The summer school offers courses in Ancient Greek at all levels, from complete beginners to those who have just taken A-level. Whatever stage you are at, there will be a group that is right for you.
All levels are very intensive; you will have over 3 hours of classes most days and be expected to do at least as much independent work between classes. The vast majority of students find the course hugely enjoyable & stimulating, but everyone finds it exhausting – and that includes tutors.
Students are placed in teaching groups of 7-10, with other of the same standard as far as possible. The tutors are experienced teachers drawn from schools and universities.
The full course fee covers tuition, accommodation and full board; the non-resident’s fee includes tuition and all meals apart from breakfast. Fees for 2022 will be announced in due course.
For those with no experience of Greek at all, beyond recognising the alphabet
For those not yet at GCSE standard who are unable to tackle unadapted Greek
For those of GCSE standard or beyond, who are already reading Ancient Greek texts
Beginners will use the JACT course Reading Greek. They will be able to buy this at a reduced rate to keep. To get full benefit from such an intensive course, the work must be consolidated not too long afterwards. Before the fortnight ends, all beginners will have read some original Greek, probably including some Homer and an extract of Greek Tragedy.
There will be several levels between Beginners and GCSE standard. Groups will start at various points in Reading Greek or Taylor’s Greek to GCSE course to consolidate their linguistic knowledge, and will go on to the next texts of the course (World of Heroes or Intellectual Revolution) or to other texts supplied from the Summer School stock; starting point, progress and finishing point may vary considerably in these groups, but some substantial passages of original Greek should be read in all of them.
Advanced groups will normally aim to read three texts: a book of Homer, a tragedy and a prose book. The texts will be chosen by the group’s tutor to avoid both what students have already read and their A-level set texts. The main aim in reading these texts is to build up the students’ fluency and linguistic self-confidence. While critical appreciation of the texts will play a part, it will not take precedence over the linguistic priorities which the course exists to promote. This provides a very different experience to the intensive study of set texts that most students are familiar with from their schools – please be prepared for this.
Historical, cultural, aesthetic and philosophical exploration is amply on offer in the series of lectures and seminars. Equally, some consolidation of grammar may be thought appropriate, but the course is primarily a reading course, not a series of language classes.
Intermediate and Advanced students will also have the opportunity, if they wish, to take part in a rehearsed reading or performance of a Greek Tragedy (in Greek) at the end of the course in the open-air theatre.
