Greek Online Web Class - Beginning Greek Tutorial

Students may begin the course and complete it at any time. Typically there is a larger group of students who enroll during summer break and get a head start for the live sessions that resume in September. Another common beginning time is mid-January after the live sessions resume after winter break. Nevertheless students can begin at anytime during the year.

Live sessions currently meet using an online conference system (only a microphone is required) Thursdays evenings at 5:00-6:30 p.m. PST. The sessions run yearlong according to a typical academic schedule, allowing for typical breaks and holidays. Summer break is mid May to mid September. There is a week off for a fall break in October, Thanksgiving break in November, and a Spring break in March. We also do not meet the week of Christmas or the week of New Years Day. Students will have the opportunity to hear other students' questions and should take turns asking questions. Since the lectures are recorded the live sessions are simply a time for students to ask questions and to practice speaking Greek in a live setting. The first half hour will focus on the most basic chapters and systematically work forward in the text for the hour an a half time slot. This way beginners can start at anytime and still have personal interaction. If more time is required to work through questions and practice, we will open additional live sessions earlier on Thursday and/or Wednesday evenings.

2. Instructor

Each session consists of a live conference taught by John Schwandt, M.A. He is a Senior Fellow of Classical Languages at New St. Andrews College and has taught Greek at the college level for the past eleven years. Mr. Schwandt also developed Greek In A Week summer intensive language learning courses. This will be the tenth annual presentation of those courses at various locations across the United States this summer. Mr. Schwandt founded and serves as the director of the National Biblical Greek Exam. Prof. Schwandt is known as an energetic instructor whose enthusiasm for Greek is contagious.

3. Class Format

Within the conference, Mr. Schwandt reviews and answers questions from homework. All lectures and presentations of new material are recorded and available for students to download, watch, and review. These two elements and online quizzes equates to 2-4 contact hours of class time per week. The conferencing web site enables students to listen to Mr. Schwandt talk and ask questions for the rest of the class to hear. Students are also welcome to type comments and questions in the real-time chat window during the lecture. This additional mode of communication increases the amount of classroom interaction and benefits students in a way not possible in a conventional classroom. Mid-week interaction with the instructor is also possible on the forum.

4. Course Description

The beginning course covers essential Greek grammar. In order to read a language with any degree of fluency a person must be able to compose or communicate in that language. In order to enjoy reading Greek one must be able to think Greek. For this reason, the tutorial stresses composition and conversational dialogue skills.

Contrary to popular opinion, Greek is not a dead language. The language has undergone a number of dialectical changes, but the language itself has maintained its integrity for thousands of years. God has seen fit to preserve the language of the New Testament to this present day with basically the same sound. If it were possible for you to hear Timothy speaking Greek and then someone from modern Greece, you would certainly ascertain that they were speaking the same language. This would not be the case with Homer, whose Greek dialect had significantly different sounds. Most Biblical Greek courses taught in America today use the Erasmian pronunciation, which began as an attempt to speak Greek as it was spoken before the Koiné period. However, the Erasmian pronunciation has now become merely an anglicized pedagogical construction which was never used by Greeks at any time. Since this course teaches the language as it was used in Biblical times, we will not use the Erasmian pronunciation but rather the true historic and ethnic Greek pronunciation identified by Randall Buth (how the New Testament writers themselves spoke). This system has many benefits over the Erasmian systems such distinguishing vowels that Modern Greek doesn't. But it does so in a historic way that doesn't offend the Modern Greek ear. The advantage it has over the typical American version over the Erasmian pronunciation is that it also distinguishes vowel sounds that the Erasmian pronunciation wrongly confuses and Ancient Greek would have held distinct (i.e., ει as different from η). Given the variety with Erasmian systems and the phonemic historicity of Buth's system, it should not offend the Academics or Modern Greeks. Further, it will enable us to learn the language like ancient Greeks.

If you are excited about learning Ancient Greek as a foreign language and want to learn it actively as other modern languages, this tutorial was designed for you. Remember; since Greek is not a dead language, there is no need to learn just enough to silently decipher the New Testament as one might translate a dusty gravestone inscription. Greek is a living language, and Ancient Greek needs only be revived by this and future generations.
Please refer to our FAQ page for answers to further questions (Frequently Asked Questions)

5. Required Materials and Links to Audio Helps

Athenaze volume 1 text and workbook are required for units 1-9. Athenaze volume 2 text and workbook are required for units 10-17. This is a fantastic story driven series that gradually and systematically introduces the student to all parts of the text. The story also helps students get a good feel for ancient Greek culture and a natural understanding of the language. We have generated plenty of additional aids to help students master the material in the texts.

We will also rely on the audio and vocabulary aids that I am producing to assist independent learning and mastery of the material. Here is the link to the additional Athenaze resourses.

Recommended Books

In addition to Oxford's Athenaze text, there are a number of other texts like the workbook for Athenaze and Luigi Miraglia's Italian edition of Athenaze, which emulates "Lingua Latina." You can order it directly from Luigi Miragliai here: http://www.vivariumnovum.it/Libri_greci.htm

As I provide additional resources for Athenaze chapter by chapter, I will also recommend readings from the following texts.

6. Prerequisites

The course is a beginning course and does not require any previous experience with Greek. Many people actually learn English grammar as they learn Biblical Greek. The course is best suited for students who are at least 14 years old (It is preferrable for those 14-15 to have had some previous experience with a foreign langauge). At the ther end of the spectrum you are never too old to learn ancient Greek so there is no upper age limit.

7. Fees and Registration Information

8. Outline of Units

Unit Number	Athenaze Chapter	Material Covered (every Athenaze chapter will have at least one quiz and each unit will end with a major exam)	Yearlong Session
Unit #1	Intro., 1	Alphabet, Pronunciation, Vowel Length, Writing Greek, Square of Stops, transliteration, initial vocabulary, initial accenting, initial verb and noun forms, epsilon contract verbs, reading (with understanding) 22 lines of Greek	1-2
Unit #2	2-3	Pressent Active Indicative verb forms, All 2nd declension cases, completion of accenting principals, basic imperative and infintive forms, proclitics and enclitics, reading (with understanding) 100 lines of Greek	3-5
Unit #3	4-5	1st declension case forms, adjectives and adverbs, definite article, alpha and epsilon contract verbs, Elision, personal pronouns, attributive and predicative positions, further uses of AUTOS, prepositions, reading (with understanding) 150 lines of Greek	6-8
Unit #4	6-7	middle and passive present verb forms, prepositions, reflexsive pronouns, third declension, interrogative and indefinite pronouns, reading (with understanding) 200 lines of Greek	9-13
Unit #5	8-9	present participles and more third declension forms, expressions of time, some uses of the genitive case, reading (with understanding) 245 lines of Greek	14-17
Unit #6	10-11	Vocabulary Review, Future indicative verb and participle forms, Irregular forms of EIMI, impersonal verbs, 2nd aorist verb forms, reading (with understanding) 270 lines of Greek	18-21
Unit #7	12-13	1st aorist indicative verb and participle forms, Imperfect verbs forms and verbal aspect, relative clauses, more 3rd declension forms, reading (with understanding) 200 lines of Greek	22-25
Unit #8	14	Vocabulary Review, comparison of adjectives and adverbs, indefinite and interrogative pronouns, adjectives and adverbs, reading (with understanding) 180 lines of Greek	26-27
Unit #9	15-16	Athematic 2nd aorist forms, omicron contract verbs, contract nouns, passive voice, and some MI verbs reading (with understanding) 260 lines of Greek	28-30

Beginning Greek Web Class

Page Contents:

Quick Class Links:

Explanation of the program

1. Time and Schedule of Web Classes

2. Instructor

3. Class Format

4. Course Description

5. Required Materials and Links to Audio Helps

Recommended Books

6. Prerequisites

7. Fees and Registration Information

Entire Book Packages (Typical Year Courses)

Individual Units

Includes 30 weekly live sessions (allowing for academic breaks)

Work independently or add weekly professional interaction

Register to secure your spot today!

Click here to register.

8. Outline of Units