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Needham, MA - October 12, 2005 – Instructions on how to save a dead language from extinction are stabled on CTCWeb after a TV romp and a Hollywood rumble. The dramatic fight at Los Angeles High to save its Latin program provides lessons for rescuing the Latin language from curricular interment, according to Douglas Domingo-Forasté. Domingo-Forasté, a Professor of Classics at California State University, Long Beach, is this week’s AbleMedia Bronze Chalice winner for his What Happened to Latin Among the Romans? published on the Classics Technology Center on the Web (CTCWeb, http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb).

“The fact a high school’s struggle to save its Latin program resulted in a plot line for a popular weekly dramatic comedy on ABC points up the relevance Latin has for modern students,” said Wendy E. Owens, CTCWeb Editor-in-Chief. “From this fight for Latin, Domingo-Forasté derives useful strategies for saving Latin from extinction in our public secondary schools based on the history of a Latin program that began with pageantry and concluded with a not-so-Hollywood ending.”

Domingo-Forasté tracks the rise and fall of Latin instruction in Los Angeles High School. He focuses on strong teachers and cultural pomp as integral to Latin’s success at LA High. Domingo-Forasté suggests six strategies for rescuing the endangered Latin instruction and repopulating secondary school Latin departments. He recommends promoting an understanding of Latin’s intrinsic and practical importance, adequately preparing secondary school Latin teachers, and emphasizing the rich and exciting cultural elements of the Latin language and Roman culture.

Domingo-Forasté’s article joins Classics Technology Center on the Web’s diverse body of material dedicated to promoting and preserving quality instruction of Latin. “Many dedicated teachers and professors have put various lessons Los Angeles High School provides into practice already, but the discipline requires a concerted and consistent effort on the part of the whole classics community if Latin is to survive at the secondary level,” said Domingo-Forasté. “If Latin can take hold in prominent schools with good students and good teachers, it is likely to influence another generation of students as it did so many of students at Los Angeles High.”

Each week AbleOne’s sponsor, AbleMedia, salutes contributors for outstanding submissions to the AbleOne Consortium (http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/consortium/), the CTCWeb Showcase (http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/showcase/), and CTCWeb Netshots™ (http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/netshots.html). Each receives the Bronze Chalice award. AbleMedia awards Silver Chalices for the outstanding submissions of the month. At the end of each year, AbleMedia awards Gold Chalices for the outstanding submissions of the year.

AbleOne serves millions of educators, students, and other users in over 100 countries and the number of users is tripling annually. AbleOne’s CTCWeb is a repository of practical tools, for classicists and other educators, to enhance the use of computer technology in Classics education. At CTCWeb, students, educators and others find the free dissemination and open exchange of practical educational materials, systems, and applications by individuals and organizations involved in the Classics community. AbleMedia sponsors CTCWeb as part its AbleOne Education Network.

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