UCL - Beginning Greek

[FLTR1770]

[30h + 30h] 5 credits

This course is taught in the 1st semester.

Teacher(s): Claude Obsomer

Language: French

Level: First

Aims
Main themes
Content and teaching methods
Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Aims

This course is meant for "complete beginners" whose knowledge of Greek is either non-existent or insufficient for the students to undertake the studies they wish to pursue. By the end of the course, the students should have mastered the essential aspects of the language (lexicon, morphology, and syntax), should be able to translate simple texts, and will have learned how to use the necessary work tools to complete their training and to understand a text by an author with the aid of a translation.

Main themes

The course is made up of two intertwined aspects that are addressed simultaneously: the teaching of the regular morphology and of the main structures particular to Greek; the application of this theoretical part to a selection of Greek sentences and to the commented reading of short extracts from Classical authors. An overview of the course is distributed and explained at the beginning of the academic year. The method to be followed can be described as follows: 1) a lecture course (30 hours): theoretical and progressive presentation of Greek grammatical structures; 2) small group tutorials (30 hours): the analysis and translation of a selection of sentences and of texts with the aid of the appropriate material (i-campus); 3) personal work, a significant part of the course (40 hours): for the students to organize their class-notes and prepare the work suggested by the teaching team.

Content and teaching methods

This course is divided in two parts : " theory " and " exercises ", which are given in parallel. After a short explanation of the Greek writing and phonology, the students are introduced to essential aspects of the morphology and syntax of ancient Greek (Attic dialect). Each lesson includes the translation of sentences or small texts as an application of grammatical data. The exercises (translation and morphology) engage the students in an efficient training and personal understanding. Regular assessments allow to verify the progressive acquisition of vocabulary and grammatical rules.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Pre-requisites:
None in Greek, but students can only take this class if they have had 4 hours of Latin a week in the four last years of their high school education or have passed the Latin test at the beginning of the year. Students who do not meet these conditions should take the general introduction to Latin course.

Assessment:
Basically continuous: regular assessments allow the progressive evaluation of each student in basic knowledge acquisition. From the first weeks of the course, these assessment will address the mastery of a basic lexical and morphological knowledge. Active comprehension of the language will be gradually integrated through the translation of simple sentences and texts. This assessment may be written, but may also be based on the interventions of students in small group activities. It will require regular collaboration between the members of the teaching team.
A written exam will be organized at the end of the semester.