Professor Pamela Vaughn's Latin 202 Class Intermediate Latin Pamela then explains the importance of names such as Postumus, the origin of our English word posthumous, typically given to the last son born in a family after the death of his father. The whole class reads this poem aloud in Latin, after which Pamela advises them to "remember principle parts--a word is missing." She then asks students to translate a first line, type it and send it to the big screen anonymously. Students make several translations of the lines Pamela puts on the large screen, working on their computers to translate and then anonymously sending their work to the large screen where it can be observed by all students. Bold splashes of red exclamations points, which indicate a new response, appear on the large screen as students send in their translations, concentrating deeply. Pamela waits patiently, encouraging students to be colloquial, non-literal, to translate as the mood moves them. "Who is having trouble with vives--vixit?" Pamela then asks, clearly knowing her students, a number of whom need help with this translation. As students unravel the poem's form and meaning, Pamela takes the opportunity to give a spontaneous review of contextualized Latin tenses, in particular the word iam, which can mean either the past or the future. She uses the grammatical concept to reinforce the rhetorical lesson--that Postumus is living either in the past or the future, but never in the present, pointing out that the tense can be past or future but is present in this context. The line can be translated in the following way: "Tomorrow you live, Postume, you always say tomorrow." Martial 5.58 Standing at the front of the class at a lectern, Pamela reminds me of a cheerfully unveiled Wizard of Oz. Students work intently at the beautifully lacquered table while Jennifer Jelavich, the Collaboratory Coordinator, works with the controls of the Collaboratory software, GroupSystems by Ventana Corporation. Trying to be inobtrusive I sit engrossed, listening to the next translations: "Tell me, that tomorrow of yours, Postume, when is it coming?" A number of translations of this third line fly to the big screen, including the following: "From where must it be sought?" "Where will you find it?" The cursor on each line helps Pamela to explain form, vocabulary, ideas. Earlier she has told me what an excellent environment the Collaboratory is for language learning, an observation that I understand even more clearly as I watch the classroom work progress. Students work on the next line of the poem: "Tomorrow is already as old as Methusalah." and then: "How much could you buy it for?" Pamela takes the time to explain that this is a genitive of value. Again she urges her class to make certain tenses are straight, very important in this poem about Postume. They continue to translate "You're going to live tomorrow--Today--" "It's already late to start living, Postumus" The poet continues to show a biting wit that the students readily understand with the help of Pamela's careful explanation: "It's a wise man, Posthumus, who has lived yesterday." Sobered by this poem, I begin fretting about whether I live my own life fully. Meanwhile Pamela moves on to Marcus Tullius, also known as Cicero, often considered a bad poet though a great orator. When class is almost over, students ask for a printout of the translations. But first Pamela asks if students want to experiment more. "Let's get into my bag of tricks...shall we insult Lesbia, or someone else?" She begins one more new poem, one students have not yet seen, adding that "we can review superlatives at the same time." Students seem riveted by this work. Once again Pamela connects the lesson to contemporary situations, to our modern ways of thinking, feeling and living, while at the same time reviewing grammatical concepts and reinforcing translation skills. At the end of class, Pamela asks her students about the Collaboratory, which they have visited once before. "Do you still like it?" They answer yes in a chorus. Looking at her group of engrossed scholars, Pamela asks for final words and then tells her students what the class activities will be the next day. This Latin class observation leaves me thoughtful all day. I mull over the meaning of the old and the new, the classic and the modern, Martial's poetry and contemporary technologies. Having seen such a gifted and adept scholar interpreting classic material with her students in unique new ways, I begin to think about how others might use the Collaboratory for language instruction and feel fortunate that we have Professor Pamela Vaughn's Latin class as a model to inspire us.

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