General Syllabus: Greek 2

2009-10 School Year

Instructor: Dave Spotts	email MrSpotts@pottersschool.org
Office Hours: TBA	Skype: MrSpotts

PREREQUISITES:

Completion of TPS Greek 1 or equivalent as assessed by the instructor.

DESCRIPTOR: In this Greek course, students will complete their study of the basic vocabulary and grammar necessary to read Attic Greek, though they will spend much of their practice time engaged in reading, analyzing, translating, and commenting on John’s Gospel. By the end of this course, students are well prepared to read other New Testament documents, as well as other simple works of Attic or Koine Greek, with the help of a lexicon and grammatical reference book.

TEXTS: Students will continue to use Anne Groton’s From Alpha to Omega Rev. 3/e, (2000, Focus Publishing www.pullins.com ISBN 1-58510-034-X). They will also need the Ancillary Exercises for From Alpha to Omega (2001, ISBN 0-941051-61-7) and parents will need a copy of the Answer Key to From Alpha to Omega (1999, ISBN 0-941051-19-6). Students will also need the ability to type and read text prepared using the Polytonic Greek keyboard layout. Instructions and samples of text prepared using that keyboard layout are available on my web page www.pottersschool.org/MrSpotts/GreekHelps/ . Students will also need Sakae Kubo's A Reader's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament ISBN 0-310-26920-2, ISBN-13 9780310269205, available at the TPS bookstore or from Zondervan Publishing.

Between Classes: Students will have one or more lesson in the Groton text to study and understand, as well as a passage in John’s Gospel. While most students who follow my instructions master material relatively quickly, some take longer. You can expect TPS Greek classes to take approximately 90 minutes a day, five days a week outside of class time.

During Classes: Students are to arrive punctually with their equipment in good working order. Without a working microphone it will be very difficult, if not impossible, for the student to participate adequately in class. This is a course involving a great deal of material to cover each day in class. Everybody’s preparation and cooperation is necessary to make this a good course for everyone. Students are not to engage in off-topic chatter in the classroom chat box. I strongly encourage each parent to sit in on class at least a few times per semester to assist students in staying on task. And parent or other adult registrants are always welcome in our TPS Greek classes as well. The instructor will have a review of grammatical material assigned for class, answering questions from students and asking students questions so as to assess their progress. Then we will pursue our reading, grammatical analysis, and translation of John’s Gospel, striving to make wise application of the biblical text. Participation is mandatory in order to do well. Students who are absent without a parental excuse or who are unable to participate on a level consistent with instructor expectations will not receive good participation scores. If possible, students should attempt to respond to instructor questions without reference to their notes, only using their unmarked textbook and exercise book. This provides real-time review of the material and assists students in bridging the gap between merely studying a language and becoming fluent in the language. Of course, students should use their notes when needed.

Quizzes: The instructor will post quizzes approximately monthly, as well as periodic pop quizzes. There may be a final quiz due in the week after the last class meeting.

Grading: While the parent is responsible for preparing student transcripts, for purposes

of this class the instructor will count evidence of student preparedness, including parent-submitted homework scores and class interaction as 40% of the grade, quizzes as 60% of the grade. Cut-offs are as follows: 90% A, 80% B, 70% C, 65% or below F. I would like to set students up for success. I wish to follow progress on a weekly basis, allowing me to zero in quickly on areas of student difficulty. I think the exercises combined with in-class interaction facilitates this wonderfully. In any study of foreign language, consistency is a key to success. Parents are responsible to follow-up with the instructor if they have reason to believe there is anything in error in the gradebook. Please retain evidence of submission of and scores on all assignments until they have posted in the gradebook.