Steven Hunt

I’m always up for a bit of technology and Classics. In this case, a friend pointed out this immersive exhibition at London’s Excel exhibition hall in Docklands. There was a YouTube video  as well. It looked – kind of okay. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained. We went along. It was Sunday, about 1pm. It took some time to find the place as it was located in an exhibition space under the main Excel centre rather than in it: access was literally on the dockside. Inside, it lo

After another delve into the ART archives, I found this article in Latin teaching XXXVI No. 3 (1983) by Ken Dowden, then of University College, Cardiff. He is now Emeritus Professor of Classics at the University of Birmingham. Teachers may know his book Religion and the Romans , published by Bristol Classical Press in 1992. My PGCE Latin with Classics students at the Cast Gallery, Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge (October 2025). In 1983 Ken makes a number of impor

This blog is an extract and commentary on a review of the first edition of the Latin course book Ecce Romani. It was first published in the ARLT’s journal Latin Teaching XXXIII, 6, p 224 in 1971. The reviewer WSW (I have been unable to ascertain their name) refers to two books in their review. Front Cover of the 1st edition of Ecce Romani Like the one I have blogged about before from this same journal, I think WSW's review sheds some light on pedagogical thinking of the time

I’ve been reading some of the articles in the journal Latin Teaching , which was published by the Association for the Reform of Latin Teaching, whose archives I have begun to explore. I came across this interesting little description of a weekend refresher course the ARLT ran in 1971 in London. I reproduce it here, with some comments below, as it brings to the fore, I think, the way in which teachers were beginning to understand how the Cambridge Latin Course actually worked

The Curriculum and Assessment Review Final Report  was issued on 5 th  November 2025. On page 87 there’s this table: Study of a foreign language, either modern or ancient, is compulsory at Key Stage 2. Study of a Modern Foreign Language (MFL) is compulsory at Key Stage 3. At Key Stage 4, there is an entitlement to study an MFL GCSE. Take-up in any MFL GCSE was 43% in 2009/10 and 44% in 2024/25. •        GCSE French take-up was 25% in 2009/10 and 18% in 2024/25. •        GCSE

I’ve always wanted to visit the Fitzrovia Chapel but it’s never been open when I’ve been nearby. So when I was at a loose end in Tottenham Court Road waiting for my lunch date I checked out the visiting times and was delighted to see it was open and only about ten minutes’ walk away.  Entranceway The Fitzrovia Chapel is a little marvel. Once it served as the chapel for the Middlesex Hospital that stood on this site and hid it completely from view. It’s like a Byzantine jewel

I spent a happy day at Reigate College recently at the invitation of one of the classics teachers there who had been one of my students seven years before. Lots of ancient history teaching to watch and learn from. It’s a two-way process: I teach them and then, later on, they teach me. Reigate Tunnel In a bit of quiet time, I briefly explored the town itself. Reigate is a smart Surrey commuter town (both Gail’s and Caffe Nero coffee shops highlight the upper middle class statu

It was with a certain amount of trepidation that my daughter and I went along to the Royal National Theatre production of Baccahe – a new play after Euripides by Nima Taleghani. Friends who had already seen it seemed torn between exhilaration and despair. We liked it. The raw emotive energy of the Bacchantes led by Dionysos (Ukweli Roach) and chief Bacchante Clare Perkins dominated the stage from beginning to end with wild, crazy dancing and some climactic and vivid scenes cr

A couple of weeks ago I went to Woolwich for the afternoon. Yes - that Woolwich, in south-east London, where the Woolwich Arsenal used to be. I went there very quickly and very smoothly on the Elizabeth line, which has a very smart station  in the midst of the original factory site. The design of the Elizabeth line station is simple but beautiful: a smart concourse of metallic columns at platform level, subtly decorated with the colours of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (red

On Tuesday 28 October The Guardian newspaper hit us with the news that a school in Queensland Australia had inadvertently been teaching the wrong Caesar for the forthcoming state examinations to be held the following day. While similar errors occasionally hit the headlines in the UK (the wrong English set text or the maths question that is impossible to answer), news about examination errors do not often cross Australian Ancient History Examination confusion from the other s

Here I report on the reflections of Classics PGCE students in the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, about the specific skills they are developing on the course. The notes reveal a combination of interpersonal craft, subject‑specific expertise and practical classroom management. Developing these skills will hopefully make their lessons learning accessible, inclusive and effective. PGCE student teachers in the Cast Gallery, Faculty of Classics, University of Cambri

The 2025 Euroclassica Annual Conference took place at the University of “St Kliment Ohridsk”, Sofia, Bulgaria under the expert coordination of Dr. Dimitar Dragnev. The opening ceremony on 19 August featured welcome addresses from the Bishop of Sofia, the Minister for Education, the Principal of the University, and Associate Professor Tsvetan Vasilev, Head of the Department of Classics. The academic programme began with lectures by Professor Arlene Holmes-Henderson (Durham Un

This is my introduction to the Conference I recently organized on the subject of using Comprehensible Input for Ancient Languages Teaching at the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge on 24 th  October 2025. Presenting the conference This is the first conference here in Cambridge University dedicated to the topic of Comprehensible Input in ancient languages. I am pleased to say that we have around 40 in-person guests here and around 200 online. This I think shows the e