SUMMER 2023 UPDATE: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and in order to maintain the safety of our students and instructors, this summer's Greek Workshop will again be conducted remotely. After the success of last summer's remote workshop, our instructors are confident in their ability to maintain the rigor, engagement, and enjoyment of this course. If you have any questions, please email the director, David Youd, at david_youd@berkeley.edu
Instructor-led Practice via Zoom (~1 hour, M-F): Students will be assigned to a daily practice session either in the morning or early afternoon depending on their scheduling preferences.
Director-led Reinforcement via Zoom (~1 hour, M/W/F): Students will attend a grammar reinforcement/Q&A in the afternoon (PT) on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Students will need to spend several hours per day watching the grammar lectures and completing assigned readings, drill sets, homework, etc. All necessary information regarding each component of our course will all be outlined via daily course modules set up on bCourses, our Learning Management System . These will be listed sequentially, and each component will include any relevant due dates or accessible time frames.
Students will be split into two groups, one with each instructor. One of these sections will meet in the morning and the other in the early afternoon (both Pacific Time) in order to accommodate students in different time zones. The exact scheduling of the sections will be finalized after conducting a pre-course survey of enrolled students. Students will go over the homework assignments with their instructors and participate in a varity of other activities/drills as time permits. These sections will be conducted through a combination of large group work and smaller “breakout” sessions, both via Zoom, and they will last for approximately an hour.
Students will be assigned guided and trackable individual work. These assignments will vary, but they will usually focus on the memorization and reinforcement of vocabulary and morphology. These will be conducted through assignments on bCourses. However, we will vary these assignments with other creative or collaborative activities. In most cases students will be able to complete these activities either before or after their practice sessions.
The daily quizzes will be taken on bCourses. They will focus on translation, reading comprehension, and the identification of syntax and morphology in context. These quizzes are written in such a way as to remain open book while still reliably evaluating student progress. However, they will have a time limit in order to disincentivize an over-reliance on the textbook. These should be completed after the daily discussion section and asynchronous drills/activities.
The exams will also be administered on bCourses, and they are also written to be open book with a time limit. On exam days we will not hold the synchronous discussion section, the daily drills/activities, or the daily quiz. Instead students will have a window within which they much complete the exam. There will be three exams, one every week and a half, as well as a midterm exam at the end of Part 1.
The grammar lectures will be recorded in advance by the director in 10- to 15-minute segments following the sections in Hansen & Quinn. Each day there will be a set of video lectures for each student to watch after the daily quiz and before the synchronous grammar reinforcement. These lectures will include explanations of new grammar and vocabulary, as well as example sentences and guided drills.
In the afternoon (Pacific Time) on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, the director will hold a synchronous grammar reinforcement on Zoom. The exact scheduling of the director-led reinforcement will be finalized after conducting a pre-course survey of enrolled students. There will be space for students to ask questions about the new material at the beginning of the session. The director will then lead students in a variety of activities meant to reinforce and synthesize the new material. These activities may involve the reading of an interactive narrative in simple Greek, close-reading of adapted passages of Classical Greek texts, the collaborative composition of simple narratives in Greek, etc.
Each week students will receive a schedule detailing that week's homework assignments. Students and instructors will go over the homework in the synchronous discussion sections. The daily homework, drills, and studying will likely take approximately 3 hours in total outside of class, though the exact amount will vary person to person. If you find yourself taking significantly longer than that, please let me know so we can strategize ways to streamline your studying. I would recommend dividing your out-of-class study time among the various components of the class (unit readings, vocabulary, morphology, translation) so as to avoid over-emphasizing one aspect and neglecting another.
Part 2 will be conducted through synchronous classroom work. Students will request one of two prose sections and one of two poetry sections. Students will attend their assigned reading session for ~1 hour per day in either the morning or early afternoon (PT). The scheduled times for these sessions will corrospond to the timing of the two instructor-led practice sessions in Part 1 and will be spread out across the day so as to maximize accessibility for students in different time zones.