Social media and classical literature to improve communication skills

This paper reports an experience carried out in the second year of a humanistic high school, within a course of Latin literature whose program included the reading of several chapters of the Latin epic poem Aeneid. At the end of the school year, in order to rehearse that activity and reflect on it, the teacher divided the students into small groups and asked them to create a FaceBook profile for the poem's main character, Aeneas. This entailed selecting in the poem what they considered the main events of his story, as well as using modern language yet proper to the situation and characters involved. The main learning aims of this activity were to stimulate the students to look back at the poem in its entirety, paying attention to its poetic language, learning to select the most relevant contents, and reflecting on the use of language in different contexts. All students managed to make a meaningful profile, even if with different degrees of accuracy, richness and creativity. In a final questionnaire, they reported to appreciate the novelty of the activity and the collaboration process. The experience highlights that such kind of activity can give rise to useful learning opportunities, meeting some relevant learning needs.