The Centaur Project
A platform for transforming elementary students into lovers of classical languages
Inaugurated in Miami Dade County in 2015, The Centaur Project is a ten year venture to re-introduce Latin into Florida elementary schools. Its approach challenges the notion of Latin as a dead language by developing a curriculum that frames its instruction through the revival of writing and speaking Latin among Humanist artists and authors during the Italian Renaissance.
The curriculum includes a new Latin textbook, Cornelia among the Centaurs, that teaches Latin vocabulary and grammar as it relates the adventures of a young girl, Cornelia, living with a tribe of centaurs on the slopes of the volcano, Etna.
In the process, the project studies the extraordinary vocabulary and quantitative reasoning benefits that Latin study provides at-risk students. Focusing on Renaissance transmissions of Ovid in narrative and art, students are encouraged to adapt the Ovidian narratives, adding elements or rewriting them entirely.
Special focus is placed on reworking the parts girls and women play in the Ovidian myths. They are encouraged to shift these representations by in-class dialogue and discussion as well as composing short narratives, dialogues and plays on classical themes in both English and Latin.
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Learning Latin and Greek promotes vocabulary and reading comprehension for young learners, boosting the confidence of at-risk students and vaulting them forward in reading level. Contact us for more information on how “The Centaur Project” could energize the learning of your students.