Learn Latin​

Classes Offered

Latin I

This course provides an introduction to Latin, through the in-depth study of its pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. Students will familiarize themselves with the fundamental concepts of the ancient language – including noun declensions, verb conjugations, cases, tenses, adjective agreement, syntax, etc. – in order that they may, in time, come to enjoy the richness of the Roman culture, left to us through its literary sources. While the primary objective is to learn to pronounce, read, comprehend, and translate Latin into intelligible English, this course also seeks to give:
  1. Basic knowledge of ancient Rome, including culture, mythology, history, and geography
  2. An improved understanding of the English language, in the study of derivatives, root words, prefixes, and suffixes
  3. A general betterment in language and communicative skills.


Latin III Honors

This course will provide the opportunity to read, comprehend, and translate more complex Latin sentences through an in-depth study of the verb system. By now, students are already familiar with four of the five characteristics of Latin verbs – its person, number, tense, and voice. This year, we will introduce the final characteristic – mood – through the study of the Subjunctive. We will also see how these different aspects of a single verb can communicate a large number of grammatical concepts – including indirect clauses, statements of result or circumstance, and participial use. In addition to these goals, this course also seeks to give:
  1. A better understanding of how Latin vocabulary is formed, through the study of root words and suffixes, and how this process affected the derivatives that we use today
  2. Knowledge of Roman culture, including geography, the Roman Empire, the political system, cultural ceremonies such as weddings and funerals, and Latin poetics
  3.  Exposure to primary literary texts. Not only will this help students apply their grammatical training, but it will also supplement cultural material by providing a first-hand account of the various attitudes and opinions that circulated Rome
  4. Successful preparation for AP Latin next year  


AP Latin 

AP Latin is a college-level course intended for students in their final year of study in Latin. The AP curriculum focuses on selections of Virgil’s Aeneid, as an example of Roman poetry, and Julius Caesar’s De Bello Gallico, as a sample of Roman prose. Course work provides students the opportunity to demonstrate their proficiency in reading, comprehending, translating, and analyzing Latin in its original, unedited form. While engaging with two of Rome’s most enduring works, students will be able to:
  • Read Latin literature at sight and in appropriate meter when applicable
  • Recognize and translate Latin grammar and syntax, as specified within the AP Latin Curriculum Framework
  • Identify Latin writing styles and rhetorical devices, as specified within the AP Latin Curriculum Framework:
  • Demonstrate a broad knowledge of Latin vocabulary and idioms
  • Discuss various aspects of Roman culture - including mythology, history, geography, daily life, and literature – relevant to the Latin texts. Topics include the Trojan War, the founding of Rome, Roman politics in the Republican era, political and military career paths, military formations, historical figures of the late Republican/Early Empire era of the 1st century CE, and much more.
  • Particular themes for exploration, as specified within the AP Latin Curriculum Framework, include:
    • Literary genre and style, Roman values, war and the development of empire, leadership, views of non-Romans, history, memory, and the relationship between the gods and mankind.
Students are expected to take the AP Latin exam at the end of this course. Per Fulton County and College Board policy, any student who does not take the AP exam for any Excused or Unexcused reason is responsible for the returned/unused exam fee of $13. Any student that is passing their AP class, even if it is with 70% MUST take the AP exam.

Latin II / II Honors

This course will provide the opportunity to read, comprehend, and translate more complex Latin sentences. While Latin I explored the most basic subject-object-verb constructions, Latin II will build on that foundation, introducing the use of new grammar, such as participles, subordinate verb clauses, adjectives, and adverbs. While the primary objective is to refine students’ pronunciation, reading, and translation skills, this course also seeks to give:
  1. A better understanding of how language develops, through the study of root words and prefixes
  2. Knowledge of Roman culture, including architecture, militia, religion, and history.
  3. A general betterment in language and communicative skills.



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Latin IV Honors

This course will provide the opportunity to read, comprehend, and translate Latin in its unedited form. Our focus for this year will include selections from Virgil’s Aeneid and Julius Caesar’s De Bello Gallico, but may vary each year to include other Roman authors.  By engaging with two of Rome’s most enduring works, students will not only learn to apply their grammatical understanding, as gained in their previous Latin courses, and to distinguish the intricate nuances of Roman poetry and prose, but they will also experience, first-hand, the ideas and opinions that defined Rome’s transition from a republic into an empire during the first-century AD. In addition to these goals, this course also seeks to give:
  1. Significant practice in translating unedited Latin
  2.  An understanding of Roman poetics, including epic meter (dactylic hexameter) and the use of poetic devices (including alliteration, anaphora, chiasmus, hendiadys, litotes, metonymy, personification, simile, synchysis, and zeugma)
  3. Knowledge of Roman culture, including mythology, history, geography, daily life, and literature



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​Why Learn Latin?
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“I will say at once, quite firmly, that the best grounding for education is the Latin grammar. I say this not because Latin is traditional and  medieval, but simply because even a rudimentary knowledge of Latin cuts down the labor and pains of learning almost any other subject by at least 50 percent.”  Dorothy Sayers, linguist ​
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Learning Latin can have both short- and long-term benefits through the introduction and acquisition of a new language and culture.

Latin is everywhere!
- Learning Latin facilitates the comprehension of English grammar structure 
- Latin helps maximize SAT verbal scores. Through Latin, test takers can guess the meanings of  new words because      they are familiar with word roots and prefixes. 
- Approximately 60% of English vocabulary is derived from Latin 
- Learning Latin helps you speak and write better in French, Italian, and Spanish. 
- Over 90% of French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and Spanish is derived from Latin 
- Latin allows us to learn about our past through studying ancient culture. 
- Latin allows us to become more acquainted with mythical references in literature. 
- Latin helps develop brain power by encouraging observation, comparison and analysis of the English language. 
- Latin aids in legal and medical professions, as well as with any profession requiring highly-developed speaking and writing skills. 


Map of Romance Languages
Romance languages are the modern languages which evolved from Latin.  French and Spanish, as well as Italian, Portuguese and Romanian are the most widely-spoken modern day Romance languages.


Living Latin
  • The classics are everywhere!
  • Some of the most popular books and movies of our time – such as Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Star Wars, and Percy Jackson – are drenched in Classical themes, plots, characters, and themes.
  • Latin can also be found on our country’s coins, in architecture, well-known phrases and idioms, our democratic processes, and even in the latest developments in studying deep space.
  • Our modern society is indebted to the culture of ancient Greece and Rome for their developments in government, literature, language, art, philosophy, and the sciences.


Which schools in Fulton County offer Latin? 
- High Schools: Alpharetta HS, Cambridge HS, Chattahoochee HS, Johns Creek HS, Milton HS, North Springs Charter HS,   Northview HS, Roswell HS, Tri-Cities HS, Westlake HS 

- Middle Schools: Autrey Mill MS, Sandy Springs Charter MS, Taylor Road MS, Webb Bridge MS, Woodland MS 


Is Latin offered in Fulton County Virtual School? 
- Yes. Latin is currently offered in Fulton County Virtual School. 


Will students be able to request a World Language curriculum hardship to take Latin if it is not offered at their home school? 
- Yes. Consideration is given for a transfer to the nearest middle or high school which offers core course or programs of study not available within the curriculum of the middle or high school to which a student is zoned. In accordance with Georgia Department of Education Rule 160-4-2.47, Foreign language is a core course. 

- Transportation to the approved school is the responsibility of the parent.