[vimeo http://vimeo.com/15491950]
In this video you’ll see footage of the September 2010 Latin WAYK Weekend Workshop at Wyoming Catholic College in Lander, WY. Towards the end of the weekend at a typical WAYK workshop, the steadily improving language hunters participate in the “Tea with Grandma” scenario, where attendees hunt language from fluent elders with no bridge language to fall back on (such as English).
Why is the WAYK language revitalization team working with Latin? Well, as it turns out, Latin has an (as far as we know) unbroken tradition of conversation back to the early days of Rome, as kept alive in the church, monasteries, the Vatican, and so on. However in the mid twentieth-century, decisions made by the Vatican leadership may have adversely impacted the vitality of Latin conversational life, and the spoken language is therefore endangered. We are working to make Lander, WY (the home-town of Wyoming Catholic College) an immersion destination for Latin enthusiasts, and the Latin-speaking capital of the world.
The video of the Latin workshop session looks very interesting but unfortunately the audio is so weak it is usually impossible to tell what anyone is saying, especially the participants. perhaps if you used one of those little audio recorders musicians use in small jam sessions and set it in the center of the table you copuld capture the audio better, it wouldn’t really matter if it was not perfectly synched to the video.
Looks like fun! I love the one woman letting the girl help her out- does she really use a cane or was that just good roleplaying?
Will there be more podcasts/debriefings? I’ve been jonesing for more regular WAYK input, as I really can’t force myself to read off a screen, and don’t have time to watch every video that comes out. >_<
Sheesh, I'm so demanding! =P
Dave,
That was just good role-playing. 🙂 The Latin teachers were great sports.
We’re working on creating more podcasts – there’s a couple in the pipeline. Our top priority is immediately usable curriculum, so this tends to come in the form of written materials and video, but I’m a fan of the podcasts too. Stay tuned.
Benissime!
Waiting for more material… Thanks.