The student starts the first minute on the Greek alphabet. The student's learning is based on extensive passages of unaltered and unabbreviated Classical Greek. The learning of forms and patterns is done in terms of this genuine Greek. Practice begins on short sentences excerpted as closely as possible from this material. The sentences become longer and more complex, introducing new morphology and structure.
Great emphasis is placed on the accurate analysis of linguistic forms.
By the sixth day, the student is reading continuous pure Herodotus. It will be seen from this outline that the right students have a rare opportunity in this course. They will read more than is usually encountered in three or four semesters of Greek, and read it with an intensity that can give them momentum for future study. Undergraduate students from past intensive courses have been able to go into classes at junior, senior, even graduate level at the University of Texas or their home institutions. Since all are starting equally from the beginning, the mix of graduate and undergraduate students in the course has always worked well and been helpful to both levels.