Study Guide: ASINUS ET ISIS. Print this page, and check off each item in order as you complete it.
____ Materials: Assemble
your materials! You will need: paper, pen or pencil, and a
Latin dictionary.
____ Browser: Have the Legendum open in
one window, and another window for the Perseus tools.
____ Background: Read the information
in the yellow box on the Legendum webpage, and click on links
that interest you. It's good to read some English materials first,
before trying the Latin!
____ Listening (1): Listen
to the audio provided, following along looking at the text. Do this at least
once. Then, listen to the audio without looking at the text. Just close your
eyes and listen. See how much of the Latin comes through to
you just from listening, without the text.
____ Meter: You may or may not want to familiarize
yourself with the rules of the Latin meter. It's up to you! At a minimum, take
a quick look at the information about the meter using the link in the yellow
information box on the Legendum webpage. Some people learn meter best by hearing
and repeating, but other people like to learn the rules - you can decide what's
best for you.
____ Read Along With Audio (1): Now listen
to the audio, looking at the text, and reading along with the audio. Do your
best to keep up. You might practice reading out loud without the audio if this
is especially difficult for you. Repeat this until you feel pretty comfortable
reading along with the audio. Don't worry about understanding the meaning!
Just get "into"
how the Latin sounds.
____ Copying the Segmented Text: Copy the segmented text by hand onto a piece of paper. Copying is a great way to start learning the words! You will have space for notes on the right-hand side of this paper. READ ALOUD AS YOU COPY.
____ Reading for Comprehension
(1): Now read through the segmented text again, using the grammar
hints at the Legenda webpage. Look up words you do not
know - write down the form, write down your best guess at the dictionary
form, and then look it up. Jot down the English meaning(s) that seem
to fit, and correct the dictionary form if you guessed wrong about that.
Put a checkmark next to the segments you feel confident about. If
you are not confident, put a question mark.
____ Reading
for Comprehension (2): Read through the passage again. If you are
having trouble with a particular segment, look up each word in the
segment in the dictionary carefully. Use the Perseus
Morphology tool to figure out possible forms of the words. Still stuck? Visit
the "Questions? Comments?
Suggestions?" link to see if someone has had the
same problem - or you can post a question there yourself.
____ Listening (2): Listen to the audio
provided again, either looking at the text or not, depending on how confident
you feel. Concentrate on hearing the meaning of the Latin as you listen.
____ Read Along With Audio (2): You should
now be able to read along with the audio much more confidently than before.
If the audio is still too fast for you, read the Latin yourself out loud, slowly
and carefully, using pauses and intonation to bring out the meaning of the
text.
____ Vocabulary Flash Cards: Choose at
least some words you looked up to add to your flash
cards (Vis-Ed cards are great! 1000 blank cards
for $6 at vis-ed.com). Write
out the flash cards and drill with them to reinforce what you have learned.
____ Quotes Diary: Keep a Latin quotes
diary! Buy a nice journal or notebook and add Latin quotes to it, based on
the phrases and sentences you like best in each reading.
____ Archive: Staple your workpages to
this Guide and save it. Then
come back to this story at a later date and read it again (and again and again),
using your old workpages to review.