Proceedings of the Polytechnic Association. 833 



looks to his teacher's h'ps and listens to her voice for tlie name of 

 this new printed form or word. 



lie learns every new word as a new and distinct object, in the 

 same way that he learns the letters A, ]3, and C. lie learns the 

 words hee^ sea, eye, jay, owe, pea, are, tea, you, in precisely the same 

 Avay that he learned the letters h, c, i,j, 0,1?, r, t, u. Word by word, 

 each word by itself, as a new and wliole object, he learns our printed 

 langnage, as a Chinaman learns his hieroglypliics, or as he himself 

 had previously learned the spoken words. 



With a pronouncing orthography, as with any regularly printed 

 and truly alphabetical language, the case is wholly changed. Let o, 

 or any other letter, have a special form appropriated to each of its 

 sounds, and let each form be used regularly to denote only that one 

 sound, and the form of the letter is a sure guide to the sound in 

 every case where it occurs. 



In the Primer, which Dr. Leigh exhibited, he said the pupil has 

 learned the sounds and letters, and begun to apply this knowledge 

 in the art of reading. He has acquired a vocabulary of easy words. 

 He has begun to form habits of correct and distinct pronunciation, 

 and of self-help and independence in study, and to train his eye and 

 ear to observe peculiarities of letters and sounds, and to notice the 

 difference between them. 



In t!ie Primary Reader, he will go on to use and apply his knowl- 

 edge of the sounds and letters till he is skilled in the art of reading 

 simple sentences. He will extend his vocabulary till it embraces 

 most of the words used in primary books. But wliat is still more 

 important, he will perfect and lix the good habits of speech, of study, 

 and of observation, which he began to form in the Primer class. In 

 tliis way much will be secured and saved that might soon be lost if 

 this ])rint were prematurely laid aside. The influence of street 

 associations, and sometimes even of bad habits of speech at home, 

 requires a longer and moi'e presistent scliool influence to overcome 

 and train the children, in spite of it, to habits of reading and speak- 

 ing correctly. The transition to common print will be made. by the 

 pupil after completing the Primary Reader. It will, indeed, be 

 found, on trial, that he is already able to recognize, in the ordinary 

 print, most, perhaps all, of the words he has in this type ; for they 

 are substantially the same, even more alike than words in Italic or 

 Roman print. 



He may be taught to spell by letter, by any good method. From 



[Inst.] 53 



