OxLAT Oxford Latin Teaching Scheme.

Why bother learning a ‘dead’ language?

Latin was originally spoken by people in the area around Rome, known as Latium. As the Roman Republic and then the Roman Empire expanded its control Latin became the common language of the Western part of Europe and the Mediterranean region. When the centralised power of Rome decreased in the fourth and fifth centries AD the Latin-speaking world fragmented into several independent states, and Latin gradually evolved into multiple modern languages, such as Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Romansh, Spanish, and other Romance languages, which are its descendants. There are also many Latin derivatives in English (as well as a few in German, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish) and Latin derivations are commonly used in the sciences (such as botany, zoology, physics, biology, and chemistry), technology, medicine, and law.

So in many ways Latin is not a dead language and learning it can bring multiple benefits:

• Developing English literacy skills (by expanding vocabulary and revealing the relationships between words and phrases)
• Facilitating learning another language (by providing a focus on grammar and understanding of how languages work)
• Providing the opportunity to learn about ancient history and literature

Latin GCSE is different to other language options you might take at GCSE. The aim is not to learn to speak the langauge in the same way you might for French, German, or Spanish (although we do practice speaking Latin aloud), but to be able to read Latin texts and analyse them in ways similar to what you do in English literature at school, and to learn more about the culture and history of Ancient Rome. There is no oral speaking exam: assessment is entirely via written examination.

This written examination is comprised of three parts:

• Language (50% of the overall grade)
• Prose Literature (25%)
• Verse Literature (25%)

For the Verse Literature component we will be reading and analysing extracts from the Aeneid by the Roman poet Virgil, an epic poem about the hero Aeneas who leads a group of refugees from the ruins of Troy in a quest to find a new home in Italy.

For the Prose Literature component we will be reading and analysing extracts from the Metamorphoses, a fantastical novel by the Roman author Apuleius about a man obsessed with magic who accidentally transforms himself into a donkey.

For both the prose and verse literature we will select, analyse and evaluate evidence to draw informed conclusions from the literature studied to:

• demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the historical, literary and cultural context of a text.
• identify and appreciate its literary form and impact on the reader.
• develop and apply critical, analytical and reflective skills to evaluate evidence from a range of sources.

More information can be found on the OCR website: www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/gcse/latin-j282-from-2016/