Fergus

Hello, my name’s Fergus.

I am a tutor for Latin and Ancient Greek.

I am a native speaker of English and I read Latin and Ancient Greek at a university level.

All of my lessons are tailored to the level of my tutees. Below I break down the general structure of my tutorials and homework assignment. I also explain my approach for different topics, and students at different levels.

Scheduling and Location

People generally want slots after school or work, or at the weekends. Depending on when other tutees are booked, I am happy to take tutorials at these times. I am happy to commute to people’s homes and run tutorials in-person, or run them remotely.

Latin and Greek Tutorials

For students preparing for GCSE, A-level or Oxbridge exams, the number one thing they and their parents want is higher marks! Making concrete and systematic progress is actually the most satisfying and engaging way to learn.

My classes follow this basic pattern:

(1) The student completes a grammar and vocabulary test.
(2) We look at the test from the previous lesson (and see if he or she needs to do a resit).
(3) I return the homework with feedback and marking (and discuss any questions the student may have).
(4) Then we look at a new feature of the language, and practise using it together.
(5) Normally we will then work through a longer translation together (depending on the student’s ability).
(6) At the end of the lesson I give the student homework and revision material for next lesson's test.

This pattern may appear rigid, and of course it can be altered to meet the particular needs of the student. (For example, if they want to focus on preparation for set text exams, or Oxbridge entrance exams). This schedule can fit into a one or two hour window, depending on other commitments and so forth. I also provide required learning materials myself.

Starting from Scratch (or Ab Initio!)

Tutees of many ages, and for many reasons, want to learn Latin or Greek from scratch.

Sometimes students are going to take Latin or Greek lessons at a new school for the first time. Sometimes secondary level students are applying for classics at university and their school didn’t offer Greek or Latin. Sometimes the student is an academic who wants to learn for research. Or sometimes they just want to learn out of curiosity.

In any case, for such students I highly recommend starting with prose composition. Most tutors or schools will not offer this, and it's uncommon for it to be taught at all. Generally Latin and Greek is only taught through translation; that is, the students only learn how to translate sentences of Latin or Greek into English.

But when someone’s starting from scratch, I highly recommend that they start their learning with translation and prose composition. Prose composition just means writing Latin or Greek prose yourself. This means that when they start learning they will not only translate into English, but also learn how to write their own Latin and Greek. This may seem unproductive, but in fact it is very useful for academic purposes, not to mention tremendously fun!

For one thing, it ensures a deep understanding of the grammar and vocabulary, and makes students into much better translators and appreciators of the Latin and Greek texts. If they’ve learnt how to write their own Latin or Greek, at whatever level, it makes students much better at comprehending ancient texts and more confident in things such as stylistic analysis, analysis of word choice, and so on. At A-level some exam boards actually give the option to translate English into Latin or Greek instead of the standard translation exercise. Though if you learn prose composition, you will easily be able to do any translation exercises at A-level. (I actually did both in my A-Level Latin exam). For another, prose composition just looks great on university applications. Being able to say you learnt prose composition as a hobby, and talking about it at interviews, is a great edge.

For students interested in learning prose composition as part of their tutorials, we will largely be following L. A. Wildings textbooks. I will provide any required materials myself.

Vocabulary and Grammar

For many students, not knowing the basics of grammar and vocabulary needlessly lowers their marks. The unglamorous reality is that a lot of memorisation can significantly and reliably improve marks.

Often the essential basics of grammar and vocabulary are neglected. Weekly vocabulary and grammar tests ensure the student’s knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. This is of course obvious. But it’s often over-looked that simply knowing a large number of words can enormously boost the student’s performance in exams. At GCSE and at A-level, depending on the exam board, there is effectively a predefined list of words which can come up in the translation exercises. Not knowing the meanings of the words is a way to needlessly lose marks.

The same goes for grammar. Having regular and irregular forms memorised is a simple way to improve marks. Having regular tests in tutorials provides accountability and ensures the student is staying on top of material and hasn’t forgotten it - especially material he or she has already covered at school, but might need refreshing. I will provide lists and grammar revision material, and online resources such as Quizlet or Anki word lists.

Translation Exercises

The other essential component when preparing for exams is simply practising lots of translation. I give the student sentences or paragraphs of Latin or Greek to translate as homework. Then I mark it and return it with feedback, which we can discuss further in the tutorial if the student has any questions. Every tutorial we will go through a translation or sentences together. Sometimes we’ll just look at sentences which contain a particular grammatical feature, or do a longer translation, or both.

Set Text

Set texts are a large part of GCSEs and A-levels, normally making up about half of the marks. ‘Set texts’ are sections of ancient texts, which the student is told before the exam. For example, lines from book two of the Aeneid. In the exam, students will typically have to translate an excerpt of the set text, do a textual analysis of another excerpt, and write a more general question with an essay.

I will be able to assist students with preparing for exams, though I may struggle to teach exactly what is required by the particular exam board. One way I can assist students in this regard is helping them to organise their notes and translation of the set text. Not all schools do this, but I would highly recommend that the student simply memorises a translation of the whole set text, and possibly even memorises the set text itself so that it can be easily quoted in the essay. Even at A-level the set text is not very long, especially given that there are a couple of years to prepare for exams - at least at the start of the course!

To help with this, I can administer a set text test in tutorials, and test the student’s ability to translate any given passage, or remember the style points he or she learnt in class.

Oxbridge

For classics students preparing for Oxbridge entrance exams, I offer tuition to prepare for the entrance exams specifically.

Some of these translations can be quite difficult compared to what secondary school students are used to, the poetry exams especially. For these I recommend essentially the same approach for preparing for GCSE and A-level translations, but making sure to practice translations of the difficulty and style likely to arise in the exam. I also encourage students to memorise extra vocabulary for these. (I have word lists I can share with student). Grasping the meaning of Latin and Greek poetry can be very difficult at first, and it really does require practice to get the hang of it.

Much of the vocabulary for Greek poetry is not covered at A-level - making sure you know as many words and archaic forms as possible reduces the risk that the student is completely baffled by a whole translation. The worst nightmare is that you get a whole translation wrong because you didn’t know the meaning of a recurring word.