VOL. VI..

NUMBER 1.

Besides the unnecessary evil of formalism there is an unavoidable condition which renders the beginning of language work especially difficult. The symbol, like the sphinx, confronts the little one at the very gateway of knowledge. Of necessity the training in spoken language is impeded for a time, since the task of "learning to read" absorbs almost all the energy of the child and taxes to the utmost the resources of the devoted primary teacher, who carries the very heaviest of educational burdens.

The entire energy of both teacher and child may be devoted to the task for one year, while all other work is made very incidental, or the work may be accomplished in three or four years, while exercises in oral language, history, literature, nature study, number, art and manual training continue as in the ideal home. The latter plan is the more natural, but often times expediency renders the former more desirable. Whether one or four years be devoted to this work the same difficulty is to be met, and some plan must be devised to make "learning to read" less disturbing to language development. The first reader is certainly a very great stumbling block on the road of the child. Even if these books were selected for the sole benefit of the child by persons who understand and sympathize with both teacher and child, still the first reader would not be a perfect success, for what touches the life-interest of one community seems foreign to another. The ideal first reader should consist of stories within the life-interest of the child. These should be clothed in language that is childlike but not insipid. The stories

should be so arranged that the necessary recurrence of a word may give sufficient word drill. The simple should precede by a few lessons the derived word "happy" should come before "happiness" and "happily," but both noun and adverb should follow close upon the adjective. Words of similar form and sound should not occur in the same lesson, but should be compared after a list has been learned. There should be good pictures in the book, but the teacher should not permit reading by picture. The task of preparing a good first reader is by no means a simple one, for thought must be all in all, yet there must be very close attention to words as to form. Fairy stories in rythmic prose with rhyming words occurring at not too frequent intervals and with interesting repetition of difficult. word forms would constitute an ideal first reader. Since it is almost impossible to secure such a book a wise teacher will try to use several books-each valuable in some special aspect.

The difficulty of finding a good beginning book may be overcome by basing the work entirely upon stories in which the child is the actor and either the home or the school is the scene of the "drama." The actors should be selected with regard to the moral effect upon themselves and upon the class. An egotistic child should not be given prominence. Any work as "Putting Baby to Sleep," or any adventure as "How James Found the Turtle's Head," are suitable.

Teachers who have tried this method find that the labor of writing and printing the story is repaid by the interest added to the lesson, while the difficulty of

teaching both script and print at once is not so great as one might suppose. Script may be used first and the printed form introduced gradually as the analysis of the word into sounds and letters proceeds.

The entire story is to be first developed as oral language so that for two or three weeks there is no "learning to read." However in concession to local prejudice one might proceed sentence by sentence and thus begin "reading" at

once.

This work in language and reading should take care of spelling, punctuation and paragraph making. It should lay the foundation for grammar, rhetoric and composition, for the plan is not to give the child the sentences ready made, but to lead him to construct them for himself, thus each child contributes to the whole. At each step the correctness and appropriateness of expression is to receive. attention and the child should be led to express himself in figurative language. Stories especially adapted to this form of expression may be introduced occasionally. As personification of inanimate objects or of animals always appeals to the child such a story as Andersen's "Fretful Fir Tree," or "The Discontented Violet," may be used. The teacher should study her class and seize some original personification from which to develop the story.

It is evident that this work is really simple narrative composition. This form is taken up first because it appeals to the child, who, in reading is prone to omit all other forms.

This work may well be continued through such subjects as "The Change of Seasons," "The Culture of Silk," "Condensation and Evaporation," "The Circulation of the Blood," "The Passage of a Bill Through the Congress"-in fact any cycle in either nature or the institutions may be employed to fix the point and at the same time furnish material for language work. The description of a storm, of a game, of a journey, or a brief biography may be selected for the personal element that may be introduced. Any event of local, national or international importance may be employed for the ethi

cal value. Not to multiply example"The Terre Haute Fight Against Gambling," "The Anti-Trust War," "The Peace of Washington" are suggestive.

Besides this regular work in language, very much may be done incidentally in connection with other lessons, especially with history and literature. The stories should be selected with an eye to their ethical and artistic value. They should suggest right action and possess movement and climax of plot as well as elegance of style. The language should be simple yet not "babified"-just sufficiently elevated to cause the little one to reach. The child should be encouraged to question for the meaning of new words and for additional facts, and whenever it is possible one of the class should be permitted to come to the aid of the questioner.

With each story it is well for the teacher to determine upon certain expressions which she intends to add to the child's vocabulary and then so arrange her story that repetition will assist her. As the children gain power over the written symbol these expressions should be presented to the eye when they are addressed to the ear, and as each recurs in the story the attention of the child should be again directed to the written form. By no other means can both forms be more indelibly impressed upon the mind. Frequent reproduction of the completed story will fix both thought and form.

This work also may be continued through all the grades and used as a device to direct the child's reading. One child or the teacher may give a rapid sketch of a story that the class is to be encouraged to read outside of school. When the story has been finished the entire class may relate the events, describe the characters, sketch the plot, give opinions of the book, etc. If there is but one copy of the book different children may select different books and on Friday afternoon each may stand before the school and tell the story, and so the books will pass around and the child will have employed language for a purpose.

As the child grows older he may write