Over spring break, fifteen Fifth and Sixth Form Latin students went on a ten-day trip to Italy. They spent seven days in the Bay of Naples and three days in Rome. During this memorable trip, students saw multiple famous landmarks, such as the Colosseum, Herculaneum, Pompeii, and three Doric temples at Paestum.
Latin teacher and chaperone Ms. Theodora Naqvi had much to say about the experience.
“We spend four-to-five years teaching students about the history of Ancient Rome. It is one thing to see pictures on paper or a PowerPoint, but going there in person adds another dimension, such as being under a Roman amphitheater.”
This trip adds invaluable experience to the students’ knowledge of places and sites they have learned about in the classroom, helping them appreciate these places even more.
“There is some productive discomfort with being in a new place, which requires students to be independent and go out of their comfort zone, which is an important life lesson,” Ms. Naqvi said.
Sixth Former Henry Pennington found this trip to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“We were able to get a better understanding of what we had been learning in class by actually going to these places in real life. It made everything we had been learning in the classroom seem not so distant,” Pennington said. “You develop a connection with the other students and teachers on the trip, while being surrounded by amazing food and beautiful landmarks.”
Latin teacher Dr. Andrew Fenton, another chaperone, initially advocated for taking this trip.
“This is my fourth Haverford travel-study tour in Italy,” Dr. Fenton said. “It’s a natural outgrowth of our program, a chance for guys to put the skills and knowledge they’ve gained in the classroom into practice.”
“Providing authentic language experiences can be more challenging with Latin: while I’m able to do that in the classroom, there’s no substitute for reading Latin graffiti on the walls of Pompeii or going through the account of Caesar’s assassination at the site of his death. So much of our curriculum is based around particular places and historical moments, and getting to experience them first-hand pulls them together.”