Graduate students should elect Modern Greek 501. An introductory course in language with special emphasis on developing speaking skills. Most of the classroom time is spent on drills and on elementary dialogues among the students and between the students and the instructor. A creative approach to language learning is followed, whereby the class simulates everyday life situations and the students are asked to improvise responses to those situations. Instruction also focuses on elementary grammar and syntax.
Homework involves preparation for the dialogues and drills.
There are weekly quizzes or tests, a midterm, and a final examination. Essential facts of morphology, syntax, semantics, vocabulary, history and culture are taught, and a knowledge of these facts enables students to understand Latin written by the famous authors of the Golden Age. The program normally takes four terms to complete. A placement test may be taken at the beginning or end of a term, and a student may succeed in placing out of one or more courses in the introductory sequence. A placement examination will determine the appropriate course for other students who enter the elementary sequence.