Beginner Latin Story 5: Io Part 1

Io Pars Prima (Io Part 1)

The fifth in a series of Latin stories I have written for my beginning Latin students. The stories Io Part 1 and Io Part 2 can be used as a stand-alone unit, or in conjunction with Beginner Latin stories 1-4.

• Story 1: Deī Mortālēsque et Dēliciae Eōrum (Gods, Mortals, and Their Pets)
• Story 2: Iuppiter et Iūnō (Jupiter and Juno)
• Story 3: Saturnus, Pater Horribilis (Saturn, A Horrible Father)
• Story 4: Iuppiter Saturnum Superat (Jupiter Defeats Saturn)

In this story, Jupiter hides his affair with Io from Juno, first by hiding in a cloud, then by turning Io into a cow. It is a cliffhanger with the resolution coming in Part 2.

This resource is three google drive files:

I. Illustrated slides for previewing vocabulary (13 slides)

II. Illustrated powerpoint of the story (13 slides, average 2 sentences per slide)

III. Google docs student packet (7 pages) which includes:

• Title page with an image relating to the story
• Vocabulary page
• The story
• Comprehension questions for the story

Notes for the teacher:

• This story contains three sentences with accusative-infinitive construction
• Iuppiter nōn vult Iunōnem Iōnem vidēre.
• Iuno putat Iōvem esse marītum infidelim.
• Iuno putat Iōvem esse in nube cum feminā mortāle.

• Students tend to be confused about consonantal "i" at the beginning of Iuppiter and Iuno. They may confused Io and Iuno's names. To help with this:
• A serif font is used, so that at least the capital I's do not look like lowercase l's.
• Reading out loud is strongly recommended so that students can hear how different Iuno and Io sound.
• The names of Iuppiter, Iuno, and Io (in all their forms) are color coded in the student packet to add clarity.
• Consider having students go through the text and manually change consonantal i's to j. You can explain that some publishers use j for consonantal i and have students listen for the "y" sound and mark it when they hear it.

Ideas for teaching this story:

• Have students make observations about the cover image
• Preview the vocab slides - ask questions like 'what English words come from this Latin word?'
• Read the illustrated slides out loud to students in Latin. Have them repeat after you.
• Partner read the illustrated slides - Partner A reads the Latin out loud to Partner B, Partner B says it back in English, then switch roles on the next slide.
• Do the student packet as independent work, then discuss student answers for the support/refute questions and the interpretation/prediction questions.