Taylor Swift: Book encourages use of singer’s songs to teach Latin; understand

A British academic book suggested that teachers use music from Taylor Swift in learning Latin. Entitled Teaching Latin: Contexts, Theories, Practicesbook was written by Steven Hunt, a Cambridge professor who has taught the language for 35 years and now trains teachers to do the same. (via NME)

In the book, he uses as an example a research work in which a university professor asked students to translate well-known songs such as “Bad Blood” in Swiftinstead of works by the Roman poet Virgil. According to the author, new teaching approaches are needed to make the study seem more attractive to young people.

In addition to translating songs from Swift, Hunt also shows a Latin enthusiast who re-recorded classics from disney in Latin, as “Let It Go” in Frozen (2013), and a 3D model of Rome built in Minecraft, which allowed students to “walk” through the ancient city while learning the language.

“The problem with teaching Latin is that it has never been subjected to thorough academic investigation; we tend to rely on anecdotal information about what seems to work,” said Hunt to the The Guardian.

Academic continued: “There is no ‘best way’ to teach, but some teachers are creating a rich set of responses to the challenge. Most are based on principles of modern language teaching. As the human brain is programmed for sound, it learns by speaking, listening and using language. Some Latin teachers are realizing that this is the way to learn any language – dead or alive.”

the speech of Hunt rose to prominence after the British government announced a £4 million program to introduce Latin to 40 schools across England by the end of September this year.