Teaching Classical Languages Symposium

The Teaching Classical Languages Symposium is a biennial forum for language instructors to share practice and pedagogy, as well as to connect and collaborate on teaching initiatives and successes.

The TCLS is hosted by Classics and Ancient History at the University of Sydney and proudly supported by the Classical Association of NSW. The Classical Languages Teachers Association (CLTA), The Kudos Foundation, and ANZUK education, provide further funding.

The TCLS regularly obtains NESA accreditation for teacher professional development in NSW.

The Teaching Classical Languages Symposium came about to address a pressing need for teachers to share and discuss ideas and strategies for teaching Latin and Greek in the 21st century. Each symposium features educators in the secondary, tertiary, and community teaching spaces from Australia and New Zealand.

TCLS 2026 will take place Friday14th August at the Vere Gordon Childe Centre (previously CCANESA).
Keynote Speaker: Carla Hurt. Carla is a Latin high-school teacher and YouTuber who has converted to input-based approaches. She is based in Melbourne, Victoria. More about Carla here: Found in Antiquity

For further details, or if you would like to offer a paper at the next symposium, please contact Tamara Neal: t.neal@sydney.edu.au or Sarah Lawrence: slawren4@une.edu.au

TCLS 2024 contributed 6 hours of NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Accredited PD in the priority area of Delivery and Assessment of NSW Curriculum/EYLF addressing standard descriptors 3.3.2 & 5.1.2 from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers towards maintaining Proficient Teacher Accreditation in NSW.

In 2023, CANSW published a special edition of Classicum featuring papers from previous symposia.

Previous speakers include:

Christopher Bishop (Australian National University)
Caroline Brehaut (Redlands)
Elly Cowan (University of Sydney)
Dane Drivas (Cranbrook)
Phillip Dupesovski (University of Sydney; Newington)
Kate Edwards (University of New England)
Anthony Gibbons (Sydney Grammar School; Legonium)
Tegan Gleeson (Frensham)
K.O. Gossard-Chong (University of Melbourne)
Dexter Hoyos (University of Sydney)
Trevor Evans (Macquarie University)
Ed Jeremiah (University of Melbourne)
Drew Keller (Collegiate School NYC; Learn to read Latin; Learn to read Ancient Greek) KEYNOTE 2022
Michael Hanaghan (Australian Catholic University)
Yasmin Haskell (Australian Catholic University; The Ancient Today)
Sarah Lawrence (University of New England)
Maxine Lewis (Auckland University) KEYNOTE 2024
Seamus Macdonald (The Patrologist)
Caitlin McMenamin (Barker College)
Janette McWilliam (University of Queensland)
Emily Matters (North Sydney Girls High School; Eureka!)
Caitlin McMenamin (Barker)
Elizabeth Minchin (Australian National University)
Miles Pattenden (Australian Catholic University)
David Peddar (St Pauls Grammar School, Cranebrook)
Louella Perret (Riverview) KEYNOTE 2020
Ian Plant (Macquarie University)
Lauren Richardson (Canberra Girls Grammar School)
Paul Roche (University of Sydney)
Lance Shortus (Blacktown Girls High School)
Estelle Strazdins (Australian National University)
McComas Taylor (ANU)
Mary Triantafyllou (Newington College)
Jonathan Wallis (University of Tasmania)
Sam Wessells (Macquarie University & University of Sydney)
Chrysoula Zachariadou (University of New England)