Inner-City Latin

Meet Laura (she's the tall one in the background to the right).  She has been a teacher with the Latin Programme for the last five years, and like all our other teachers, she uses her creative background in the classroom.  Before joining The Latin Programme she worked for a theatre company and ran an educational programme in cinema.

Laura's background in visual arts and drama is evident in the way she teaches.  She brings a highly kinaesthetic approach to her lessons, using her body and expression to physically demonstrate the concepts she teaching.  For example, when teaching the component parts of a sentence – subject, verb, object – Laura encourages the children to move from one place in the classroom to another, one for the subject, another for the verb and another for the object.  This is a particularly effective method of teaching children whose first language is not English--of whom there are many in The Latin Programme’s schools.

The most rewarding lessons for Laura are those in which children make links for themselves.  Last term, one little girl from Russia realised that the Russian language was connected to Latin and has since scored particularly well in vocabulary quizzes. 

Interactive games are key to The Latin Programme’s unique way of teaching and Laura's use of drama and storytelling techniques engage the children to such an extent that they hardly realise they are learning because they are having such fun.  In fact, one of the class teachers overheard a pupil saying, “It’s great this year, it’s like we’ve only got 4 days of school.  Mondays start with Latin, that means you want to go to school”.  

Your support of The Latin Programme helps Laura, and all of us, to make a significant difference in the lives of inner-city children. By improving their literacy and language skills we are enhancing their life chances and encouraging them to become involved and active community members.  Thank you for your continued generosity.