I use a holistic approach to teaching, drawing references to modern day analogues in ways that are hard to forget. If explaining patronymics in Greek (the -ides ending), I like to point out the use of -son in North Germanic names (Johnson is literally "son of John") or -ez in Spanish (Gonzalez originally meant "son of Gonzalo").

With the Classics, it is important to emphasize just how pervasive they are in influencing our modern world, despite not being spoken anymore.