IT'S NOT every day you are asked to step into the sandals of a gladiator in ancient Rome and give an interview. But Junior Cert Latin students didn't bat an eyelid when they read this question on their higher level papers - they loved it.
The paper was "interesting, fair and well laid out", said Latin teachers Mr Joe Thuillier and Mr Paul Birmingham, both of Belvedere College, Dublin. Mr Oliver O'Brien, a Latin teacher at Gonzaga College, Dublin, said the higher level paper was very much as one would expect.
He also welcomed cultural aspects from a wide range of topics on the course. He felt that most students should have been able to find something to be pleased with on the paper.
Mr Thuillier praised the use of an extract about political corruption in Sicily in question 2. The final question on Roman Social Life and Civilisa lion, about a gladiator who gives an interview, was very imaginative", he said.
. Four Junior Cert students sat Hebrew Studies at Stratford College, Dublin yesterday.