Minimus

Minimus

The Minimus books are a series of school textbooks, written by Barbara Bell, illustrated by Dr. Helen Forte, and published by the Cambridge University Press, designed to help children of primary school age to learn Latin. The books espouse some of the principles of the direct method of language teaching, and are named after the mouse Minimus (Latin for "smallest", and also a pun on mus — Latin for "mouse") who is known as "The mouse that made Latin cool".[1] One of Minimus’s rivals is another rodent called Maximus, who is in fact a rat in disguise. There are two books in the series: Minimus: Starting out in Latin and Minimus Secundus. While the first book is aimed at 7-10 year olds, the second continues the series for children up to 13 years old.

The stories presented in each chapter revolve around a family. The family is based on a real family who lived at Vindolanda, in northern Britain in 100 AD. The books feature many artifacts from Vindolanda, integrating real objects into fictional plot lines.

In 2011, it was reported that 125 000 copies had been sold.[2]

Contents

Regular Characters

  • Minimus, a mouse
  • Vibrissa (Latin for Whiskers), the family cat
  • Flavius, the father and fort commander of Vindolanda
  • Lepidina, the mother
  • Flavia, the daughter
  • Iulius, the older son
  • Rufus, the youngest child of the family
  • Corinthus, a Greek slave who is excellent at reading and writing
  • Candidus, a British slave who is very good at cooking
  • Pandora, a slave girl who is a hairdresser

Italian Minimus

In 2007, the Minimus books were adapted for Italian pupils. As a single volume, the material is aimed at an older audience.[3] The setting of the stories is altered to several European locations[4] and there is considerably more formal grammar and exercises, in line with Italian teaching methods.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Minimus Website". Dr Helen Forte. 10 October 2006. http://www.minimus-etc.co.uk/. Retrieved 2006-10-10. 
  2. ^ Johnson, Boris (2011-07-08). "Now is the time to dust off your Latin and Ancient Greek and help keep classics from becoming history". TES. http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6095390. Retrieved 2011-07-09. 
  3. ^ a b "Minimus Avviamento al Latino". http://www.minimus-etc.co.uk/italian_page.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-14. 
  4. ^ "Squeakus!". TES. 2007-04-06. http://www.tes.co.uk/search/story/?story_id=2366499. Retrieved 2007-05-14. 

External links


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Minimus — Min i*mus, n.; pl. {Minimi}. [L. See {Minim}.] 1. A being of the smallest size. [Obs.] Shak. [1913 Webster] 2. (Anat.) The little finger; the fifth digit, or that corresponding to it, in either the manus or pes. [1913 Webster] {de minimis} or {de …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • minimus — see GLUTEUS MINIMUS …   Medical dictionary

  • minimus — (n.) 1580s, from L. minimus (pl. minimi); see MINIM (Cf. minim) …   Etymology dictionary

  • Minĭmus — (lat.), sehr klein, der kleinste, zur Bezeichnung von Körpertheilen, wie Digitus m., kleiner Finger. Minimum, Kleinstes, der Grenzwerth, den eine Größe, die immer kleiner wird, unter gewissen Bedingungen annimmt, wächst eine Größe dagegen immer… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • minimus — index inappreciable Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • MINIMUS — seu Arnobii l. 5. voce minimissimus digitorum, et ipse ornari iam olim annulô consuevit, teste Pliniô l. 33. c. 1. Singulis primo digitis geri mos fuerat, qui sunt minimis proximi. Sic in Nume et Servii Tullii statuis videmus. Postea pollici… …   Hofmann J. Lexicon universale

  • minimus — mi̱nimus, ...ma, ...mum [aus gleichbed. lat. minimus]: kleinste[r], kleinstes (bes. Anat.); z. B. in der Fügung ↑Digitus minimus …   Das Wörterbuch medizinischer Fachausdrücke

  • Minimus Fahrzeugwerk — Die Minimus Fahrzeugwerk GmbH war ein deutscher Hersteller von Cyclecars, der zwischen 1922 und 1923 in München Pasing ansässig war. Das einzige Modell, den Minimus Eropa, gab es als Zwei oder Dreisitzer. Dem Antrieb diente ein 4/12 PS Motor von… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • minimus — /min euh meuhs/, n., pl. minimi / muy /. 1. a creature or being that is the smallest or least significant. 2. Anat. the little finger or toe. [1580 90; < NL, L: lit., smallest] * * * …   Universalium

  • minimus — n. very small creature; insignificant person; (Anatomy) little finger or toe …   English contemporary dictionary

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