I was intrigued by your article (Teachers encouraged to use Taylor Swift lyrics to make Latin accessible, 7 April). My experience of being taught New Testament Greek in the mid-80s relied on a knowledge of current affairs.
Our teacher, the brilliant Prof Michael Goulder from Birmingham University, used to present us with a piece to translate each week, written in his own fair hand. This might be a biblical piece, a piece from ancient Greek material, or a contemporary news story.
At the time we were in the middle of the miners’ strike and I quickly learned to search for “Arthur” in the text as that was a clear indicator it was neither biblical nor ancient. It was a brilliant way to teach us the language as well as ensuring we kept up to date on the news.
Dr Fiona Thompson
Shipley, West Yorkshire
• In the 1960s, in an effort to make our Latin lessons more fun, our very charismatic teacher, Mrs Howard, gave us the task of translating popular songs into Latin; Cliff Richard’s The Young Ones was relatively straightforward, rather more challenging was The Kinks’ Dedicated Follower of Fashion, in particular the line “and when he pulls his frilly nylon panties right up tight”. It worked! We had a lot of fun and, against all odds, I managed to pass O-level Latin.
Deborah Lace
Ormskirk, Lancashire
• Your article on making Latin accessible took me back about 60 years. A report on the BBC’s Today programme described a Latin teacher who translated the words of the Herman’s Hermits hit She’s a Must to Avoid to help his pupils learn. As I recall, the title was translated as Avoid Women. Oh well, nihil sub sole novum.
Dr Richard Towers
Sheffield
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