Why Latin?

This semester I'm including Latin phrases into our beginning-of-class activities.  My reasons for doing this are varied:

1.  I love words, and Latin vocabulary expands our personal word banks, qualitatively and quantitatively.
2.  Writing is the art of using words well. (see #1).
3.  While some may complain that the Latin phrases used are archaic and therefore not useful, I disagree.  Neither are they little bits that might help you in a trivia contest.  Most of the phrases we discuss have connections to culture, history, the legal world, art, science, etc.  While we don't go into any great depth with these topics, I hope I'm salting their curiosity.
4.  Students are beginning to make connections with other topics they've studied and are communicating their knowledge with the rest of the class.  For example, when we looked at the phrase ars moriendi (the art of dying), one student shared what he had learned about the Roman military culture.
5.  Though I'm teaching writing, one of my primary goals is to encourage critical, creative, and analytical thinking.  When students learn to think broadly and diversely, they also grow as writers.  I feel that these Latin expressions help to generally expand their thinking skills.

Some interesting articles:
Teaching Latin in Primary schools in the UK
10 Reasons to NOT teach Latin  (for those who don't like Latin)
Latin Makes a Comeback
Why Teach Latin

As with any of the content of my classes, feel free to contact me.