Disce!: An Introductory Latin Course (Volume 1)

Designed to bring readers to the point where they can read Latin fluently, DISCE! is an introductory Latin text that combines the best features of both the traditional grammar-translation textbook and a reading approach based upon a continuous narrative, because some grammar is best learned by induction while some is best learned through prior explanations of the grammar.

KEY TOPICS:

An original, unified story provides controlled introduction to vocabulary and grammar in context while also utilizing orderly and clear grammar explanations in every chapter. It thus combines the grammar approach and the reading-based approach. The guiding principle throughout is what is best for the student and for the particular concepts being studied at any given moment.  Additionally, Disce! weaves culture throughout the text and stresses the role of Classical culture in the modern world by the many links drawn between Latin and modern languages and between Roman practices and modern culture.  Disce! is also the first text to be supported by MyLatinLab, bringing the most modern course management and online support to the an ancient language.

MARKET:  Disce! is suitable for adolescents and adults who want to learn Latin.

Kenneth F. Kitchell, Jr. is professor of Classics at the University of Massachusetts.  Prior to this he taught at Louisiana State University for 22 years and he taught high school in Chicago for two years. He also served, in 1989, as the Gertrude Smith Professor and co-director of the Summer Program of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, Greece.

He has won several teaching awards, including The Amoco Foundation Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching (1980), American Philological Association Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Classics (1983), LSU Student Government Association Faculty Award (1991), and the Robert L. (Doc) Amborski Distinguished Honors Professor Award (1993).  He was the recipient of a CAMWS Ovatio (1994), and was named a Hewlett Fellow for Teaching  (2000-2001) and a General Education Fellow (2009-2010) by University of Massachusetts Amherst.  Most recently he  was listed in the latest edition of Marquis’ Who’s Who in the World.

He is the author or co-author of seven books, 60 articles, and has presented over 120 scholarly talks.  He has been actively promoting the study of Classics for over 30 years, serving as for such groups as the Classical Association of the Middle West and South (President) and the American Philological Association (Vice-President for Education) and The American Classical League (President).  His other research interests center on animals and animal lore in antiquity and the Middle Ages and he enjoys writing fiction which, some day,  he may find the courage to send to a publisher.

Thomas J. Sienkewicz is Minnie Billings Capron Professor of Classics at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois. With Ken Kitchell he is the series editor of the LEGAMUS Transitional Readers, published by Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. He is the co-author Vergil: A LEGAMUS Transitional Reader (Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, 2004) and editor of the Encyclopedia of the Ancient World ( Salem Press, 2002) and the Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World (Salem Press Inc., 2007). In 2005 he was the recipient of the Hatch Distinguished Faculty Award for Scholarship at Monmouth College. He is also the recipient of the American Philological Association Award for Excellence in Teaching of the Classics, the Illinois Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Contributions to Foreign Language Learningm and an Ovatio from the Classical Association of the Middle West and South. At Monmouth College he teaches a wide variety of courses on the ancient world as well as all levels of Latin and ancient Greek. He has designed several innovative courses, including “Understanding Spoken Latin” and “Star Wars and Classical Mythology.” With Ken Kitchell he is a founder of National Latin Teacher Recruitment Week. When not teaching or promoting Latin, he enjoys gardening.