Father Claude Pavur, SJ has spent much of his professional career teaching on the Classics Department faculties at a number of Jesuit universities in the United States – Loyola University in New Orleans, Spring Hill College, and Saint Louis University. During those years, Pavur faced the question that many who teach classical languages face, namely, the question of effective pedagogy. Like many of us, Pavur was first educated in Latin following the traditional grammar-translation model and, like many of us, Pavur faced the limitations of that method. Pavur dutifully memorised the charts of verb and noun endings along with the endless lists of vocabulary. He then, like many of us, painstakingly used that grammar and vocabulary to work his way through assigned translations. This series of Acceleration Readers is the product of Pavur’s reflection on effective pedagogy for Latin. Acceleration Readers are based on the concept of dividing texts into comprehensible phrase-based units, as opposed to the traditional approach of studying vocabulary words in isolation. Students must engage with the text through an understanding of these phrases in order to grasp an understanding of the whole with the ultimate goal of striving to read Latin as naturally, effectively, and swiftly as one would read one’s own native language. In this approach, the teacher becomes a valuable guide to the student in understanding the chunked phrases, grasping the nuances of the grammar, and ultimately bridging the gap between the chunked phrases and the text as a unified whole. This series of nine books provides the tool for the teacher to guide the determined student along the path of comprehension.

Each of these volumes includes an initial section of the text divided into comprehensible phrase chunks – known as pari passu - and then a unified version of the text towards the end of the book. The series as a whole provides a wonderful foundation to understanding Greco-Roman antiquity and the civilisation which emerged from it.

The Epitome of Sacred History provides an introduction to core texts from the Hebrew Scriptures as an introduction to the Judeo-Christian story. The text covers 209 stories ranging from the creation accounts of Genesis to the reign of Herod and the birth of Jesus.

Notable Romans comprises two volumes of stories highlighting the stories of famous Roman figures and key events of Roman history. These stories span from the founding of Rome and the stories of the early kings, through the heroes of the Roman Republic, the notable figures of the Civil War and the political leaders of the 1^st century BCE, and ultimately culminating with the rise of Caesar Augustus.

Cicero’s Pro Archia provides an opportunity for the advancing Latin student to engage with one of the more approachable of Cicero’s speeches. This text provides the opportunity to reflect on questions of citizenship and the importance of studying the humanities. This text serves as an excellent bridge for the intermediate Latin student to more complex authentic Latin texts.

Learn Latin with Caesar’s Gallic Wars 3 divides Book 3 into 29 sections. Students can engage with the text by comparing their own literal translations to more eloquent translations, since the Gallic Wars is widely available in English. The text of Book 3 also allows for students to engage with questions about Caesar’s military leadership and strategy while facing challenges from unanticipated adversaries.

Learn Latin with Cicero On Duties 1 provides intermediate Latin students with an engaging text about the meaning of life, questions about honourable living, and one’s responsibilities towards others and towards posterity. This text was written during a pivotal time in Roman history just after the assassination of Julius Caesar.

Learn Latin with Seneca contains the first 17of Seneca’s Epistulae Morales. Seneca’s letters particularly lend themselves to this method of breaking texts into comprehensible chunks, because Seneca tends to write in shorter, more approachable sentences. These letters will particularly appeal to students who are interested in stoicism and philosophical reflection in general.

Particularly Good Latin: A Revision of Thomas Dyche’s Phrasebook is divided into 100 sections based on the use of different particles. Each section gives several instances of the use of each particle along with an updated translation of each example. This text differs from the others in the series in that it does not break up a unified text into smaller phrases, but rather is already individual examples intended to familiarise the student with the use of common particles. This text also differs from the others in that it works from English to Latin, rather than the other way around. The text, however, provides us with a great example of the pedagogical approach based on learning comprehensible phrases and how it was once employed a few centuries ago.

Lastly, Catiline’s War provides the intermediate Latin student with an engaging text by the historian Sallust about the plot which nearly brought down the Roman Republic, the Catiline Conspiracy. The text is divided up into 61 sections in which the reader encounters this pivotal moment in 1^st century BCE Roman politics and engages with some compelling speeches from both Caesar and Cato.

All of these texts follow the same format. The text is divided up into short chunks or phrases, followed by a literal English translation, and a final section which provides a unified version of the text. The theory is that students will more meaningfully and successfully engage with the Latin text through assimilating the phrases, rather than hunting for individual words in dictionaries, and that over time progress will be made toward being able to read the text comprehensibly as a unified whole without constant reference to the student’s primary language. This approach clearly addresses the limitations of the traditional grammar-translation method, which entails the study of grammar in isolation and vocabulary in isolation. Through this Accelerated Reader approach, the student is able to gain knowledge of Latin grammar and Latin vocabulary in context and therefore make strides towards Latin proficiency with greater ease and alacrity.