If you’ve been looking for a new Latin textbook and a new approach, you should consider the Lingua Latina per se illustrata series and methodology by Hans H. Orberg.

Benefits of using Lingua Latina, the Orberg method:

~students so not merely to learn Latin, but acquire a sense of ease and enjoyment in Latin that will make it a permanent part of their lives
~instead of decoding a dead language, students experience Latin with an immediacy approaching that of their native tongue
~provides the instructor with an opportunity to train students in listening and speaking Latin.

Insight into the methodology:
~the main text, Familia Romana, is entirely in Latin.
~a programmed text, proceeding by easy stages from a visual: a map of the ancient Mediterranean World.
~from simple statements made intelligible by the map it is easy to progress to questions.
~As the instructor, you can choose whether or not to introduce your students to the sounds of Latin at once.
~Most who use Lingua Latina begin speaking in Latin to students on the very first day, and encourage them to respond in Latin.
~similar to how you learn your native language, students go step by step toward more complicated communication.

How it works:
The first chapter (Capitulum Primum) provides you with material to teach content, pronunciation, question and answer, and grammar.

Before students finish that chapter, they have been shown the nature of singular and plural, the nature of grammatical gender, and the structure of simple sentences in their target language.

By the second chapter (Capitulum Secundum), they have begun an acquaintance with a Roman household of the second century of this era. The inhabitants of the household quickly engage the interest of students from elementary school age through adulthood, and as they follow the adventures of this lively cast of characters, they will absorb the history and culture of the Romans that are subtly woven into the narrative.

Compared to other methods:

Other courses have sought to apply the inductive and communicative methods currently used in modern language classrooms, but few can approach the seamless gradations of Lingua Latina as it effortlessly leads the student from Orberg’s impeccable Latin into that of the classical authors.

The more one works with this book, the more one appreciates the decades of philological and pedagogical care that have gone into the composition of a classic school text.

Addressing concerns about grammar:

If there are concerns about teaching traditional grammar, be assured that the opportunity to do so is here. Students are given enough data as they move through the book to be able, with a bit of guidance, to formulate and test rules on their own. The Grammatica Latina and Exercitia at the end of each chapter correct or confirm what they have figured out, and allow them to practice rules in solving the Pensa, which include closed and question-and-answer type exercises.

The customary charts gradually appear in the margins of the pages as forms and functions are introduced. At the end of the text they appear in their complete and traditional forms, but students have had the satisfaction of working them out for themselves from a narrative.

Ancillaries:
Accompanying CDs give students the opportunity to hear the lessons read aloud by Orberg, himself, and to work with an interactive program on all exercises except the question-and-answer ones, for the obvious reason that students are expected to respond to these in individual ways which must be judged by the instructor. 

Vs. Translation methods:
This text teaches students how to operate within the Latin language, but it also prepares them efficiently for the texts of primary authors they will encounter in your classes at intermediate and advanced levels.

The usual suspects--Caesar and Cicero, Catullus and Horace, Vergil, Ovid, Livy--they are all carefully anticipated in syntax, idiom and vocabulary. Lingua Latina even anticipates that students may some day read Lucan! 

Illustrated:
A great deal of the charm of this book is found in the illustrations, which Pier Lauritzen worked closely with Orberg to develop. The pictures support and explain the text, often making clever allusions to actual works of art, such as "The Dying Gaul," who assists in teaching terms for parts of the body.

Now an Italian artist has provided appropriate color, and we present to you the reliable inspiring illustrations decked out in hues sure to please the eye. If you add the sound yourself or use the CDs, your students will have the advantage of learning by both eye and ear!