8th grade students on annual trip to Rome
Aligned with the spirit of “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, Explorer West Middle School’s Latin curriculum starts to prepare students for their 8th grade trip to Rome during their first few days in middle school. In addition to learning the Latin language, they are immersed in learning about the Roman culture and the city that they will ultimately visit 2 1/2 years later.
In 6th grade, they learn about every day life in a Roman household; major Roman buildings, road construction, and aqueducts; the way the army worked; and a basic outline of Roman history.
They read “To Be a Roman” in 7th grade. This book explores a wide variety of topics including: family roles, rites of passage, the way the Romans told time and organized the calendar, the sequence of offices in the Republic, the role of slavery, agriculture, and various occupations.
By 8th grade, the focus is learning about the city of Rome through the ages. They research the rioni (districts) of Rome on the internet and locate them on maps, learn about the seven hills, the draining of the forum, what exactly was in the forum, and the location of about 15-20 major structures and landmarks.
The 8th grade students are assigned a research project on a structure in Rome. They need to present this project via a poster, slide show, short movie, or other visual fomat. This year, one student did a movie on the Domus Aurea, incorporating various reconstructions of how Nero’s house looked in 68 AD. Other topics ranged from the eleven aqueducts, the Aurelian wall surrounding the city, the Palatine and the Pantheon to Baroque buildings like St Peter’s, St Ignatius with its false dome, and San Clemente with its four layers of building. On the trip to Rome, the class plans visit the “big ten” structures, and select from others that the students have studied as time and interest allow. Some monuments close and open to the public with little notice, so each year there are different options.
In the week before the trip, the student travelers review different maps of Rome, find the hotel where they will reside and trace various routes to age-old landmarks. They also go on Google Earth to see how things looked in their heyday vs. modern times. The teachers then use the digital projector to literally walk them around areas they will be visiting.
Some highlights of this year’s trip:
- Planning to visit the underground “insula” – apartment house, underneath Sts. Giovanni e Paolo on the Caelian Hill, which was a student project this year.
- Going to “3D Rewind”, which is a virtual tour of imperial Rome. They use special effects and automated scenographic equipment to put visitors in the underground regions of the Colosseum along with other “gladiators” in 310 AD.
- Embarking on a day trip to Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli.
Explorer West students have been commended by local Roman historians and tour guides for their immense knowledge of Rome and its history, as well as their ability to answer many questions in Latin. Since they have participated in the learning process since they were in 6th grade, the students are well prepared and extremely excited for this cumulating journey to the magical, ancient city of Rome. This year, Explorer West students and chaperones travel to Rome on February 18-25.
