Interactive Introduction to Ancient and Biblical Greek

In a brief presentation I intend to, a) point out the pedagogical approaches of my program, b) show a few representative samples of the lessons included in webpages mutually linked according to subject–matter, and c) display a sample of exercises and drills.

This course was composed digitally and is self-contained: it includes complete lessons as well as abundant practice materials. More editing is needed, especially of soundfiles, pdf files, and a CD to use off-line.

While I do not claim to offer new linguistic theory or new technology, the goals and the execution of this program are innovative. To avoid rote-memorization as much as possible, the lessons analyze the elements of inflection, explaining some of the most common phonetic transformations that have led to the standard paradigms. By deconstructing or constructing Greek forms, students gradually learn to recognize them intuitively.

Without sacrificing accuracy, this course is unabashedly selective, yet sufficiently explicit to suit the needs of contemporary students who have a weak background or no background at all in the grammar of their own or any other language. The lessons and charts constantly compare parts of speech and their functions in English and Greek.

In contrast to the sets of interactive drills available on the Internet, which aim exclusively at the learning of forms, mine emphasize, as do the lessons, the understanding of functions. Exercises and translations (all with keys) ask students to "mark the syntax." I use a schematic notation system and general syntactical categories so as not to incur the excesses of the defunct "diagramming" once widespread in English classes, the profusion of the Robertson Biblical Greek heritage, or the bewildering complexity of the Mounce pedagogical books. "Syntax marking" is intended, initially, to prompt recognition of the basic functions, and as the course progresses, to stimulate awareness of larger and more complex structures and enable the students to grasp the meaning of a text, eventually without crutches.

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. This is truly work in progress.