English word was in the genitive case before realizing that I was indeed in English class, not Latin. All in all, even though sometimes you may feel like you're stuck in a ditch in Latin (get it?), fear not because you made the right decision, Latin is the best language.
6 OJCL TORCH: Voices Winter MMXVII https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjB6MPV-L3RAhVMNiYKHUL8A4EQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fmagistrabush.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F09%2F23%2Fjcl-t-shirt-contest%2F&psig=AFQjCNHBUl5DxFMgey96R-DH1Oh37W6Q0A&ust=1484356401987376
How the Latin Language Completely Changed My Life (For the Better)
Maddy Taylor (Aurora), Ursuline Academy
Ursuline students, ready to dominate the Latin language, put up the soft 1 and smile