LANGUAGE 



3323 



LANGUAGE 



exercises admit -of illustration, and the pupils 

 should be encouraged to draw them, since each 

 mode of expression aids the other. 



4. Letter Writing. All the writing that most 

 of the pupils will do after they leave school 

 will consist in writing letters, and exercises in 

 letter writing can be given with profit in the 

 third year. The letters should be brief, and 

 should be written to some one whom the writer 

 knows, and for a specific purpose. A boy, for 

 instance, may write to his father or brother 

 asking for something he needs. See LETTER 

 WRITING. 



Perhaps a word of caution will not be out of 

 place at this point. While we have placed in- 

 creased emphasis upon the written work for 

 this year, we would not convey the idea that 

 written exercises should constitute the greater 

 part of the pupils' work in language. These 

 exercises are a means to an end, and they 

 should not be made burdensome. The oral 

 work should receive by far the greater amount 

 of time all through this and the following year. 



5. Selections for Memorizing, The poems 

 and stories this year should be of such nature 

 as to strengthen the character. Longfellow's 

 Children's Hour, The Day Is Done, The Build- 

 ers, many of the poems of Robert Louis Steven- 

 son and Alice and Phoebe Gary, George Mac- 

 donald's The Baby, and Moore's A Visit from 

 Saint Nicholas are good examples of suitable 

 poems. In addition to the history stories and 

 biographies already referred to, Robinson Cru- 

 soe, Hans and Grethel and The Ugly Duck- 

 ling are good types of tales that may be read 

 or told. 



Fourth Year. The work of this year is prac- 

 tically an expansion of the work of the third 

 year. The pupil is gaining more and more 

 from his textbooks as he learns how to use 

 them. The work in geography should now be 

 used as a source of new material. Children are 

 always interested in the children of other lands, 

 and the study of child life in other countries 

 at this time will prove interesting and profit- 

 able. 



1. Oral Composition. The pupils should now 

 begin to understand the difference between tell- 

 ing a story and describing an object. The 

 importance of arranging what they tell in a 

 natural order should also be constantly kept 

 before them. They should be asked to tell 

 in their own words stories that they have read, 

 to describe places they have visited and people 

 whom they have seen. The clouds, the wind, 

 rain, snow and storms should be studied and 



described. Pupils will take great pleasure in 

 describing such events as Wolfe's capture of 

 Quebec, Braddock's expedition, with special 

 emphasis on the part taken by Washington, the 

 settlement of Jamestown and Plymouth. The 

 material for this work is so abundant that the 

 problem for the teacher is merely one of selec- 

 tion. 



2. Use of the Dictionary. The pupils should 

 be provided with a small dictionary at the 

 beginning of this year and should be taught 

 how to use it. Of the many dictionaries on 

 the market only two are worthy of considera- 

 tion Webster's International and the Standard. 

 Small dictionaries bearing the imprint of the 

 publishers of either of these great works are 

 standard, differing from the larger works chiefly 

 in amount of information they contain. The 

 teacher should give frequent lessons upon its 

 use until they have become familiar with the 

 book. 



3. Study of Selections. The school reader 

 will furnish many valuable language lessons, 

 since many of its selections are worthy of 

 special study. Longfellow's Paul Revere's Ride 

 is an example of such a selection. It is not 

 enough merely to read the poem. The events 

 of which it treats should be studied, a map of 

 the region over which Revere rode should be 

 drawn, and the beautiful pictures in the poem 

 should be described by the pupils in their own 

 words. Finally, the poem should be memo- 

 rized. The course of study will determine the 

 amount of this sort of work that can be done. 



4. Written Work. The amount of written 

 work should be increased and special attention 

 should be given to the use of correct forms of 

 verbs and pronouns, and to the common errors 

 of speech that are likely to creep into written 

 work. The pupil is now old enough to begin 

 to understand why he should use certain forms 

 and why he should never use others. The 

 exercises should be lengthened, and the pupils 

 should be led to rely upon themselves, but 

 still the oral work should receive the greater 

 amount of attention. Letter writing should 

 be emphasized. 



Fifth Year. The practical phase of the work 

 should be emphasized throughout the year. 

 That is, the business vocabulary of the pupils 

 should be extended, and the correct use of 

 common business terms, such as merchandise, 

 gain, loss, interest, commission and percentage 

 should be learned. Were it not for the fact 

 that at the end of this year many of the pupils 

 will leave school, these terms could be left 



