Lindsey Hughes of Raymond is pictured working on a model of a Roman villa during a Latin class project at Hebron Academy Middle School.

Middle schoolers visit Rome in the classroom

HEBRON – Hebron Academy Middle Schoolers recently embarked on a Roman villa project in Latin class.

After learning the many parts of the Roman country house and discussing Roman domestic life, the students set out to design their own villa. After creating a floor plan, they constructed 3-D models of their villa and wrote a short paragraph in Latin about it, including its location in the Roman Empire and what special features the villa might contain, which was presented to their classmates.

“It was a wonderfully enlightening project for the kids that gave them a good deal of hands-on experience,” said Latin teacher Maxwell Jones.

The students begin their language experience in the sixth grade with the foreign language exploratory program. Languages may include French, Latin and German, exposing students to foreign language while exploring the history of their own language.

Goals of the program are to stimulate students to discover more about the world and its past, present and future through the study of language and culture.

In the seventh and eighth grades, the students have a choice of Spanish/Latin or French/Latin, studying vocabulary, simple conversations and culture.

“The goal of our language program is to give our students roots and wings so they can both fly off to the far corners of the world while appreciating the roots of their own culture,” said Foreign Language Director Cynthia Reedy.

For more information about the school, families should check the middle school section of the Hebron Academy Web site at www.hebronacademy.org.