Reviews
Thanks to those who have been kind enough to give feedback on the course. Here are some of their comments.
I wish someone had explained things to me like this when I did Latin at school: this is a way of breaking the myth that it is an impossibly difficult subject. Students love the fact that it is a book which is theirs to write on and they do translation from English into Latin better as a result of doing your course. One of the great things is that Imperium Latin is not written as a dry document: we hear your voice through your writing and it feels like you are in the room. Most students who start with your course go on to do GCSE and there are now kids doing Latin at a high level because of your books.
Maria Duckham, Taunton School, 2019
I’ve been using this course with a cohort of 58 boys (in 2 sets) in year 8 and now year 9. The proof of the pudding has been improved take up for GCSE Latin. In the past, Latin has had to be an extra option alongside a compulsory MFL in a school that has had a lot of MFL investment. Take up in the past has been a measly 7-12 (15 is the biggest I ever managed) and that goes back a long time before I worked here. Partly because they’ve changed that rule, but also because of the quite self-evidently higher levels of confidence in understanding and explaining how the language works, I was a bit hopeful we might improve on this to say… 18? Well! I have 26 students next year in one set, with a few more turned away because of timetable clashes!
Peter Ellis, of Altrincham Grammar School
This series has been amazing. My students have loved following along with the stories, and the word tools app is wonderful. WSHS had something similar to it for translating the Aeneid and De Bello Gallico, but to have a program like this for learning Latin is fantastic. I am definitely considering purchasing the Latin Unseens for my advanced team as well. We will not know how much a benefit this is until actual competitions start arriving, but from this juncture I see only good things!
Zachary Mair, of Winter Springs High School, FL, USA
I am really enjoying using your course and the students seem to find it good fun too. I think it could be the saving of Latin in the European Schools.
Joan Davidson, of the European School of Varese, Italy
We've had a great year using Imperium with 2 year 8 classes of 30 boys in each. We've got to chapter 12 in book 2 and at a fairly leisurely pace. I'm really quite amazed how well it's worked! If anything a sterner attitude to regular testing on the grammar is giving the confidence to spend more of the lesson on background stuff (or just watching the Odyssey which was a very popular move for the summer term!) instead of constantly worrying about whether I'm far enough through the book yet ready for the start of year 9! The prose composition has gone down very well ... The best of the students are really seriously brilliant using this course, getting prose composition in the subjunctive 100% right first time!
And again, Peter Ellis, of Altrincham Grammar School
The Imperium textbook has been invaluable in my digital classroom. The materials are accessible and clear. Clearly this model of textbook distribution is the future.
Anthony Cornish, of Detroit Catholic Central
The key aspect underpinning this course is that the construction of its delivery is wholly ICT-based, no surprise given M’s lengthy track record and expertise in this field. The modestly-named Site Support Pack is the key here. It contains a plethora of digital material to make life easier for the pupil and the teacher in this age of data projectors and personal mobile devices... it is a veritable cornucopia.This is, then, a Latin course for our times. Dynamic (or would-be dynamic) teachers would do well to consider what it has to offer and how it offers it, and codgers in the twilight of their careers will find plenty of innovative ideas as well.
Bob Bass, Journal of Classics Teaching (JCT), Spring 2014
Imperium is a cutting-edge Latin course that takes full advantage of modern technology and teaching methods.If you are a Latin teacher who would enjoy the challenge of teaching a course based on imperial Roman history and have a mandate to incorporate technology into your classroom, this may very well be the series for you.Exercises are kept short and sweet, typically to less than one page, to keep the pace brisk. Much thought and effort has gone into keeping the course rigorous and quick-paced, without overwhelming or discouraging students. The amount of assistance and supplemental material available to teachers as they present this course is truly remarkable. Every exercise in the course is accompanied by a corresponding recording, in which the author works through points that students may find difficult. Listening to these mp3s is like having a personal tutor available at the student’s beck and call, 24 hours a day.
Sharon Kazmierski, Classical Outlook, Fall 2013
I can readily believe it is successful... the great strength is the interactivity, the gold thread in teaching... I have enjoyed it for its cheerfulness, its clarity and its strategy of saying what is important.
The late Professor David West, who kindly reviewed Imperium Books 1 and 2 in detail and made many valuable suggestions about how to improve the course.
"The rigor but accessibility, the flexibility of the format of materials and the opportunities this offers, the potential that something new may bring are all very welcome."
Stephen Jenkin, www.theclassicslibrary.com