© MMXXIV T A Bird Classics
Classics resources
The Journal of Classics Teaching 17, page 35
RUNNING VOCABULARIES: Homer Iliad 16, Lysias Against
Eratosthenes (AS 2009 onwards)
The Latin equivalents of these Running Vocabularies (for Cicero
and Ovid) were reviewed and justly praised by Frances Culver in
JCT 16. B’s lists date back to 1968 when a sample from Bacchae
was typed up and copied (in the laborious way then necessary)
for distribution to JACT members. Many readers will have used
the hand-written vocabulary for that play which he did jointly
with Bob Tatam in the early 1980s. The idea was copied by
others, and perhaps influenced later volumes of the Reading
Greek series to move from alphabetical to sequential vocabulary
for each section. But it was only after B’s 2001 JACT Review
article that things really took off. As his website shows, this is
cottage industry on a considerable scale.
The quality is extremely high. Naturally one has occasional
quibbles about how a word is glossed or a phrase construed, but
the version given is always defensible and a basis for discussion.
The RVs are not commentaries, but extra information is
judiciously provided within the limits imposed by keeping the
vocabulary column in step with the widely but evenly spaced
text. Some recent RVs refer readers to specific commentaries on
disputed points (eg Mastronarde on Medea). The lists come in
read-only form and print out as landscape A4. The Greek font
(Vusillus) would not be my first choice, but in other respects
doctoring is possible. In raw form, the number of pages is
daunting, and each has an intrusive repeated heading. By
reducing to half size and (literal) cutting and pasting, two and a
half pages can be got onto portrait A4 (still perfectly legible),
making typically twelve pages overall.
I am aware of purists who oppose the use of word lists, but most
teachers will acknowledge that pupils cannot be sent away to
‘prepare’ thirty lines in the traditional sink-or-swim way. They
do indeed need to learn how to use a dictionary, but that is
better practised on short unseen passages, rather than being
allowed to clog progress with set texts. A classics department
offering both languages will typically have twelve texts on the go
(prose and verse in each language at GCSE, AS and A2).
Producing one’s own lists for all these is daunting, and thanks to
B also unnecessary.
John Taylor - Tonbridge School
The Journal of Classics Teaching 16, page 40
RUNNING VOCABULARIES: Ovid Metamorphoses 8, Cicero In
Catilinam 1 (AS 2009)
B introduced his Running Vocabularies in the JACT Review of
Autumn 2001, and a new generation of Classics teachers may
well be familiar with them from first hand experience as
students. If so, you will probably need no further
encouragement to offer them to your own pupils.
The format of the RVs - which you can see if you visit the
website - is very user-friendly: text on the left, in a clear font;
vocabulary on the right; alongside the appropriate line; all
well-spaced so as to allow for annotation. Service is excellent.
The RVs are distributed via e-mail; they arrive promptly, can be
stored on computer and as many copies as required can be
printed off for your students - perhaps the only occasion when
the greater your class, the less your expenditure! AS/A2 RVs
cost £22 and include a copy of the prescribed text without
vocabulary, printed out in close lines and ideal to copy for
homework questions.
Two advantages which I certainly appreciate in using B’s
vocabularies are firstly, that constant reference to a dictionary
is not necessary: the vocabulary is within sight, complete with
genitives and genders of nouns and principal parts of verbs, as
well as a meaning which suits the context, so we can now get
on with the business of reading and enjoying the text. There is
still scope for discussion of which word we favour as a
translation, and armed with a highlighter students can pick out
vocabulary that needs to be learnt. And this is the second
advantage - the students no longer have to be told not to mark
the school text, but instead they can be encouraged to
underline, annotate and colour code to their hearts’ content!
If you are using the RVs in preparation for examinations it is
worth noting that there are a few minor variant readings
between B. and the editions suggested by the board, so it is
worth having a copy of the recommended version; and there is
a small slip in the line numbering in Ovid. But a third and not
inconsiderable advantage to add to those above is that we have
an excellent vocabulary at our disposal, and I did not have to
spend my summer holiday preparing it.
Frances Culver - The Queen’s School, Chester
Terry Bird has been producing Running Vocabularies for Classical
Texts for some time, in his distinguished teaching career and in
his 'retirement'. He set out his philosophy behind these in a JACT
Review article of Autumn 2001 (No. 30). He has now refined the
process and product to a point where it is difficult to see how
his aims could be achieved more effectively.
B's approach to RVs is entirely 'student-centred' (in the best
sense). He is concerned that students can spend far too much
time looking up vocabulary in their preparation of set texts.
With his Vocabularies he is ensuring that the proportion of time
spent on actual translation is increased and thereby the
pleasure of reading becomes much more tangible. His RVs are
distributed in electronic form. They can then be printed and
handed out to students or the electronic form can be distributed
within a school (but not between schools), possibly with
additional colour, personal comments etc from student or
teacher.
My students consider the latest layout of B's RVs to be
exemplary. The text is on the left hand side and displayed with
extreme clarity and just the right amount of space for
translation and/or individual notes to be added. The vocabulary
on the right hand side contains, again according to my students,
the appropriate words which they require to support maximum
effort being put into the translation and a quicker success rate
in accurately gauging the meaning. B is particularly keen to give
principal parts and full versions of third declension nouns. He
will also often give an apt translation, although 'a slight stretch',
as well as conventional translations - these I and my students
find especially helpful as we seek to find the more idiomatic
version of a phrase or whole sentence.
It will be apparent by now that I have come to believe that B's
RVs are an indispensable tool for our students in encountering a
set text for the first time whether at GCSE or ‘A’ Level, in
addition to whatever standard edition may already be at hand.
With such a high quality of support available I think you might
be doing a disservice to your students if you did not invest in
these Running Vocabularies for 2006/2007 and beyond.
Robert Tatam - Bancroft's School
The following review appeared on pages 42-43 of the Journal of Classics Teaching (produced by the Joint Association of Classics
Teachers) for Autumn 2006:
Reviews