My last post about the coat rack theory came from years of trying to figure out how to help kids learn foreign languages more successfully.  I discovered that if students understood where things came from and why, then they were more likely to remember them, internalize them, and be able to use them appropriately in any given situation.  Essentially, I spent a lot of time giving kids hooks where none previously existed so that, when the time came, I could hang new information without the fear of a collapse. Phil Rosenthal's etymology class, as described in a Washington Post article, is spending a lot of time creating new hooks on which to hang new information.  As the students study the origins of words from our language, they gain insight into the history and culture of another time and place.  Some Central Virginia schools are helping students to see the relationships between words and their Latin or Greek roots.  The hope is that this study will expand the students' vocabulary and help them understand the nuances of our language.  In my classes, I used this study as an opportunity to show kids how foreign languages, such as French and Spanish, really aren't all that foreign.