IRIS Project - Term 1 – First Half
Written by Lorna Robinson
1. WHAT IS LATIN?
a simple introduction to Latin and why it’s useful!
You will need... Card, pictures.
Firstly... Find six different Latin-related pictures, of, for example, a Roman god, a Roman building,
map of Italy, and a dictionary. Ask the pupils to identify and write down what they think the pictures
show.
Take answers, give correct answers and explain the connection – Latin. Brief explanation of what
Latin is after taking guesses and suggestions from the class.
Secondly... Give a mixture of Latin and English words written on bits of card to each table and ask
the children to identify which words are English and which are Latin, and then to find English and
Latin words which look as if they might be connected (select words that look obviously connected,
e.g. umbra and umbrella).
Make a table on the board and write up answers suggested by the class, explaining how the words
are connected as you put up correct suggestions.
Finally... ask the pupils to write down a sentence explaining what Latin is in their own words.
Telling tales...
Tell the children the story of Daedalus and Icarus. Raise the question of what is a myth, and let the
children explore this. Get them to draw out the key themes of this myth. Tell them to start thinking
about how they might write a modern play version of the story, and put them in groups to discuss
this (you can develop this into a project of its own as part of the 'telling tales' section of the lesson,
instead of the activities given below!).
2. WORD TYPES
You will need... card pieces with English words on them (cut into shape of leaves, OR let the children
do this).
Firstly... Ask what word types they know and write examples on board. Cover adverbs, adjectives,
verbs, nouns and pronouns.
Secondly... Ask each table or group to draw a big tree, and then allocate each group a word type to
collect. Distribute cards cut into shape of leaves with words on them. The children have to select the
right word type and stick the appropriate leaves onto their trees.
It doesn't have to be trees and leaves, of course. Try anything from houses and people, car parks and
cars, or anything else you can think of!
Telling tales...
Ask children to make their own myth, using three things somehow in the story: a ball of thread, a
maze and a monster. Emphasise the importance of vivid vocabulary (have a brief class discussion of
interesting adjectives).
3: INFLECTION
You will need... card cut into jigsaw pieces, with pronouns such as I, we, they etc. on pieces that fit
into verbs such as run, runs, think, thinks, etc. On the other side, the Latin stem and endings can be
written (stick to verbs in the same conjugation for this!)
Firstly... Introduce pronouns and verbs: I run, you run etc etc.
Secondly... Hand round bits of card cut into jigsaw pieces. Ask them to make sentences out of the
pieces. Then write up sentences they have created, and then ask them to turn the pieces over,
where they will find the Latin on the other side. Write the Latin up too, and ask the children to
observe how the two languages are different and similar. Children write down a full conjugation in
English and Latin from the board.
Telling Tales..
Tell them the story of Aeneas founding Rome. Ask them if it's a story, myth, fact etc. Discuss with the
class why a people might invent a story to explain how their country or city was founded. Ask the
children in groups to come up with a founding myth for wherever they are! If time remaining, create
some artefacts to accompany the founding myth voted the best by the class.
4: SENTENCES
You will need... paper.
Firstly... recap sentences with three parts – subject – verb – object. Write up a basic sentence, such
as “the girl sees the boy”, and lead the children into identifying first the word types and then the
distinction between nouns which are subjects and nouns which are objects.
Secondly... Ask the children to come up with three different sentences made up of these three
things, and to write each part in large letters on a piece of paper. So in total they should end have
nine sheets of paper with words on. Ask children to volunteer a sentence to three pupils – one takes
one piece of paper each. Without being told anything more, the children then come to the front of
the class and have to form the sentence for themselves by standing in line. In some cases the
content will make it self-evident which way round it goes, but in others, the children may get it the
wrong way round.
Discuss with the class how we cannot always tell which is the subject and which is the object. Write
“puella” on the board, explaining what it means. Then write “videt”, again, explaining what it means.
Finally ask the children what they think should go next to make the sentence “the girl sees the girl”.
Write “puellam”. Do the same with “puer”. Get the children to write in their literacy books the two
simple Latin sentences and their translations, along with a sentence explaining how Latin nouns
change.
Telling Tales...
Recap the idea of “epic” stories such as the founding of Rome. Tell them the story of the Odyssey,
and then ask children to write about one particular aspect of the story, in the most descriptive way
possible, so for example they might describe a lotus eater or the Cyclops etc.
5: SENTENCE PRACTICE
You will need... worksheet
Firstly... Using the worksheet with Latin verbs and nouns. Ask them to construct as many sentences
as possible out of the Latin. Write on board the meaning of the Latin words, so the children can
make sentences that make sense.
Secondly... children come and write their sentences on the board.
Telling Tales...
Tell the children the myth of Phaethon. Explore the myth in discussion: what makes it a myth, the
aetiological aspect. Explore the similarity of this myth to the Daedalus / Icarus myth, and get the
children to discuss why such similar myths might arise. Tell them to come up with a newspaper
article or news story type presentation on any aspect of the story they would like.