LATIN AT ST PAUL’S

Cultural Tour 2019

Secondary School Latin teachers, Geoff Anderson and David Peddar, recently enjoyed a visit from alumni, Christopher Haddad (see feature on pages 18 and 19). Geoff and David describe how Latin is very much alive here at St Paul’s.

Salvete lectores!,

Latin has a strong history at St Paul’s Grammar School. It has actively been taught since the school’s foundation. Amongst all the languages students can study in both the International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme and the IB Diploma, Latin provides a challenging, vigorous and ultimately intrinsically rewarding experience. As the language of Ancient Rome, its conquests, empire and eventual fall provide a strong global focus and context for a language which was spoken from the foothills of Scotland to the edge of the modern Middle East. Latin, beyond being the language of the Romans, has informed and shaped not only English and the Romance languages but ideologies, academia, systems of thought, popular culture and the way in which Western civilisation at large has interacted with the world.

Granted, Latin provides a contrasting experience regarding modern language acquisition; focusing on literacy and translation skills as opposed to listening or even engaging others in extended dialogues and conversations. It involves codifying language, looking between similarities and patterns within verbs, adjectives and nouns and seeing how they fit within a coherent sentence, paragraph or extract of verse.

There are multiple opportunities for our students to experience and explore Latin, such as the Year 8 Latin Camp where our students join other young Latin students from across New South Wales, and the ever-popular Cultural Tour – seeing

Year 8 Latin Camp 2017

Latin inscriptions, graffiti and the culture on full display within Pompeii, Herculaneum and Rome itself.

Besides supporting the sciences, medicine, theology and law, ultimately Latin acts as the gateway to the world of the ancients. Whether it is the terse, action-packed commentaries of Caesar himself, the sweeping poetics of Virgil and Ovid, or the blunt witticisms scattered about the rhetoric of Cicero. As such, Latin provides a continuous link to reflect on how the Western world perceive themselves as the ‘heirs’ of the Romans.

Despite the infinite groans and questions of “Sir, why should I study a DEAD language?”, Latin allows a range of opportunities and skill development in a variety of areas, whether it be in the realms of academia in history and archaeology, education, politics, theology, medicine, law, government, literary pursuits, or even programming and coding in STEM education. Latin, in terms of skills acquisition has a versatility and branches into transferrable and adaptable skills for the changing nature of the modern workforce.