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Elizabeth Manwell writes, "Last spring a student noticed that we weren't planning to offer an advanced level Latin course in the fall, but he (and others) wanted to continue their study. Would I be willing to offer a course? The prospect of an overload never stirs my innermost soul, but when a gaggle of students are clamoring to read Latin … well, let's just say I caved in. I told them that since the class was not part of our regular course offerings, they could choose the text, and they chose … Aulus Gellius." Although initially reluctant to teach an author that she had "limited interest" in, she found that her students loved him. 

She writes, "They loved his personality, even if it is an annoying one (because I suspect most of us have an uncle or a teacher or a scout leader in our past who is pompous is just this way, but an excellent raconteur). They loved learning snippets of Roman history (and it gave students who love history a way to show off - not unlike Gellius himself). They loved the variety - a fable by Aesop might be followed by an anecdote about the censors, which might lead to a tale about the Sibylline oracle. Gellius took us to far-flung locations, back and forth in time."

Read the full blog post at https://eidolon.pub/why-i-sometimes-teach-bad-latin-2498d165bf58