State of the Projects #4, 2020
It’s been a long time between newsletters here, but I always wanted to get back to it, and now at the start of 2020, I think I have the impetus and the momentum. So, what am I working on in 2020?
Teaching:
This year I will continue working for Ridley Online as an online tutor, as well as teaching classes for St. Cyril’s Coptic Orthodox Theological College. For St Cyril’s I’ll be teaching introductory Koine Greek, as well as an intermediate class combining selections from Matthew’s Gospel with Patristic exegesis of the same.
For my own private courses at ‘SeumasU’, I’m hopefuly that 4-6 of these will actually get off the ground. At this stage I’m hoping to be running groups for introductory Greek and Latin, Greek patristics, and Latin through the ages, as well as some Biblical Greek intermediate courses. Details about these are https://thepatrologist.com/shop/
I’ll also be continuing on with private tutoring, of which I have four students at present. Space for more if you’re interested.
Projects:
My main projects foci this year include:
Developing LGPSI:
I really want to see this get to a very useful and usable point in 2020, that means a greater focus from me on appropriate sequencing, grammar, vocabulary, as well as simply writing a large volume of text. My ambitious goal is to have a draft of 50 chapters, covering most major grammar, as a “Volume 1” by the end of the year. I’m always looking for more input on this, so don’t be shy about contributing feedback. (https://seumasjeltzz.github.io/LinguaeGraecaePerSeIllustrata/)
Greek-Texts:
I’ve been really excited to see the Greek-texts collective (https://jtauber.github.io/greek-texts/) come together this year, and I’m excited to see it continue to develop tools, collaborate on texts, and start producing some modest outputs in 2020.
Book writing:
I’ve been asked to write a short book, and almost have a contract for it sorted. It won’t be anything terribly exciting, but it’s on the plate.
Research:
I’ll be dedicating specific time in my schedule to research reading and writing this year. I have a few papers that need resubmitting, some others that are close to being done, and ideas for others. So the important thing here is to keep going.
Coding:
Having James Tauber in my digital ear a lot convinces me that I need to get back to learning some programming skills. This year I’ll be spending some time learning Python, as well as learning the ins and outs of formatting ancient texts into some nice XML formats.
Language Learning:
The Steadman Challenge
The Steadman reading group (https://thepatrologist.com/2019/12/12/the-steadman-challenge-reading-group/) started off last month, a group looking to read all the Geoffrey Steadman Greek texts over 19 months. This is going to form a challenging mainstay for reading more Greek.
I’ll also be participating regularly in Greek chats online, and pursuing some of my own reading and studies in Greek, including working on Homeric, reading more patristic texts, and so one.
Latin
I have no major plans on the Latin front except to keep getting a steady diet of Latin audio input. Except to say that there are plans afoot for me to come over to two SALVI Rusticatio events in the States in July. I could wish to be over at some Greek speaking events too! Perhaps in future years. The combination of rather significant expenses, and time spent both away from family and away from work, is rather prohibitive.
Gaelic
I’ve been taking online Gaelic classes the past year, and plan to continue on with them this year, as well as start to increase my consumption of Gaelic media.
And that's a wrap, I think.