Teaching dialogues in Latin is basic to the methodology of Charleston Latin. One of the primary objectives of the teacher-training workshop is to prepare teachers who have had no prior experience with Latin to conduct simple dialogues in Latin. In a workshop participants learn a series of classroom management expressions which in fact serve as a lesson plan or “ template” that can be used to teach any dialogue in any lesson. The following describes how this template works.

Dialogues generally consists of one question and one answer. A simple example in English is: “Who is this?” “ This is Marcus.” In the individual lessons of the Teacher’s Guide, Marcus et Julia, there are narrative instructions that guide teachers through the presentation of the dialogues. If a teacher follows the methodology outlined here, he or she may will need to rely on the narrative instructions in each lesson.

Dialogues are taught in three stages. In the first stage, students listen as the teacher utters the target sentence (an answer to a question), and then after having listened to the teacher for a while, students mimic what the teacher has been saying. In the second stage, the teacher asks a question which is designed to elicit from students the target sentence as an answer. Students learn the meaning of the question and its answer through the use of visual cues, dramatization or other clues. In the third stage, the teacher checks the students’ comprehension of the dialogue by asking students to translate the dialogue from English into Latin and then from Latin to English. Teachers use Latin classroom management expressions to direct students through these three stages.

1. Tell the students that they are going to meet members of an ancient Roman family and that the first member of the family that they will meet is Marcus, a Roman boy.
   
2. Hold up the picture of a Roman boy (Visual Cue #1), and teach the above dialogues. While students listen, point to the boy in the visual cue and say Marcus est. Repeat this several times until the students seem to be comfortable with the sound of Marcus est. Then have students repeat several times after you Marcus est. Then have the class listen while you point to the boy and ask the question Quis est? Repeat the question several times while continuing to point to the boy. Then say Quist est? and pretending to be another person answer Marcus est. Do this several times until students seem to understand that you are asking a question and giving an answer to that question. Then look at the class, say Quis est? and motion for the class to answer your question. The class should respond Marcus est Address the question to groups and individuals and elicit the answer.
   
3. Point to Visual Cue #1 again and say Marcus est puer. While walking around the room, touch a boy on the head and say puer. Do this to several boys. Then ask everyone who is a puer to stand up.
   
4. Hold up the visual cue, point to the boy, tell the students to listen, and say Marcus est puer. Repeat this several times until the students seem to be comfortable with the sound of Marcus est puer. Then have the students repeat several times Marcus est puer. Then have the class listen while you point to the boy and ask the question Quis est Marcus?. Repeat the question several times while continuing to point to the boy. Tell the class to continue to listen. Then say Quis est Marcus? and pretending to be another person answer Marcus est puer. Do this several times until students seem to understand that you are asking a question and giving an answer to that question. Then look at the class, say Quis est Marcus? and motion for the class to answer your question. The class should respond Marcus est puer. Address the question to groups and individuals and elicit the answer.

It is highly recommended that teachers use Latin classroom management expressions to conduct these dialogues. For example when a teacher wants students just to listen to what is being said, the teacher says audite. When a teacher wants students to repeat something, the teacher says repetite for more than one student to repeat or repete for just one student to repeat. When a teacher wants students to answer a question, the teacher says respondete for more than one student to respond or responde for just one student to respond. Using the simple classroom management expressions, the above dialogues are taught in the following way: