• Eighth-Grade Latin Learning Objectives

    History and Culture
     
    The students will:
    • know the basic elements of local and imperial governments and responsibilities of various officials.
    • learn the steps of the Cursus Honorum, the sequence of offices up which a man would climb during the course of his political career.
    • identify some of the ways the American founding fathers used the Roman political system as a model for their new government.
    • understand the basic timeline of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in August 79 CE.
    • understand how the archaeological excavation of Pompeii has contributed to our knowledge of ancient daily Roman life and culture.
    • compare/contrast native Celtic culture with that of the occupying Romans.
    • understand how the Roman occupation permanently influenced Britain.
    • understand the different ways the Romans controlled their provinces.
    • explain why Alexandria was such a powerful and important city in the ancient world.
    • identify some of the important public building/areas of ancient Alexandria.
    • be able to name the seven wonders of the ancient world.
    • be able to explain the progression of Rome from its beginning as a small farming village to a regional power within the Italian peninsula.
    • be able to identify important persons/characters in early Roman history and retell their stories.
    • be able to explain how and why the Romans established a republican form of government after the expulsion of the last king.

    Language
     
    The students will:
    • recognize the use of the dative case with certain intransitive verbs.
    • recognize and translate the irregular verbs volo, nolo and possum in the present, imperfect and perfect tenses.
    • understand the complementary use of the infinitive.
    • translate and compose sentences with relative clauses.
    • identify and translate the most frequently used prepositions.
    • ask basic questions in Latin.
    • recognize and decline nouns in the fourth and fifth declensions.
    • be able to distinguish nouns in the masculine, feminine and neuter in all five declensions.