November 2016
CLASSICAL ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND
CAI Languages Summer School The CAI Languages Summer School, held at Trinity College Dublin this June 7-17, was a success again this year. We had 8 students in Greek and 13 in Latin classes spread across two levels. Students of all ages enjoyed two weeks of intensive learning with our enthusiastic teachers Jessica Doyle, Geraldine FitzGerald, Joao Sita, and myself. Many students were inspired by our courses and were so keen to improve their knowledge of the languages that they went on to enrol in the Byzantine Greek Summer School, which took place in July, also at TCD. It was a fun experience for students and teachers. One of our most enthusiastic students was Phoebe Nolan, who is now undertaking the MA in Classics at UCD. Here’s what she thought about the CAI Summer School:
Medal winners Malachi Hannon and Brian Anthony McGlone
Doing the Ancient Greek summer course in Trinity gave me the confidence to take up ancient Greek in University, knowing that I would be The course gave me a slightly ahead of the class.
student with the highest mark for Latin in the Leaving Certificate Examination. His teacher is Sarah Henchy. Special thanks must be extended to University College Dublin for hosting the event. A huge amount of planning and work was put into organising a very successful and enjoyable occasion which afforded members an opportunity to come together and celebrate their interest in ancient Classics. Congratulations to the organising team for their commitment and attention to detail: go raibh maith agaibh go léir.
chance to see if I would be capable of studying an ancient language. I also got to meet some really interesting people on the way. The course is quite intensive but don’t be disheartened: even though it’s fast paced/intense, it’s a great way to use the immense time of summer to learn something. Even though it’s learning, it’s a very enjoyable experience getting to know Greek at a somewhat intimate level. Since the summer course I’ve been using Greek in almost all of my conversations. You’d be surprised at how many times one needs to be able to say: βλέπε, ὁ κυβερνήτης πρὸς τὸ πλοῖον βαίνει!
Isabella Bolger, Chairperson
Dr Cosetta Cadau 3