At Lyons Township High School in LaGrange, Illinois, Laurie Joliecoeur teaches a one-semester class in etymology, as well as her classes in Latin. When a Latin scholar uses that word, it has a fuller meaning, a more vivid image, than it does for the rest of us. Now, in turn, two of Joliecoeur's former students are student teaching. Latin is one of the few classes where students have the same teacher year after year, Joliecoeur notes. The teacher has a chance to build a relationship with her students-an opportunity that is often unique in the large high schools where Latin tends to be offered.
Most people mention declensions.
Verbs are another challenge. Verbs have tenses and they have conjugations within the tenses, depending on who is doing what to whom, and when and how they are doing it. When conjugated correctly, the verb communicates most essential information. Retired teacher Kathryn Messling taught Latin and danced latin. She eventually gave up her castanets and Spanish dancing, but she taught Latin for forty-five years, most of that time at Ursuline Academy in Springfield.