Could Latin be the solution to Malta's literacy problem?

Learning Latin might sound boring, but the centuries-old language could actually be part of the solution to Malta’s literacy problem. And being a bilingual nation, children will probably grasp it without much difficulty. So, following good practice abroad, the Malta Classics Association will be introducing Latin to Year Five students as part of a pilot project called Literacy through Latin. The nine-year-olds at Chiswick House School and Fgura Primary School will not have to sit down in class and read and write in Latin, and they will not have any Latin homework either, Jessica Farrugia, MCA publicity officer told this newspaper. The children will not be taught to write and speak fluent Latin, but instead, they will be exposed to a language that will take them back to the origin of the languages that we speak. Originating from around the third century BC, but perfected by the first century BC, Latin lives on in several languages, including Maltese and English. “We will be exposing them to a few words with which they would be able to understand many other languages,” explained Ms Farrugia, who is also a Classics Department student. By learning that the word manus in Latin means...