Minimus Secundus: Moving on in Latin

This book is the logical continuation of Minimus, the course of Latin for primary pupils. It builds on the foundations of its predecessor and does so with equal verve. The cultural content is fun and varied. However, the book aims to boost knowledge of grammar in general, particularly English grammar. This means that as an introduction to Latin it has some drawbacks. Grammatical items that apply to Latin alone(like cases of nouns and adjectives) are omitted in favour of more general grammatical knowledge. Anyone wanting to use this course to really prepare primary pupils to Latin will have to add some of these omitted items. A shame, because the texts provide ample examples of inflected nouns which might be used to introduce inflection to pupils, making the culture shock in secondary school that much smaller.

Minimus Pupil's Book: Starting out in Latin (Minimus) This was a GREAT introduction to Latin for an elementary student. My bright 3rd grader thought it was interesting and it became one of his favorite subjects. The book teaches basic vocabulary and introduces the concept that the endings of the words in Latin clue you in to who you're talking about (we, he, I, they, etc).

I was looking for a fun introduction to Latin for my 4th and 6th grade sons, and this was the ONLY material I found! And they loved it! Designed to both introduce the language and teach English grammar concepts, it is colorful, interesting, and motivating. Each 4-6 page lesson has 2 comic-style stories about a family living in Roman-era Britain, then the vocabulary necessary to "decode" the story, a grammar lesson covering a new concept, some Roman cultural information, and a myth. Written for elementary students (I'd say 3rd-6th grades), a few of the English words use British spelling since this curriculum is published in Britain, but this was not a problem. Minimus is not a complete Latin primer, but a very good "hook" to creating interest in the culture and the language. The student book could conceivably be used without the teacher's manual if the teacher were familiar with the language, but I'd highly recommend the manual as it contains answer keys, much more cultural and language information, additional activity suggestions across the curriculum, a glossary, and copy-ready activity sheets for each lesson. Also available is a tape of the comic-stories to aid in pronunciation. I'd recommend this to anyone teaching Elementary students Latin.