Maine Perspective Front Page
Ancient Languages Delivered in Maine by Modern Means
Bob DeWitt moved to Isle au Haut in 1976 to "retire." As a member of the island community, he has been a school committee member, selectman, constable, sternman on a lobster boat, and a University of Maine distance education student.
"My wife and I took ITV courses in music and aging, being the experts in those fields that we are," quipped DeWitt, an ordained minister with a lifelong passion for the written and spoken word. "They were superb. We took them right down the road at the town hall. Having the classes available in such a way made the difference between doing and not doing them. We look over the course catalog now and find it very beguiling."
In addition to his other preoccupations, DeWitt began tutoring a 14-year-old island resident in Latin two years ago. Initially, DeWitt's four years of high school Latin served him well, even though they were more than six decades ago. But when the young scholar's knowledge of Latin quickly caught up with his own, DeWitt enrolled in his first computer conferencing course in Classical Studies from UMaine. Subsequently, he and his teenage pupil have been taking 200-level classes together for the past two semesters.
"In the first course, I had no computer confidence. I don't like to surf; I do specific tasks on the computer," says DeWitt. "When I started, I tried to get on-line assignments and got so frustrated. Then I got mad. I wrote a steamy letter complaining, letting the professor know that I was very disappointed.
"I got a wonderful letter in return from the professor (Tina Passman) that astonished me. She offered to help work out the technical problems I was having so I could take the course. She is a good teacher who is not only interested in Latin but in students. The homework assignments she returns are works of art."
Tina Passman, chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Classics, understands the lifelong love of Classical languages. She has been a student of Latin since age 12 and a teacher of the language of ancient Rome since 1975.
"Latin is a window on an ancient culture that had tremendous influence on our own culture," says Passman, associate professor of Classical Languages and Literature. "Part of the fascination with the language is you learn more about English than ever by studying Latin."
Passman also understands the importance of access to education. For the past 2-1/2 years, Passman has been involved in developing Web-based language and literature courses, coordinated through the Division of Lifelong Learning, to meet the needs and interests of adult learners and other students throughout the state who are unable to get such classes. The distance education courses can be taken to fulfill requirements in a new Certificate in Classical Studies program offered by Lifelong Learning, now in its second semester.
The Division of Lifelong Learning's academic outreach mission includes distance learning options that provide opportunities designed to improve the quality of life, empower individuals and organizations, and improve professional practice. The Division offers more than 100 courses annually through distance technologies, including the Certificate in Classical Studies.
Ironically, lessons in ancient languages are delivered throughout Maine via modern technology, which can pose new challenges for some distance education students with little or no familiarity with computers. "But with the password they need to access the coursework on the Web and technological support, we provide the tools - lectures, assignments and hyperlinks they need to read the Latin they want to read," says Passman, who has been part of UMaine's interdisciplinary course concentration in Classical Studies in 1985.
"As the University continues to champion lifelong learning, it is more important that ever for students of all ages to have an array of course choices," says Passman. "If people dreamed of reading Homer or learning Latin, they should be able to.
"By offering Web-based classes like this, we are actually making Classical education available to the entire state."
Such educational outreach through technology is an important component to reaching students of modern and classical languages throughout the state. For the past two years, courses in foreign language methodology and pedagogy for language teachers have been offered statewide via ITV and now through compressed video by Ray Pelletier, associate professor of French and associate professor of Education.
In addition since 1994, Continuing Education in conjunction with the Department of Modern Languages and Classics has offered the Critical Languages Program that serves the needs and interests of highly motivated students who have diverse language education needs and find few classes in less-commonly taught but globally critical languages.
Through this program, UMaine currently offers 11 less commonly taught languages: Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, Gaelic, Greek, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Turkish and Vietnamese. High school students and teachers, business professionals and other adult learners have enrolled in the learner-centered study classes of the Critical Languages Program. Using tapes, texts and tutors, students focus on oral proficiency in a language, as determined by national standards.
"This is all departmental outreach," says Passman. "The urgency has to do with the development of global culture. People interested in learning languages and cultures must have access to them; it is not possible to understand another culture without knowing the language of that culture. Making available the knowledge of language and culture is what we do. It is part of fulfilling our mission. It is a real commitment."