Chapter 13 of Lively Latin introduces the use of ablative case to construct prepositional phrases. The text lists off examples: “The bear is in the water – the bear is in front of the water – the bear is under the water -”
“RESCUE THE BEAR!” Alex shouted gleefully. And a Latin game was born.
The last Latin game we invented was called “Pugnō, Celō, Teneō.” One of us called out the name of an animal or person, and the other one decided whether they would fight (pugnō), hide (celō), or hold (teneō, e.g., if the named object was cuddly). That was several chapters ago.
Rescue The Bear has a little more actual Latin learning involved. Gameplay is simple: I gave Alex a short Latin sentence containing a prepositional phrase. She translated the sentence in her head and decided if anyone needed to be rescued. If they didn’t, she gave a happy “Aaaahhh!” If they did, she shouted out for their rescue.
Puer in lectō est. (The boy is in bed.) Aaaahhh!
Lupus in templō est. (A wolf is in the temple.) RESCUE THE PRIEST!
Puella prō proeliō est. (The girl is in front of a battle.) RESCUE THE GIRL!
Gallina sub sellā est. (A hen is under the chair.) Aaaahhh!
The next time we play, after she’s had a little more practice putting words in the ablative case, I’ll have Alex construct some of the sentences too. In her eagerness to create funny examples, she’ll hardly notice that it’s a grammar drill.
?
All I could think of when reading these examples was “Le singe est sur la branche. La souris est en dessous de la table.”