We have big news, Reader!

The blog of the ARLT is now up and running, and we are looking forward to holding conversations about our subject in that space. This month, Steven Hunt has written about pedagogical revival and what we can learn from Rouse's reform with the opening article "Putting the R back into the ARLT: Reform and Rouse Revisited". You can read it below or visit our website to leave your comments. We want to hear your opinion!

But before you go off reading, a couple of reminders for your diary:

• This coming October 24th, Steven Hunt is organising the first Comprehensible Input in Classical Languages conference. You can attend in Cambridge or online. The aim of the event is to "discuss diverse pedagogical strategies, share practical tips for integrating comprehensible input into existing schemes of work, and collaborate on new ways to enhance language acquisition and advance ancient languages education." We hope to see many of you there!

• On March 14th, 2026, our next Refresher Day will take place in Westminster School, London, under the direction of Ana Martin. Make sure to block your calendar for it!

Putting the R Back into the ARLT: Reform and Rouse Revisited

“R is for Reform. R is for Rouse.” These words continue to echo as we reflect on the evolving
landscape of classical language teaching and learning. Anyone who attended the Association
for Latin Teaching refresher day at the Dragon School in Oxford on 1st March 2025 would
have felt the unmistakable spirit of W.H.D. Rouse’s original ARLT stirring in Dr Melinda Letts’
well-attended talk on spoken Latin and Greek at Jesus College, Oxford.

I have been fortunate enough to witness this pedagogical revival firsthand. At the kind
invitation of Professor Armand D’Angour and Melinda herself, I sat in on undergraduate
lessons conducted almost entirely in Latin or Greek in Jesus College. These weren’t
introductory language sessions—they were rigorous, intellectually demanding classes
designed for students who had already mastered the basics through A-levels or equivalent
courses and were therefore supplementary to the standard teaching offered by Oxford.
What struck me most wasn’t just the linguistic fluency of the teachers and the students, but
the method: consolidation through activation. This is what it must have been like under
Rouse!

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When students engage with Latin or Greek actively—listening, speaking, responding—they
aren’t just revisiting grammar. They’re extending their understanding, triggering recall, and
internalizing structures in ways that reading and translation does not fully achieve. This is
more than review: it’s transformation.

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Of course, the Direct Method has deep roots. Back in early 20th-century Cambridge, Rouse
and his contemporaries weren’t simply drilling grammar—they were crafting immersive
experiences. Students didn’t just hear or recite Latin, they performed it. They embodied it.
The Latin language was not a static artifact but a living, breathing act of communication.
This is a crucial reminder for us today. Too often, Latin is confined to the page or reduced to
individual words on a page, sentence translation, comprehension and translation of
pedagogical texts. But language is not inert. It is dynamic, physical, spiritual. It’s not just
about comprehension—it’s about expression. We must train not only the mind but also the
mouth, the ear, and the imagination. It’s slightly scary: as a teacher you can’t really control
what the student is going to do – and every utterance is a personal communicative act. You
don’t quite understand how to say it? Try it a different way. That’s actually how language
acquisition takes place.

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So, what’s next?
This post marks the beginning of a new series on the ARLT blog. We’ll explore practical ways
to reinvigorate Latin and Greek teaching, starting with excerpts from Rouse’s work on the
Direct Method. Alongside these, we’ll share reflections and resources that celebrate the
communicative power of classical languages.

Let’s put the R back into ARLT—not just as a nod to Reform and Rouse, but as a rallying cry
for revitalization.

Steven Hunt
August 2025