Accademia Vivarium Novum - International Latin Summer School

The method of the Vivarium Novum: A brief history

During the 1980s a group of young classicists in Southern Italy began to gather around an old teacher and discuss the necessity of renovating the didactics of the classical languages. Young people from schools and universities from all over the world came to join them to spend years studying Latin and Greek - two languages that hardly anyone in our times manages to completely master. From the discussions held during that time the need to analyze the course of history and the art of teaching Latin arose: How did the Humanists learn this language? How did Politian, Erasmus, Vives, and Comenius teach? For this research, the students analyzed the most effective methods of modern language teaching: How was it possible that a parliamentary interpreter of Finno - Ugric languages could learn to perfectly read, write, and speak Hungarian in a relatively short period of time, but a high school student, after four or five years of study, could not comprehend even the simplest of Latin texts without the aid of dictionaries and grammar books, and without having to laboriously translate the language into his own? And yet students had four or even five hours of lessons a week, dedicating at least as much time to individual study.

The Academy Vivarium Novum has acquired a worldwide fame throughout the last decade for having studied, identified, and introduced methods for teaching Latin and Greek which may remedy this situation. It has held international conventions concerning the topic from 1991 to the present day, with the participation of the greatest experts on earth, leading to the contextual-inductive method for teaching classical languages to being diffused in Italy and revitalized in Europe as well as the United States. It has founded an international school to which students have poured in from every continent, where they acquire a full and total command of the Latin language within a very short timespan.

Since 2011 the Academy has put its competency, acquired through years of research and teaching, at the service of those who wish to learn Latin with effective results and need to do so in a rather short period of time. The course utilizes specific teaching techniques, from induction according to the natural method to the Total Physical Response, from "suggestopedia" to storytelling as well as the Rassias Method. Through active use of the language - daily conversations and writing exercises - students may experience the method of teaching employed in the Humanistic schools during the Renaissance. This mixed approach, tested for years by the experts of the Academy, allows students to attain in only eight weeks the same results that would elsewhere require up to three years of study.

In 2021, unable to continue in-person summer classes due to the unexpected difficulties caused by the coronavirus, the Academy, relying on years of experience teaching students from all over the world remotely through private online classes, introduced the first online intensive course for Latin and Greek. Due to the success of such classes, we have been continuing to organize distance learning courses - through summer, and through the Academic year. Each term, we have certain modules for beginners of Latin and Greek, and others for more advanced students of Latin literature and composition. The modules are more intensive, with daily classes and tutoring sessions, during the summer program, while the fall and the spring programs propose the same modules in a more extended period of time, i.e two weekly classes for three months.

The courses are open to students of every nationality, gender and age. To be able to read Latin texts fluently is a skill that not only those who study classical literature need, but also those who study Medieval and Modern history, European literary history, law, philosophy, the history of science, theology, and liturgy.

Modules:

All courses provide immersive teaching in Latin or Greek.

In addition to classes, students will have access to a portal specially designed for each course with multimedia exercises and additional supplementary content. Teachers will have access to the results of students’ completed exercises in order to monitor their progress and help them to overcome any difficulties they might have.

Online classes of about 20-30 students will regularly take place through Zoom. Students will also have additional meetings with tutors in smaller groups of about 5-10 in which they will have the opportunity to complete additional exercises, practice conversing in Latin and Greek, and ask questions. The times of these tutoring sessions for smaller groups will be decided and announced a few days before the beginning of each course.

Courses will be held only if a minimum of 20 students is reached.