What if we’ve been teaching Latin and Greek all wrong?

In this episode of the Anchored Podcast, Soren Schwab sits down with Guillermo Dillon, Senior Consultant in the U.S. for the Polis Institute, to discuss why the future of Latin and Ancient Greek depends on something bigger than textbooks, but on our understanding of why these languages must be kept alive.

Guillermo makes the case that Greek and Latin should not be treated as “dead languages” or mere tools for boosting test scores, but as living gateways into the intellectual tradition of the West—the "Republic of Letters", as the American Founding Fathers referred to it.

From spoken Latin and immersive pedagogy to the growing demand for trained classical language teachers, this conversation explores what it would look like to teach ancient languages as languages once again.

Be sure to check out Guillermo Dillon’s forthcoming book, a practical teacher’s guide designed to help educators teach "Unus, Duo, Tres" using a communicative, immersive Latin method. This resource is built specifically to help schools and teachers bring spoken Latin into the classroom with confidence.

Learn more about Guillermo and the Polis Institute here:

https://www.polisjerusalem.org/

https://www.polisjerusalem.org/resource/unus-duo-tres-latine-loquamur-per-scaenas-et-imagines/

Timestamps
00:40 – Introduction & Guest Background
02:54 – Guillermo’s Educational Journey
05:16 – Growing Up Bilingual & Learning Languages
07:12 – Discovering Spoken Latin
10:50 – Why Learn Latin and Greek?
16:56 – Why Speaking Latin Matters
17:01 – The POLIS Institute & Its Mission
19:56 – The Classical Education Teacher Shortage
25:51 – Training Teachers, Not Just Buying Curriculum
30:25 – Advice for Schools Starting Latin Programs
34:30 – Guillermo’s New Book & *Unus, Duo, Tres*
38:35 – Teacher Success Stories
40:47 – A Book That Changed Guillermo’s Life: *Antigone*
43:38 – Final Thoughts & Closing

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