Divide into groups of four people. Each pupil in the group will choose one of the following characters:

• Claudius, a free citizen, descendent of an important and rich Roman family. 25 years old. He regularly participates in the politics of the city. 50 slaves work each day in his lands and properties.

• Octavia, Claudius’ wife, 18 years old. Her obligation is to respect her husband. She must always be accompanied when she goes out and also wear a veil. She cannot participate in political life. She has one slave at her service, Gaia.

• Gaia, 14 years old. The Roman army conquered her village in Hispania and she was taken to Rome as a slave. Since then she works to the orders of Octavia, cleaning and sewing. She has no rights or possessions and her masters do not consider her a human being.

• Fabius, a freeman, 45 years old. Years before, he was Caludius’ slave but was conceded freedom. He is a gold/ silversmith and has made quite a lot of money. He would like to take part in the political life in Rome but the laws do not allow him to.

These four people regularly write in their personal diary. They write about their experiences, their worries and hopes. Your task is to write an entry in this diary.

Look at the following example, it’s written in the first person and starts at the beginning of the day:

The diary entry should have no more than 200 words. Before writing, find out about your characters in the following web pages:

• Claudius: http://recursos.cnice.mec.es/latingriego/Palladium/cclasica/esc335ca1.php

• Octavia:http://sepiensa.org.mx/contenidos/historia_mundo/antigua
  /roma/mujeres/mujer_1.htm

• Gaia:http://sepiensa.org.mx/contenidos/historia_mundo/antigua
  /roma/esclavos/esclavo.htm

• Fabius:http://sepiensa.org.mx/contenidos/historia_mundo/antigua
  /roma/libertos/liberto.htm

In addition, in the following web you can find out information about daily life in Classical Rome, which will add authenticity to your wrting.

You will find information about your character, what they ate, how they dressed, etc. :

• http://iessapostol.juntaextremadura.net/latin/vida_roma.html

Each group will publish their writing in a “blog”. A “blog” is a web site that compiles the texts of one or various authors. To access the “blog” created by your teacher, access the following address and write your name and password which your teacher will give you:www.blogger.com

Four entries will be created in the “blog,” one for each character. To create an entry, select the optionNew entry which appears in the control panel of Blogger:

In the spaceTitle write the name of your character. In the window underneath, you can write your diary entry (if you have written the text in a word processor you can copy and paste the information):

Note that you can change the letter font and size in this menu. You can also include images or links to complete your work:

To publish an entry select Publish entry, which is at the bottom right hand of the screen. You can also preview your entry by clicking onPreview.