Ludamus Latine: "Feather"

I want my students to encounter language in ways that feel natural to them. This would be a bit easier with a modern language, given that a lot of people are still, y'know, using those. But if students are going to have accessible materials in Latin, it's on us as teachers to make them.  

And we're doing it! The list of available novellas in Latin has absolutely exploded in recent years, and it is amazing to see. I would also say that reading so many of them has made my Latin better, just through repeated exposure over time—exactly what we want students to experience. 

But reading is not the only way to reach students. The teenagers in my classroom are constantly online, watching YouTube videos and TikTok. Full disclosure: Me too! I am a heavy consumer of digital media myself. So I often wonder if there is a good way to let students watch things they would normally be willing to watch, but laced with Latin. 

A couple of years ago, I bought a capture card and had some fun recording gameplay of Animal Crossing and Untitled Goose Game. I then voiced those over in Latin on my YouTube channel. I've been very lax about updating this channel, because everything went crazy when COVID hit. But this past week, I finally got things arranged to make it easier for me to set up that capture card and get footage to use. 

Here's my first Latin video in a long time. The game itself is called Feather and I played it on the Nintendo Switch. This video is just a chill one about being a bird and flying through nature, but I have more ambitious plans for the future!