Around the World in 50 Minutes with Margaret Hardy

The ten seventh graders in the Latin class file one by one into the room. They drop their heavy backpacks down and take their seats. The lunch break is over, and they don’t look quite ready to relinquish it. They chat a bit, and the boys playfully throw an elbow here and there as they fish their Latin notebooks and pencils out of their overstuffed bags. When the bell rings, Margaret Hardy, Latin teacher, chair of the Middle School World Languages Department, and BB&N’s Jeanette Markham Master Teacher, walks into the room. All eyes look up, and every student sits up a bit straighter and taller.

Hardy asks, “Who has the tiniest clue what the homework was today? How many of you actually took time to memorize?” She looks intently at the group, and then breaks into a wry grin. The class has jumped to attention, and all hands are up.

Hardy believes her most important task as a teacher is to help the kids experience that hard work will pay off. She explains, “I tell them why I’m doing everything, how to approach learning, but in the end the effort is up to them.”

“Everyone take out your board, wipe it clean, then write the Latin declension for 3^rd person personal pronouns.” The students each have a small whiteboard at their desk for class exercises like this. “Your job is to write the endings of this weird declension in as little time as possible.” Hardy holds up her watch to show that the race has begun, and the class becomes silent, all focused on the task until Jeffrey shouts, “Done.” One minute and fifteen seconds. Hardy smiles and nods. “Impressive,” she says.

Hardy, still at the white board, introduces the class to the next challenge. “I want you to figure out how to say ‘of her, ‘to him,’ ‘them direct object masculine, etc.’ You know what a direct object is. Gautam, you love the direct object.”

The students, markers poised, look at the board in the front of the class, then get busy with their own whiteboards at their desks. Again, the room falls silent until the sound of “done, done, done” chirps around room.

She walks to the whiteboard at the front of the class as Jeffrey reads his answer: “eius, ei. eos, eum, eo, eorum, eiseis.” Jeffrey’s answers are, as Hardy praises, “absolutely right.” Some classmates check their answers from the board at the front of the room; others look at their neighbor’s work. As they chant the declension endings together, everyone who needs to makes corrections to their work. Now the entire class has the right answer.

Hardy, a veteran teacher of Latin, French, and Spanish, has a clear philosophy for language instruction at this level. “For a first-year Latin student, it’s all about mastery of content and the cumulative building of a knowledge base. That’s why I make sure everyone has what they need before we move on. The deeper questions about the language come during the later stages of learning. Gaining clarity about a language, ultimately, is a good way to get insight into the way people think in other cultures. At this stage, though, Latin has more to do with increasing vocabulary and learning the structure of language. The skills are crucial: memorizing and looking carefully.”

Hardy then directs the kids to a more individual exercise. “Get your textbooks and boards. We’re going to practice this. Turn to page 166.”

Kids pop out of seats to grab books from the shelf, and then return to their desks. Hardy tries to have a moment during each class when students can get up and move around. “It helps them stay on task,” she says.

“Translate exercise one at the bottom of the page. Grapple with it, and please don’t ask me questions for at least two minutes.” Again the only sounds are a tapping foot, the soft brush of pens on the board, and Jeffrey expertly twirling his pen around his finger. Jackson sits intently focused, his head tilted, pointing his pencil at the board as if tapping a rhythm, mouthing a chant, filling in pronouns like a puzzle. When he gets it, his hand shoots up.

Again, “Done,” “Done,” “Done.” Julie looks up and smiles, and Hardy smiles back. She knows Julie got it, too. As the class goes over the answers, Jeffrey checks his own work. twirling his pen as usual. “Yes,” he says to himself. All correct.

Hardy closes the class with a game of Around the World. Two students stand side by side while she says a Latin word in its nominative and genitive form from this week’s vocabulary. The student who correctly identifies the word first remains standing and faces the next opponent. The idea is to remain standing “around the world.”

“Michelle, we’ll start with you. What is the English word for nox, noctis?” Michelle shouts it quickly. She moves to her next opponent, who stands up to face the challenge.

Ignis, ignis? Flamma, flammae? Periculum, periculi? Michelle has a good run, but loses to Julie.

Equus, equi? That’s when Gautam takes control of the game. The real enthusiast, though, is Alex, who jumps up early and has to sit back down. During his turn, he defeats Guatam on “felix, felicis.” Alex survives as victor around ¾ of the room; he knows his stuff and is fast. Throughout the game the entire class tips as far forward in their seats as possible, waving their raised hands, begging to jump in.

Ultimately, Alex succumbs to Jeffrey on “ingens, ingentis.”

Just then, the bell rings. On his way out the door, Alex says, “I am determined to win tomorrow.”