Barry Hofstetter wrote:I think using an approach similar to Michael's is perfect in that setting. Look at what he was able to accomplish in just 10 or so hours. If nothing else if you can communicate to your students that the true value of Greek consists of really knowing the language rather than knowing facts about the language, then your class will truly be valuable.
And you know these materials - starting with something you know is always easier.
I teach a Sunday School class with a couple of people who had largely forgotten their Greek and one Classics major who is very sharp. My target audience is usually quite different from yours.
But I recently found myself doing an impromptu introduction to Greek when a couple of people showed up with no knowledge of Greek beyond the alphabet, and I thought it went well. I tried to make sure I didn't talk very long before requiring them to respond, and I tried to make it easy for them to respond. I also tried to break it down to teach each "language fact" needed to grasp the text separately in bite sized chunks, and to use lots and lots of repetition. You say that you want to get started with the New Testament as early as possible. If you want to use the New Testament from day one, you might want to try this.
Let me try to reproduce a transcript.
Let's turn to John 1. Here's the first sentence:
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.
Don't worry if you can't read that, I haven't taught it yet. Let's close our books and break that down.
θεός - God. Say θεός. ("θεός") Again? ("θεός")
ὁ λόγος - the word. Say ὁ λόγος. ("ὁ λόγος") Again? ("ὁ λόγος")
ἀρχῇ - beginning. Say ἀρχῇ. ("ἀρχῇ") Again? ("ἀρχῇ")
ἐν - in. Say ἐν. ("ἐν") Again? ("ἐν").
How do you say "the word"? (" ὁ λόγος")
How do you say "beginning"? ("ἀρχῇ")
How do you say "in"? ("Ἐν")
ἀρχῇ - beginning.
ἐν ἀρχῇ - in the beginning. Say ἐν ἀρχῇ. ("ἐν ἀρχῇ") Again? ("ἐν ἀρχῇ")
How do you say 'the word'? ("ὁ λόγος")
ἦν - was. Say ἦν. ("ἦν") Again? ("ἦν").
How do you say "in"? ("ἐν")
How do you say "was"? ("ἦν")
How do you say "in the beginning"? ("ἐν ἀρχῇ")
Now let's put this together to make a sentence. I'll say it first, then you repeat it.
ὁ λόγος ... ἦν ... ἐν ἀρχῇ. ("ὁ λόγος ... ἦν ... ἐν ἀρχῇ")
ὁ λόγος ... ἦν ... ἐν ἀρχῇ. ("ὁ λόγος ... ἦν ... ἐν ἀρχῇ")
What does that mean? (students offer answers)
Good! That's your first Greek sentence. But the word order is a little different in John 1. John wanted to make it clear that this passage is about the beginning, and what was in the beginning, so he put that up front. So here's how he said it:
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ... ἦν ... ὁ λόγος. ("Ἐν ἀρχῇ ... ἦν ... ὁ λόγος")
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ... ἦν ... ὁ λόγος. ("Ἐν ἀρχῇ ... ἦν ... ὁ λόγος")
My students knew the alphabet, if they didn't, and I were prepared, I would have had this sentence written on a handout or displayed on a screen, and this is the time I would show them how this sentence is written. As it was, I pointed them to the first verse in the text.
You can teach "grammar facts" the same way.
θεός - God. Say θεός. ("θεός") Again? ("θεός")
ὁ θεός - God. Say ὁ θεός. ("ὁ θεός") Again? ("ὁ θεός")
In English, we don't say "the God" when we talk about God, but they do in Greek. The word for Jesus in Greek is Ἰησοῦς, and the New Testament often calls him ὁ Ἰησοῦς. Let's practice that.
ὁ Ἰησοῦς - Jesus. Say ὁ Ἰησοῦς ("ὁ Ἰησοῦς")
ὁ θεός - God. Say ὁ θεός ("ὁ θεός")
Now let's look at the phrase "with God":
πρὸς - with. Say πρὸς ("πρὸς").
πρὸς τὸν θεόν - with God. Say πρὸς τὸν θεόν ("πρὸς τὸν θεόν")
"God" is ὁ θεός, but "with God" is πρὸς τὸν θεόν. After the word πρὸς, ὁ changes to τὸν and θεός changes to θεόν. It's like English where I can say "he is nice, I like him". "he" and "him" are different forms of the same word, it takes one form when used a subject, and another form when used as an object. In English and Greek, the word 'with' can also change the form of the word. "I am with him" uses the same form as "I like him". Let's look at some examples of this.
ὁ θεός ("ὁ θεός")
πρὸς τὸν θεόν ("πρὸς τὸν θεόν")
ὁ λόγος ("ὁ λόγος")
πρὸς τὸν λόγον ("πρὸς τὸν λόγον")
ὁ Ἰησοῦς ("ὁ Ἰησοῦς")
πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν
Let's practice that. I'll say a phrase, you add πρὸς to the front of the phrase. For instance, if I say ὁ θεός, you say πρὸς τὸν θεόν.
ὁ θεός ("πρὸς τὸν θεόν")
ὁ λόγος ("πρὸς τὸν λόγον")
ὁ Ἰησοῦς ("πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν")
There's a rhythm to this, a call and response. It should be easy for students to respond to you, and much of the time should consist of them responding to you. Each language fact should be introduced with plenty of practice, practice that involves students actually producing language orally or in writing. With this approach, you shouldn't be talking for more than 30-60 seconds without asking them to respond somehow.
Each fact needed to grasp the text needs to be called to their attention and given a little practice. Actually, that's only partly true. In a beginner's class organized around a text, I don't think you have to teach all the grammar right away, and you do want to teach the easiest things first and work up. You can gloss over ἀπεσταλμένος παρὰ θεοῦ by supplying an English translation, then explain the grammar underlying the translation later in the class if you get to it, which you probably won't in a 12 week class. But you should be intentional about what you postpone.
In my impromptu session, I asked a couple of simple questions after introducing one or two sentences and introducing τίς.
τίς - who, what.
τίς ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ; ("ὁ λόγος")
ναί, ὁ λόγος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ. ("ναί, ὁ λόγος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ.")
καὶ ὁ θεός; ἦν ὁ θεός ἐν ἀρχῇ;
Doing it now, I would quickly teach them how to answer ναί and οὔ so I can ask more questions:
ναί - yes. ("ναί")
οὔ - no. ("οὔ")
τίς ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ; ("ὁ λόγος")
ναί, ὁ λόγος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ. καὶ ὁ θεός; ἦν ὁ θεός ἐν ἀρχῇ; ("ναί")
ναί, ὁ θεός ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ. ("ναί, ὁ θεός ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ.")
καὶ ὁ Ἰωάννης - John - Ἰωάννης - John - ὁ Ἰωάννης - ἦν ὁ Ἰωάννης ἐν ἀρχῇ;
I would love to see a curriculum like this oriented toward beginners in a church setting, and I'd be happy to help develop one if you are interested.
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
http://jonathanrobie.biblicalhumanities.org/