| Subject for Lesson: |
Catullus, Lesbia and the Grotte di Catullo |
| Aims & Objectives: |
To give students an idea of the Internet as information bank and develop confidence in using it. To connect literature with the outside world and therefore to find more enjoyment in it. |
| Learning outcomes(short term): |
To let the students search for information about Catullus, Lesbia et al. The information they find about Catullus, Lesbia, etc, should form a basis for further readings of Catullus (and help them gain a better understanding of the poems). |
| School: |
Noerresundby Gymnasium & HF-kursus, Denmark |
| Teacher: |
Elisabeth Nedergaard |
| Contact email: |
en@nrsbgym.dk |
| Length & Context: |
One lesson of 95 minutes. The students are in their first year of the gymnasium (linguistics) and do compulsory Latin only for this year. They have been through a four month introduction phase and are now reading original classical texts. They have read a couple of poems by Martial and one poem by Catullus (Catullus III about Lesbia’s sparrow). |
| Class(age/level): |
1.g (= first year gymnasium students, age 16-18) |
| Number in Class: |
25 |
| Class Subject: |
Latin |
| Resources: |
25 computers with Internet access. Intranet-based conference system. |
| Lesson Plan: |
The students go directly to the computer room and are told to open an email in their class conference in the school's FirstClass conference system. The mail tells them to open this home page: http://fc.nrsbgym.dk/~en/latin/catullinks_2003.htm On this home page they find assignments, linking to the following questions: Who was Catullus? (when did he live, where did he come from, what was his occupation, etc.) What is known about Catullus' girlfriend, whom he calls Lesbia in the poems? How big was Catullus' literary production and how much of it lives on today? What are Le Grotte di Catullo? After answering the questions, the students can go and see how Catullus III is treated at Perseus (hypertext edition). On the homepage a series of links chosen by the teacher is found. The links are grouped in three groups: Links to Catullus in general (containing Danish, German and English links). Le Grotte di Catullo (containing English, Flemish, German and Italian links). Catullus 3 in the Perseus program: a hypertext exercise. |
| Lesson Description: |
The homepage worked out fine. The students were easily able to find answers to the questions. They did not complain about the links to pages in languages they do not know - or rather, they thought it rather funny that they could actually understand some of it. And they could always look at the pictures. One of the boys in class got so interested in the Grotte di Catullo that he asked his parents if they could go on vacation to visit the site. |
| Evaluation: |
Evaluation of the students' results took place in class immediately after the computer session. The answers they had found to the different questions were discussed in a plenary session (10-15 minutes). The class would be asked to return to the result of their work during further reading of Catullus. |
| Nota bene: |
Perhaps the number of links should be limited. There should be more time if the students are fully to understand the methods of reading in Perseus. |
| Age: |
16 |
| Country: |
Denmark |
| Level: |
Beginners |
| Theme(s): |
Literature,Art & Archeology |
| Language: |
English |
| Datum: |
2006-04-12 |
With the support of the European Commission within the framework of the Socrates Comenius programme.