Nicholas V.
Private tutor in Yonkers, NY
Education
BA, Classical Languages at Fordham University
Experience
I have been teaching Latin at a private high school for five years after earning my BA in Classical Languages–Latin and Ancient Greek–from Fordham University in 2007. Teaching all grade levels, I enjoy not only presenting Latin’s elegant system of grammar but also examining the fine points of style and the content of literature. Regarding grammar, I can present a topic in full, using examples and explanations I have tailored for clarity throughout my years teaching students at various levels of comprehension, or simply review concepts, providing supplemental examples and guidance during reading. I can also help students make the transition from reading textbook Latin to actual Latin literature. Regarding literature, I enjoy teaching the elements of prose and poetical style, such as Cicero’s periodic structure or Ovid’s word painting, the uses of rhetoric and divisions of oratory, figurative and syntactic devices–like chiasmus and asyndeton–and their uses, scansion in the various meters including the dactylic hexameter, and the wealth of historical and cultural dimensions to the literature. My particular experience in literature is in teaching Cicero, Vergil, Ovid, Catullus, Horace, Tibullus, and Livy, although I’ve taught the typical works such as Caesar’s Gallic War. I have used a variety of textbooks, including the latest editions of Wheelock, Cambridge, Ecce Romani, Oxford, Latin is Fun, Learn to Read Latin, as well as popular anthologies like the Cambridge, Oxford Prose, McGraw-Hill Poetry Reader, Fabulae Faciles, and Fabulae Romanae. I also have experience with the AP Latin and SAT II Latin Subject review books for students preparing for standardized tests. Over the years I have also amassed a library of open source–i.e. legally free–texts in PDF form, for students. I also enjoy teaching Classical history, both from primary sources in Latin and from comprehensive PowerPoint presentations I’ve created. As with grammar, I’m happy to present discrete topics in full, such as the Punic Wars or Catilinarian Conspiracy, to give broad overviews, or to answer questions, clarifying or supplementing your existing understanding. I also teach the history of the Latin language itself. At the advanced levels, I enjoying brining my extensive experience reading Ancient Greek to the study of Latin, such as discussing the influence of Theocritus and Homer on Vergil, Demosthenes on Cicero, the Lyric Poets on Horace. I have also taught both prose and verse composition. I am happy to work with students enrolled in courses, home-schooled students looking to add Latin to their curriculum, students desiring to learn Liturgical Latin for religious education classes or courses at seminary, those practicing for standardized tests, and anyone independently wanting to learn Latin.
Availability
Weekdays after 4PM, Saturday in the morning
Can Meet
Up to 15 minutes away for no additional charge, Up to 30 minutes away at my regular hourly rate
Hobbies
Classical music, Latin and Greek, philosophy, writing.
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