Speed Reading — Latin - Level 5 — 200 wpm

Next Activity:
Try the same text at a reading speed of 300 words per minute.


This is the text (if you need help).

The UK has announced a $5.5 million programme to teach Latin at 40 of its schools. The Latin Excellence Programme aims to "level up" opportunities for students in some government-run schools. Latin was spoken in the area around Rome 2,000 years ago. It is taught in 49% of the UK's "elite" private schools but only 2.7% of state schools. The UK's education secretary said: "Latin has a reputation as an elitist subject, which is reserved for the privileged few, but the subject can bring so many benefits to young people." He added: "Latin can help pupils with learning modern foreign languages."

The programme has sparked a heated debate. Many people have ridiculed it as being a "poorly-funded gimmick". A politician wrote: "Latin is elite because only people who are guaranteed successful careers, thanks to family connections, can afford to waste time on ...understanding...the dialogue in [ancient] books." An author said she only uses Latin to "occasionally translate things on tombs". A teacher said money would be better spent on living languages like Chinese that would enable children "to get ahead in the world," or on computer coding.

Back to the Latin lesson.

More Activities