Robert A. Fradkin

rf87@umail.umd.edu

Teaching Interests:

Education

Post-Doctoral
 
 
1998-2002 University of Maryland
Course work in Latin language and literature (Lat. I, II, Pedagogy, Catullus, Horace, Vergil, Mythology, Linguistics)
Summer 1995 Petrozavodsk State University, Karelia, Russia
International Research and Exchanges Board: Summer Teacher Exchange
Summer 1991 University of Antwerp
Intermediate Intensive Dutch
July 1986, 1987 Hebrew University in Jerusalem
Summer Teacher Seminar

University
 
 
1985, Ph.D. Indiana University (with distinction)
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
Major: Slavic Liguistics
Minors: Semitic Languages, Turkic Languages
Dissertation: Markedness Theory and Verb Systems of Russian and Arabic: Aspect, Tense, Mood
1980-81 Moscow State University 
International Research and Exchanges Board
July 1977 Hebrew University in Jerusalem
Intensive Intermediate Arabic
1976, M.A. Indiana University, Slavic Languages and Literatures
1973, B.A. Boston University, Russian and Linguistics
July, 1972 Leningrad Polytechnical Institute (Advanced Russian)
1971-1972 Hebrew University in Jerusalem (Junior Year Abroad)

Language Proficiences (State Department Scale: 1-Novice to 5-Native)

English (native), Hebrew (4+), Russian (4+), Latin (3), Dutch (3), French (2+), German (2), Polish (2),
Arabic (2), Turkish (1)

College Language Teaching Experience

Latin
 
 
2002-2003 Latin teacher (I, III)
Atholton High School, Columbia, MD
Spring 2002 Adjunct Instructor, George Washington University, Washington, DC

Hebrew: Assistant Professor
 
 
1996-2002 University of Maryland, College Park MD
1985-1995 Brown University, Providence, RI

Russian: Assistant Professor
 
 
1995-1996 Duke University, Durham, NC
1990-1995 Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA

Pre-doctoral Teaching
 
 
1982-1985 University of Washington, Seattle, WA
(Lecturer, Hebrew)
1975-1982 Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
(Graduate Assistant, Russian and Hebrew)

Courses Taught
 
 
  • Beginning and Intermediate Latin 
  • Latin and Greek Roots of Medical Terminology
  • Modern Hebrew and Russian: Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced 
  • Biblical Hebrew, Old Church Slavonic

  • Linguistics: Structure of Hebrew; Structure of Russian; Structure of English (for English majors and prospective teachers); Language Universals; Contrastive Structures of the Languages of Europe; Languages of the World; History of the Alphabets: Hebrew-Arabic-Greek-Roman-Cyrillic

Publications

Books in print
 
 
1996 The Well-Tempered Announcer: A Pronunciation Guide to Classical Music (Indiana University Press).
1991 Stalking the Wild Verb Phrase: A Self-Paced, Self-Correcting Adventure into English Grammar for Speakers of English Learning Other Languages. (University Press of America).

in preparation
 
 
 
Latin Inflectional Strategies: The Sense Behind Declensions and Conjugations

Selected Articles
 
 
2001 (in press) Grammar in the Dictionary: An English-Hebrew Grammalexicon. Journal of Higher Hebrew Education.
1996 Typologies of Person Categories in Slavic and Semitic.
In: Andrews, Edna and Yishai Tobin, eds., Towards a Calculus of Meaning: Studies in Markedness, Distinctive Features, and Deixis.  (Linguistic and Literary Studies in Eastern Europe series.) (John Benjamins) pp. 319-345.
1995a. Innies’ and ‘Outies’: Paradigm Shuffle and the Russian Verb.
Russian Language Journal XLIX, Nos. 162-164., pp. 41-52.
1995b. Did Russian Re-Create Hebrew In Its Own Image?
Bulletin of Higher Hebrew Education. Vol 6-7, pp. 15-29.
1994a. Watch Your Metalanguage!
Bulletin of the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages. (New York: Modern Language Association. Vol. 25, No. 2.) pp. 30-36.
1994b. Plus One/Plus None: The Communicative Conundrum and Russian Conjugation.
Russian Language Journal XLVIII, Nos. 159-161, pp. 29-50.

Selected Conference Papers and Invited Lectures
(Full list available on request)

CAAS (Classical Association of the Atlantic States)
 
 
2002a The Career Switch to High School Latin
2002b. Estranged Grammar: What Latin Does Not Tell You About English
2001a. Smart Stems and Theme Vowel Envy: A New/Old Approach to Teaching Latin Conjugation
2001b. Who/m Is It: On English Grammar in the Shadow of Latin
2000a. What’s the Trouble with Latin Sounds: On Latin Phonotactics and Their Grammatical Consequences
2000b. The Parisyllabic Fallacy and Other Classroom Conundra
1999 The Greatest Legacy: The Roman Alphabet in Modern Europe

Other Classical Venues
 
 
2002 Anatomically Correct: A One-Stem System for Latin Conjugation
Washington Area Latin Teachers' Association
2000 Latin as a Human Language
George Washington University Ancient Mediterranean Seminar

Hebrew-related

NACAL (North American Conference on Afro-Asiatic Linguistics)
 
 
2000 An English-Hebrew Preposition Chain. 
1999 Hebrew Phonological Space and the History of the Alphabet.
1988 Hebrew Vowel Alternations and the Mid-Vowel Fallacy.
1987 Markedness and Iconicity in Semitic Verbal Affixation.

NAPH (National Association of Professors of Hebrew)
 
 
2001 Old Dogs, New Tricks: A New Approach to Hebrew Grammar Charts
1998 Prolegomena to a Notional-Functional Dictionary of Hebrew and English. 
1996 A Functional Approach to Hebrew Vowel Alternations.

Russian-related

AATSEEL (American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages)
 
 
1993 On the Rhythm of Russian Conjugation. 
1989 The Semantic Structure of Russian Verbal Categories.

General Linguistics, Typology, Pedagogy, Writing Systems

FLAVA (Foreign Language Association of Virginia)
 
 
1993 Linguistic Pheromones? (On Talking About Related vs. Neighboring Languages).
1992 Watch Your Metalanguage! (On Grammar in the Classroom). 

Other Linguistic and Pedagogy Papers
 
1999 A Linguistic Euro: The Roman Alphabet vs. European Phonologies. Linguistic Colloquium, George Mason University.
1997 ‘Noun’ and ‘Verb” are not Four-Letter Words
University of Maryland, TA Training session

Invited Linguistic and Pedagogical Outreach For The General Public
 
 
1997 Smithsonian Institution
Designed six-lecture series, “Origins of Writing,” contributing two lectures: “Linguistic Locksmiths: The Great Decipherments”’ “Modern Alphabets and their Common Near Eastern Origin.”
 
1995-1998 AMPPR (Association of Music Personnel in Public Radio)
Lecture/Workshop in Phonetics and Linguistic Issues in the Media (Based on The Well-Tempered Announcer)
 
1996 Current: The National Public Telecommunications Newspaper
“You Say Pah-vuh-RAH-tee; I Say Pah-vah-ROH-tee.” 
(Invited article on language awareness in the media.)
 
1995 Central Intelligence Agency Language School
“English Grammar and General Principles for Language Learners and Teachers” (Workshop based on Stalking the Wild Verb Phras
 

References:
 
 
Prof. Judith Hallett, chair
Dept. of Classics
Marie Mount Hall
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
301-405-2024
jh10@umail.umd.edu
 
Prof. Cynthia Martin
School of Languages
Jimenez Hall 3215
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
301-405-4244
cm93@umail.umd.edu
 
Constance Lewis, Principal
Atholton High School
Freetown Rd.
Columbia, MD
410-313-7065
 

Statement of Purpose
 
 
After 25 years of teaching Russian and Hebrew at the college level, I decided to make a career switch to high school Latin teaching in the Washington-Maryland area. I believe language education is such an important part of secondary education that I have decided I can better serve a wider student population by devoting myself to high school Latin.

 I began preparing for this move in 1998, taking Latin courses with my Classics Department colleagues at the University of Maryland, and am now (2002-03) teaching Latin I and III at Atholton High School in Columbia, MD. It is a wonderful experience so far. I feel I communicate with 14-18 year olds as well as I did with my college students. My teaching style remains active and interactive, and students are responding very well. I have thorougly familiarized myself with several current Latin textbooks and with much of the Advanced Placement literature curriculum. As an active member of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States I have given well-received papers at the last six semi-annual regional meetings on aspects of teaching Latin and English grammar. These papers form the basis of my book-in-progress Latin Inflectional Strategies: Behind the Scenes at the Latin Grammar Rule Factory.  In Spring 2002 I also taught a Latin course at George Washington University (Roots of Medical Terminology).

 The Classics department at University of Maryland has named me adjunct assistant professor so that I can also give the course on "History of the Alphabets" that I developed while on the faculty there. (Some material for that course is available at www.wam.umd.edu/~rfradkin, click on "Evolution of Alphabets.") This material would fit well in a Latin curriculum as well as courses in world culture, history, or geography.