Colfe’s School, in south-east London, has been so high it now runs two Monday night Latin classes. Parents trying to help children with school work often struggle to dredge up what they once learned in maths or English, let alone Latin. A few adults are signing up for Latin refresher classes, or taking on the language for the first time, so that they can help their offspring get ahead of the pack. The classics department at a private school in London has found itself oversubscribed after it began offering Latin evening classes to parents. Since 2014, foreign language lessons have been compulsory in primary schools from age seven and Latin is on the list of languages that schools can teach.
According to the University of Cambridge Schools Classics Project, it is currently taught in about 700 state secondary schools and 450 independent senior schools – a doubling since 2000. Approximately 50,000 pupils start to learn it each year, although less than a quarter of them take it. At Colfe’s, where headteacher Richard Russell is a classics scholar, all 12- and 13-year-old pupils study Latin and about 20 percent sit the O-level. At A-level the language is offered under classical civilization. However, the hours spent conjugating Latin verbs might not be among the happiest school memories for many parents but they have leapt at the chance to revisit the language.
Vocabulary:
dredge – to find out or uncover
offspring – a person’s child or children
oversubscribed – having greater quantities than are available or expected
compulsory – required by law or a rule
leap – jump with great force
True or False:
- Colfe’s School, in south-east London, runs two night Latin classes every Monday.
- Parents trying to assist children with school work often attempt to uncover what they once learned.
- Since 2015, foreign language classes have been compulsory in primary schools from age seven.
- According to the University of Cambridge Schools Classics Project, it is currently taught in about 007 state secondary schools and 540 independent senior schools.
- Richard Russell is a classics scholar and the principal of Colfe school.
Express your opinion:
- What do you think is the most important thing that a kid must learn in school? Please explain your answer.
- Do you think studying foreign languages will help your kid secure their future? Please explain your answer.
- What do you think is the best thing you can do to help your kid excel in school? Please explain your answer.
- Would you also do the same thing as the parents in south-east London does? Please explain your answer.
- How are you going to decide for the future of your offspring? Please explain your answer.
Defend your argument:
- The greatest happiness is family happiness. – Joyce Brothers
- Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children. –Charles R. Swindoll
- here is no such thing as a perfect parent so just be a real one. –Sue Atkins