^ ^ sa ?3£ d%. \ ^th -g OlorttcU mttit.er0itg Bbtars CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1876 1918 Cornell University Library PE 1128.H31 suppl. Language lessons to accompany the First 3 1924 023 355 427 LANGUAGE LESSONS. -TO ACCOMPANY THE FIRST BOOK FOR / NON-KNGLISH-SPBAKING PEOPLE BY W. 1,. HARRINGTON, A.B. EEADMASTEK OF CHARLESTOWST EVENING HI&H SCHOOL, BOSTON, MAS& CATHARINE J. CUNNINGHAM ELIOT SCHOOL. BOSTON, MASS. THIS SERIES INCLUDES A FIRST BOOK For Non-English-Speaking People. A SECOND BOOK For Non-English-Speaking People. LANGUAGE LESSONS To accompany the First Book. INTRODUCTION. The success that the authors have had in using the following method in Boston and in Cambridge, both with children and adults in day and evening schools, has caused many teachers from different places to visit them in their class-rooms. The visitors have been pleased with what they saw, and many have tried the method, as they saw it, with their own classes. Their success and the difficulties they met with, caused many to repeat their visit to receive more help. In visiting a school-room a teacher gets many ideas from the writing on the boards, from the lesson given, and from the general atmosphere of the class, but at best it is the result of work she sees, and however well the teacher may explain her lesson, the purpose and aim of the teacher will certainly appear vague to a casual visitor. It is with the hope of helping those who have sought our aid, as well as others who have similar classes that we write this description and aim of our work in the school-room. It has above all things in its favor practical results — results which in the beginning were obtained under the most adverse circumstances, and at present are obtained under only ordinary circumstances. The method has been the growth of fourteen years of work and cooperation. It is applicable to an evening school as well as to a day school. It can be used with a single pupil or with a class. It entails considerable labor, but it is the only metho which can hold the interest, develop the idea, and successfully teach English to non-English-speaking people. It is with the kindest of intentions and the best of good' will that the authors offer this production to the teachers who are working in similar classed — in classes where there is only hard work for the teacher. WALTER L. HARRINGTON. CATHARINE J. CUNNINGHAM. EosTOM, Febroary, 1904. LANGUAGE LESSONS. The children of different nationalities sit gazing with awe . -Ton the teacher of English, wlio stands before them, crayon in -hand. "Good morning, boys," she says, and they gaze more won- deringly still. Again she greets them, smiling, and the children are pleased. "Good morning," very slowly, comes again from the teacher, and some bright child tries to say it after her. ■ Then another and another tries, the teacher helping and cor- : recting each trial. Now the teacher writes the greeting on the hoard, akd the children read it or repeat the expression, under- : standing it as a greeting. The greetings given every morning and afternoon are soon recognized and expected, and take only a few moments of each ! session. After the greeting,- the teacher names the day, and writes on the board the expression, as, " To-day is Monday" and reads it to the pupils. They repeat it after her. She then says, lookijig out of the window, " It is a good day," and writes that express -sion on the board. . At first, naming the day and telling the kind of day it is, is but vaguely understood, but in a very short time the class Tvill understand, and will be able to tell and to describe the day :as well as to give the date. 6 Much time is not spent on this work, as it is simply an- opening of the work of the session; but it gives pleasure to the- children to be able to tell the teacher what day it is and some- thing about the day. The real work of building up the laLngit.a;g^ bfcgins when the teacher directs attention to the different objects in the room about which they will soon be able to talk. Attention is first drawn to the. different parts of the body,, the children being more familiar and more interested in the- body than in things about them. She then draws attention to- the objects near, and afterward to objects more distant. Teaching "This is my." Holding up her hand before the class, she .'^ay.s, "This is "my hand." Touching her arm, she says, "This is my arm." Touching her head, she says, "This is my head." Touching her hair, she says, " This is my hair." Having si lowii enough objects, to let the class know that she is showing objects, she- returns to the hand and says many times, slowly and distinctly, "This is my hand." .i ■■■' Soon some child will want to imitate her, and she encourages - bim to repeat the words after her while showing liis hand. Another and another will try to do the same, nnd the teacher encourages each. When a fair proportion of the class are able to say the sentence slowly and understandingly, then the teacher writes the sentence in print and in script on the broad. The- teacher reads the sentence very slowly and distinctly, and various pupils are called upon to read it. The children copy tlie script. 0. (ten or twelve times on paper, the teacher always supervising ■while the class is writing. After the sentence is copied, it is again read by the pupils ■and then erased. The teacher again asks the child to show tier his hand, and the child while showing the hand, says, "This is my hand." The teacher now asks the class to write, "This is my hand." After the class has written the sentence from memory, the teacher rewrites it on the board, and the •class reads it and corrects the pajiers and rewrites from msmory. The other members of the body are named, the sentences written, read, copied, and written from memory in the same Way, always using the expression, " This is my." Note. — In our work we have always started with the expression "This "js my," because we have found the sound "th " diflBcult for most foreigners, -and yet occurring many times in English. We think that if we drill on that sound from the beginning, much of the difl&culty is removed. About one-half the children coming to us have had no instruction in Europe, and therefore are not able to write. These children, as well as those who can write, make the attempt to write the sentence and many times suc- -ceed early. They of course will not be able to write from memory for some time, but trying to do and seeing others successful makes them in a short :time able to write from dictation more liifficult sentences. After the parts of the body, other objects, as desk, chair, ■pencil, paper, etc., are named in the same way. "That is." The class should now be very familiar with the expression '^'This is my," although the names of the different objects are estill uncertain. So, in the next few steps the names of the 7 objects are kept constantly before tbe mind while a new thought . is presented, as, " That is your," " That is his," etc. The teacher, showing her hand, says, " This is my hand," then pointing to a hand of each of several boys, she says, " This.. is your hand." Returning to her own hand, she says, "This, is my hand," and pointing to a boy's hand, while looking at him, she says, "That is your hand." Now holding up her own hand, she says, "Whose hand is this?'' Always some tjro or three in the class will say, " That is your hand." The teacher insists on each child saying it, while pointing to her hand. The teacher shows other objects of hers, and the class is able to make sentences, as, "That is your eye," " That is your desk," etc. Some one of these sentences is written, read, copied, and reproduced. After that sentence is reproduced, the class can make and write other similar sentences by the teacher asking, " Whose head," etc., " is this?" The expressions ' ' That is his ' ' and "That is her ' ' are taught . in the same way and with the same objects. "This is my" is always reviewed by naming new objects, thus holding the interest by the new word while repeating the old. Intereogative Sentences. It is necessary to ask questions as well as to answer them, , and for that purpose some volunteer is allowed to act or play "Teacher." In this play he imitates the teacher, using her- expressions familiarly, as at this time he is able to say, " WhO" 8 can show me his hand?" It is very difl&ult for him at first, J)ut the exercise being in the nature of a game, the children are anxious to excel. "A" AND "The." In nsing the expressions ' ' This is my, ' ' " That is your, ' ' etc. , objects very near have been named; now objects not so near, as floor, ceiling, Avail, etc., may be named. In naming these objects the expressions "This is," and "That is" are being reviewed while the distinction between "a" and "the" can be shown. The teacher, pointing to a door, says, " That is a door," and pointing to another door, says, " That is a door," and then to another door, saying, "That is a door." She then asks, writing as she talks, * ' What is that ? ' ' The class is only too eager to say, " That is a door." This sentence is written, read, etc. The teacher then points to one window and to another and to another, Sisying, "That is a window." The class points and says, "That is a window." This sentence is written, read, copied, etc. Other objects, where fhere is mpre than one of the same kind, are named in the same way, and then objects where there is but one of its kind are named, as, " the ceiling." The teacher, pointing to the ceiling, says, ' ' That is the ceil- ing." The children, while pointing, say, " That is the ceiling," and this sentence is written, read, etc. If in naming other objects the class makes a mistake in saying " a " for " the," the teacher always shows that there are more than one, or just one, and the child will correct himself. d bmaULAE AND PlUEAL. ' I HAATE." The class is now familiar with the oral names of objects, but may not be able to write them from memory, so we use the same objects, but introduce the thought, " I have." The teacher, pointing to her eyes, says, " I have two eyes," indicating the "two '' by pointing to one and then to the other eye, and sometimes holding up two fingers. Then pointing to her arms, she says, "I have two arms,'' then to her hands, say- ing, " I have two hands," then she points to her mouth, saying, " I have one mouth," and then to her nose, saying, "I have one nose." i ■ ' , , She again points to her eyes and perhaps to her arms, say- ing, "I have two eyes (arms)." She now asks some child, ,',' How many eyes have you?" He may not be able to answer, and . she points again to her eyes, saying, "I have two eyes.'' She asks some other child, while writing the question, "How many eyes have you ? " There will always be some few who try to say it, and the others are learning from their mistakes. When she find that the class, or a majority, have the idea, she says it again very slowly and the class repeats it slowly. This sentence is written, read, etc., and other sentences using "I have " are made. After "I have two " is taught them, "You have two," " I have one," and " You have one," then, " He has one" or "two," y She has one " or " two," should h6 taught. Until now the objects taught have been in the singular, but at this point they begin to name objects in the plural. The teacher when naming the objects emphasizes the ending "s" 10 whenever it appears, and uses at first only such objects as form their plural by the ending " s " so that the class will of them- selves add "s" when speaking of two or three objects. When such objects as " feet " are named, the teacher names the plural before the class can form it for themselves. /^ The teacher, holding out one hand, says, "This is my hand,'' then holding out two hands, she says, " These are my hands," 'emphasizing the " s." Pointing to one eye, she says, " This is my eye," and pointing to two eyes, she says, "These are my eyes." This she does with several objects, and then asks the class, " Who can show me his hand?" The class is generally able to use the expression " These are " with the various objects. One of these sentences is written, read, etc.; and then the expression " These are" is easily taught in the same way. In the game of ' ' Teacher ' ' the child is now ready to use the expressions " Show me,'' " How may," and " Whose." Faiiiliae Actions Named, After naming familiar objects, it is well to name some femiliar actions, as run, )iop, jump, slide, etc. The teacher, standing before the class, says, "I can run," and runs; then "I can hop," and hops; then " I can skip," and skips; and again she says, "lean run," and runs. She then asks, " Who can run ? " and several boys one after^another will say, " I can run," and run. This sentence is written, read, etc., and the other actions named in the same way. Having taught the expression "I can," with the several 11 actions, the expressions " You can," "He can," She can," and later, "We can " and " They can," should be taught. The teacher asks, " Who can run ?" and some child replies, "I can run ; " but before the child runs the teacher says, " He can run," and then asTss the class, " What can he do? " and all the class will answer, " He can run ; " then the child runs. After the class is sure of " I can," etc., the teacher says, "I can run," and runs, saying, while running, " I am running," Then she says, "I can walk," and while walking says, several times, " I am walking." Then "I can skip," and while skip- ping she says, " I am skipping." Again she says, " I can walk," and while walking she says very slowly, " I am walking." Now she asks the class, " Wo can walk? " and a child will reply, "I can walk." The teacher asks the class, " What can he do?" and the class answers, "He can walk," While the child is walking the teacher asks, " What are you doing? " and the child replies, " I am walking," saying it a number of times before faking his seat. This exercise is repeated with several of the boys before it is written and copied. Having taught the expression "I am," with the different verbs already named, the expressions "You are," "He is," We are,", etc., may be taught, the teacher and class laying stress on the ending "ing." The teacher asks, " Who can run ? " and some child answers, 'I can run." The teacher asks, " What can he do ? " and the class answer?, "He can run." While the child is running the teacher asks him, " What are you doing ? " and he answers, " I am running." The teacher then says to the class, " He is run- ning." She then asks the class, "What is he doing?" and they 12 answer, " He is running." They Say, " He is running," several times or until the child takes his seat. The teatcher causes the children to make the statements- "He is hopping," "She is skipping," "You are standing," " We are sitting," etc. All of these sentences are written and read, and many are copied and written from memory. In these sentences describing actions, the class is review- ing the words "I," "you," "he," "she," "is," and "are," and in the continued action review the name of the action while adding "ing." ■In the game of "Teacher" the new questions are used, as^ "Who can run?" "What can he do?" " What is he doing ? " At this period the class is familiar with the names of some- objects and some actions. The relation of these objects to each other may now be named. Words showing Relation. The teacher places her hand on her desk, then on her head, ■then on a book, etc. , and says after each placing, ' ' My hand is- on my — " Then she says to the class, "Put your hand on your desk," and sees that each child has placed his hand. She then tells them to put their hands on their heads. She says- again, "Put your hand on your desk," and asks different chil- dren, ' ' Where is your hand ? ' ' writing the question as she asks. With difficulty at first they will answer, ' ' My hand is on my desk.'' The tfeacher then puts her hand on her desk and ask?,. "Where is my hand?" and some will answer, "Your hand ia on your desk.'- She then asks some boy to put his hand on 13 !l)is desk, and asks the class, "Where is his hand ? " They can answer, " His hand is on his desk." The tea:cher places various objects in the position "on," and the children tell where the ■object is. The children place the object and ask, "Where is " the object, and the class tells. The teacher asks for volunteers to sit, stand, or jump on something, and to tell what each is doing and where. Some of -these sentences are written, read, copied, and some are Teproduced. The other simple relations, as "in," "under," "over,*^' and "at," are shown and named in the same way. In the game of ' ' Teacher ' ' the word ' ' where ' ' is added to their vocabulary. In the teaching of relations the names of objects and actions pre- viously taught are being reviewed by using the sentence as well ras the word. The Past Tense. The past or finished action is now to be taught. The children are led to observe that "ed" denotes finished action, while "ing" denotes continued action. The teacher walks up and down the rpom before the class And asks, " What am I doing ? " The class tell her, "You are walking." She stands very still and asks, "Am I walking?" They answer, "No." The teacher says, "lam npt walking; I walked," laying stress on the "ed." The teacher then jumps, and afterward says, " I jumped." She then asks some child to walk and says, "What is he •doing ? " and the class replies, " He is walking." She then tellg them, "He walked." She asks the class, "What dixi' he do? and they answer, "He walked." She then asks the boy, " What 14 did you do ? " and he answers, "I walked." More drill of this kind is given upon the regular verbs until the idea ot foriniag, the tenses is fixed. ; Of the irregular verbs, "stand," "sit," and "run" are- taught first, the teacher naming the finished action as " stood, ''^ sat," etc., and the children imitating her and afterward copy- ing the word to fix it in the memory. The children should be able to use the regular ending them- ,selves after the first few regular verbs have been taught. In the game of "Teacher" the child can now use such' expressions as, "Who sat in this ^chair ? " "Where did you stand ? " " What did he do ? " Incidentally more objects are being named, more verbs- introduced, and more words describing the day are brought in. The names of the days and months are being learned and the- date is always given. The child should now be able to tell his name and his friend's name, to ask where his friend lives, and to tell where he- himself lives and how old he is. Verbs denoting Common Acts. Having named the objects, the teacher can tell what they can do and describe them. The parts of the body were the first objects named, so now we name the most obvious thing about them, which is their power to act. The teacher asks the class, "How many eyes have I ? " and "Show me your eyes." She then says, "I can see my desk with my eyes," ,"I can see John with my eyes," "I can see you with my eyes," etc. Closing her eyes, she says, "I cannot 15 ■see John," and tries to find him. This amuses the class, while it also draws attention to the use of the eyes. Opening her eyes, the teacher finds the boy and says, "I can see with my eyes." She then asks the class, "What can you do with your eyes?" and some will say, "I can see with my eyes." She then asks, "What can you see?" and the pupils make such sentences as "I can see you with my eyes." Some one of these sentences is written, read, copied, etc. The thoughts "hear," "smell," "eat," and "drink" are presented and named in about the same manner. Nouns naming Common Objects. We can now tell of what various objects are made. The teacher, holding up a paper, says, "What is that?" and they answer, "That is a paper." Pointing to her desk, she says, ' ' Is my desk paper ? ' ' thus bringing the material of the desk before the child. The class answers, "No," and she says, "My desk is made of wood," " The floor is made of wood," and tells of other objects made of wood. She then asks, ' ' Of what is your desk made ? " and they answer^ "My desk is made of ■ wood." The teacher then asks the class to name other things made of wood, and they look eagerly around to find something made of wood. If they cannot name the object, they point to it and say, "This is made of wood." The teacher then names the object, and the pupil makes the new sentence. Some one of these sentences is written, copied, etc. The other properties of known objects, as glass, iron, brass, etc., are shown and named in the same way. New objects, as 16 nails, marbles, and bottles, are named in using the properties iound. Nameis of Colors. The colors are named as with English-speakiug children, "but the sentence must always be used. Objects of various ■colors are before the class, and the teacher takes out several objects of the same color, as a book, a box, paper, etc., and :says, "This book is black," "This paper is black," "This box is black," etc., and then asks the child to show something black, and to tell what color it is. The class will say, "The board is black," " My shoes are black," etc. After a number of these sentences are written from memory, the teacher shows the color white, the opposite of black, in the same way. The other sim- ple colors, as red and green, blue and yellow, are shown and named. Other Vekbs. We have told what use we make of the eyes, ears, and mouth, and now we tell the use of the hands. The teacher shows her hands and says, " These are my hands. " Then she says, "I can close my hands," and closes her hands. Then she says, "I can close my eyes, " and closes her eyes ; then " I can close a window, " and closes a window. She now asks the class, "Who can close his hands ?" and they all say, "I can close my hands." Writing "ed" on the.board, she asks, "What did you do?" If no child can says, "I closed my hands, " she has a boy walk -and tell what he can do and what he did. Then returning to the closed hands again, she tries to get the answer. It may take two or three trials, but many times a large number of the pupils 17 can say, " I closed my hands. " She now asks, " Who can close something else? ' ' and the different pupils close something and tell what they did. Some of these sentences are written from memory after copying. In this same way the actions, open, fold, clap, touch, feel, and reach, are taught. Parts of Objects. We have named some objects and qualities ; we can now name parts common to all objects, as " the top of, " " the back of, "etc. The teacher names the different parts of the desk while pointing to them, and then comes back to the top and says again, "This is the top of my desk." She then shows and names the tops of other objects. She asks the class to show the tops of their desks and several will be able to say, ' ' This is the top of my desk." She then asks, " Who can show the top of the window?" etc., and the class will all be able to point to the top of the window and say, " That is the top of the window. " The top of other objects are shown and named by the class, and such sentences as "I cannot see the top of the clock, " " The top of that window is open," may be made by the pupils. In teaching the expression " the side of, " the right and left side are easily presented and named'. Past Tense of Common Ikregulae Verbs. The class can use " see " "smell," "eat," " drink," and ' 'hear, ' ' in the present tense, but not in the past tense. It is well to have them use these verbs also in the past iense. These verbs 18 are irregular, so that the name of the finished action must be given as though it were a new verb. The teacher says to the class, " Who can see my bell ?" and quickly receives the answer, " I see your bell. " She says, "Yes, I see the bell. " She then puts the bell into her desk or hides it in some way, and asks, "Who can see my bell ? " The chil- dren show that they do not see the bell, and the teacher says, "Isawthebell. " Taking o\it the hell, she says, " I see the hell,'* and putting it away again, she says, " I saw the bell. " She then asks, " Who saw the bell ? " and she receives the answer, " I saAv the bell. " The sentence is written and read. The teacher asks, " What do you see in the room ? " and the class names the various objects, always making a sentence. She now asks, "'What did you see in the street this morning? " and they name what they i-avr, as, "I saw a man, " " I saw a boy," etc. Some of these sentences, especially those containing words for which the teacher wishes to secure more repetition, should be written, copied, and reproduced. The past tense of the verbs " hear," " eat,'' and " drink " should be presented and named in the same way. " Large " and " Small. " ; . Returning to the objects whose names are familiar, we pre- sent and name the qualities "large" and " small." These qual- ities are generally learned through the sense of sight. The teacher says, while apparently measuring her desk, "Look at my desk." Then she says, " Look at your desk," showing the difference in size by her hands. Now she says, 19 " My desk is large." Showing her chair, she says, "My chair is large." Selecting a large book from among the other books, ^he says, " This book is large." She then asks the class, " What kind of chair have I?" and they will answer, "You have a large chair." She asks, "What kind of desk havel ?" "What kind of book is this?" etc. She gets the answers, "You have a large desk," " That is a large book, " etc. She asks the class to show her something else that is large, and they name the large objects in the room. Having associated the name " large" with the idea "large," the idea "small'' can be brought in by contrasting the large objects with similar small objects and naming the quality both orally and in writing. Qualities learned through Sense of Touch Named. Now some of the qualities that are observed through the sense of touch, as "rough," "smooth," "soft," "hard," "round," "flat," etc., may be named. The teacher, having two balls, one hard and the other soft, feels of both of them and says, " This ball is hard," " This ball is not hard." The balls are passed around and each child, feel- ing of the two balls, says while showing the hard ball, "This ball is hard." The teacher asks the class of feel of their desks and of their coats and to tell which is hard. She then asks them to name various hard objects and to describe them in sentences. After the quality " hard " is observed and named, the quality '■-fioft " may be presented by allowing the children to compare the soft objects with the hard objects and naming the quality as 20 ssoon as they recognize it. The pupils can then name the various l--soft objecte. Games. ,, The class has now a small vocabulary, but they talk by .direction, and so not as freely as in their mother tongue. To bring freedom, games are introduced in which they must talk. fChildren like to play, and in order to take part they must talk. , In their anxiety to make the game a -success they will, of course, talk more freely than ^¥hen talking under the teacher's direction. • Games that review quality words are, "How do you like it?'* -and " Of what am I thinking? " "Of what am I thinking?" is played in this way. The "^teacher and some bright pupil agree to think of something, as "ball.'' He then says to the first boy, "Of what am I think- ing ? ' ' That boy asks, ' ' Of what is it made ? ' ' The leader will '-.answer, "It is made of wood." Then the first questioner wilt perhaps say, "Are you thinking of a desk?" and the leader -answers, "No, I am not thinking of a desk." The second boy -asks, "Where is it?" and the leader answers, "It is on the ,-4esk.'' Then the second, boy asks, "Are you thinking of a ,.ruler?" (or something on the desk that is made of wood). , Another boy may ask, "Of what color is it?" and another, "Is it rough or smooth?" or, " What can you do with it ? " All these questions must be answered by the leader, and the -class keep on guessing until some one says, " Are you thinking of a ball?" The successful' guesser is the leader in the next "trial, and a new object is thought of. I , In " How do you like it ? " after the game is explained, a •bright boy is selected and sent into the closet, closing tb? door. 21 The teacher and' class select an object, as "ball," and some boy" writes the word on the board so that all are sure of the word selected. Then the word is erased and the boy in the closet. is sent for. The guesser says to some boy in the class, "How do yoa. like it? " That Loy may say, "I like it hard." The questioner may guess right, in which case he takes his seat and the other boy is "it" to guess the new word. It he says, "Is it a knife ? " the boy in his seat will say, " It is not a knife." The- guesser then asks another boy, " How do you like it ? " and that, boy may answer, " I like it soft." The guesser is now puzzled and tries to explain to the teacher that it cannot be hard and' Boft. The teacher says, "Oh, yes, some boys like it hard and: some like it soft." He then turns to another boy and asks, " How do you like it ? " That boy may say, " I like it smooth." The guesser then tries to think of something smooth and hard or soft. If he cannot guess, he asks another and another boy,, until some boy gives him the cue, as, "I like it round." The object of the game with the boys is to keep the leader- guessing and not get caught themselves. In the beginning these games move slowly, but by and by, as new words are added to their vocabulary, the boys catch the spirit of the game and are very much interested in it. Sometimes the boys write their answers on the board instead of speaking them. FoEMs OF Read" and "White." The words " read " and " write " have been used frequently^ by' the teacher, and are now understood by the boys and should. be used by them. 22 The teacher tells some boys to write their names on the fboard. While they are writing, she asks, " What are you doing? " If any one cannot make the sentence, she asks him to walk and then to sit, to stand, etc., telling what he is doing. She then tells him to write, and immediately asks, " What are you doing? " 'There is seldom much difficutely in getting him to say, without imitating her, "I am writing my name on the board." After "the various boys have said "I am," etc., and the class has said "He is," and "They are writing," etc., the boys take their -seats and the teacher says, "You wrote your name." This she ■says to each cf the different boys, and asks each, " What did you do ? " and the class, " What did they do ? " The word " read " is taught in about the same manner. We have taught some of the relations of objects to each other, and now through the past known relations we can teach ■others. "Behind," "Before," "Beside," "Beneath," "Above." The teacher asks some boy, to stand at his desk and at his chair. She then asks him to show her his back. She now ^aays, " Who sits at your back? " The child thinks of the rela- tion " at " and his back, and says, jwinting to a boy, " He sits at my back. The teacher then says, "He sits behind you." She then asks several others, " Who sits at your back? " " Who sits behind you? " The children answer, " He sits behind me." •She writes this sentence on the board, and the class reads it. >She now asks, "Behind what boy do you sit?" and each boy -answers, "I sit behind him." She asks boys to stand behind the door, and behind her chair, to put paper behind the picture, 23 etc., always insisting that the boy tell what he is doing and what- be did, and that the class tell what the boy is doing and did- Some sentence containing the word " behind " is written, copied,, and reproduced. Having taught "behind," the ideas "before," "beside,''" "beneath," and "above" are easily shown and named in the same way. "Long," "Short," "Tall," "High," "Low." More qualities, as "long," " short," " tall," " high," and- " low," may be shown and named. The teacher shows strings, sticks, pencils, papers of different- lengths. Holding up a long string, she asks, " What kind of a. string is this ? " The class invariable answers, " That is a large string." The teacher now shows them that the string is larger in only one way, and then tells them, " It is a long string."' The class imitates her. She shows the different strings, pencils, etc., and the class can tell when she is showing a long string, pencil, etc. A sentence containing the word " long " is Avritten, . read, copied, and reproduced. The adjectives "tall/' "High," etc., may be taught from, "long" and named. "Fast," "Slowly." Modifiers of the verbs, as "fast" and "slowly," are taught; in the same way as the adjectives. The teacher, walking slowly, asks the children what she is; doing, and they answer, " You are walking." Then she walks, very fast across the room, saying as she walks, " I am walking- fast," "I am walking, fast." She now asks, " Who can walk.- 24 fast?" There will always be several volunteers, who will say while they are walking, "I am walking fast," or " We are walking fast," and the class can tell, "They are walking fast." Other examples of "fast," as running fast and writing fast, can be made by the class. After having fixed the name "fast" to the idea, then the idea "slowly" can be presented in contrast to fast. The teacher walks fast and says, " What am I doing ?" and afterward, "What did I do?" The class answers, " You are walking fast, " and " You walked fast." She now walks very slowly, and asks, "Am I walking fast?" They answer, "You are not walking fast." She tells them, " I am walking slowly," and asks, "How am I walking?" and "How did I walk?" They answer, *' You walked slowly." The children are then asked to walk slowly and to tell what they are doing and what they did. They can give other illustrations of slowly in sentences, as, "I am folding the paper slowly." Some of these sentences are written, read, and reproduced. The Most Common Vekbs. As soon as possible we try to teach the verbs that occur in everyday speech, as " come " and "go," " take" and " bring," "hide" and "find," "give" and "lend," "buy" and "sell." Many of these verbs may be taught by games. Others can- not be taught by games, but may be used later in games. We find it better after teaching a word, as "go," to teach imme- diately its opposite, "come." The teacher calls a boy and says, pointing to the closet, " Go into the closet." The child goes and while he is going the 25 • teacher says, " He is going into the closet." She asks the class, ' Where is he going ?" and they answer, " He is going into the closet." After he has entered the closet the teacher says, "He j*ent into the closet." She now asks the boy where he went, and then the class. Now other boys are asked to go into the closet, and to other parts of the room, and to tell where they are going, and where they went. After the idea "go" is presented and named, the idea , come " is presented and named. The teacher beckons to some boy and says, ",Come to me," and while he is coming she says to the class, '' He is coming to me," and then, " He came to me." She asks the boy what he did, and he answers, "I came to you." She then asks several others to come to her, and to tell what they are doing .and what they did. The teacher then asks one boy, as Nathan, to go to Tony, and she asks Tony, "Where is Nathan going?" and Tony answers, " He is coming to me," and " He came to me." She now leads the class to say, " Nathan went to Tony," and Nathan to say, "I went to Tony." Tony asks Nathan what he did, and Nathan answers, "I came to you." This exercise must be repeated with several of the class before " come " can be used fluently. The class is then able to make such sentences as, "I went home at twelve o'clock " and " I came to school at two o'clock." Game of " Hide " and "Find." " Hide " and " find ' ' may be taught by a game. The teacher has a key or some small object in her hand- She asks some one of the class, "What have I in my hand ?" 26 ,He answers, "You have a key in your hand." She then tells him to go into the closet, and while he is in the closet she hides the key and tells the class, who are watching her, " I hid the icey, ' ' and writes the sentence on the board. She then asks the boy who has left the closet, "Where is the key?" She then 'Causes the boy to say, "I don't know," and then she says, " Go find the key." The boy looks for the key, the class saying, " He is looking for the key." If he finds the key, the teacher says, " You fOund the key," and writes the sentence. She then asks the boy where he found the key, and he will answer, ' ' I found the key on the top of the board," or wherever he has found it. The teacher asks the class where he found it. She now asks, "Who can hide the key? " and several will volunteer. Selecting one of the boys, she says, " Can you hide the key?" The boy answers, "lean hide the key." The teacher writes this sentence and the class reads it. She now asks, "Who can find the key? " and selecting one of the volun- teers, she says, " Can you find the key? " He answers, "I caii. find the key." This sentence is written and then read by the «lass. The teacher tells the boy who wishes to find the .key to go into the closet, always having him tell where he is going and where he went. , The other boy hides the key and says, "I hid the key." The sentence is written and read. Another boy is sent for the boy in the closet, and says to him, ""Come and find the key." Ht looks for it, and if he cannot find it, says, "I cannot find it." Then thie hider tells him wliere he hid it, as, "I hid it under a book," etc. The game goes on until the boys are familiar with the expressions. This game is played many times, as it reviews past words 27 ■ and allows the use of words recently learned. For example, after " near " and " far" are known, the hunter can ask, " Am* I near the key?" and one of the class replies, "You are near (or far from) the key." The hunter can ask some boy, " Am I walking toward the key? ' ' and get for an answer, ' ' You are- walking toward (or away from) the key." Later he can ask,. How high did you hide it? ' ' and get for an answer, ' ' I hid it so high," the hider showing by his hands how high he hid' it. These directions increase the pupils' interest in the gam& and in the English, and enable them to find the hidden object. Otheb Paets of Objects. Other parts of objects, as edges and corners, may be taught by letting the pupils observe the parts, name them, and then find those' parts in other objects. In naming edges, the teacher points to an edge of her desk and says, " This is an edge of ray desk." She then writes the sentence and shows another edge of her desk. She shows an edge of a box and of other objects, talking all the while. She asks, " Who can show me an edge?" Various objects will be named, and the edge indi- cated. The teacher asks how many edges this or that object has, how many upper edges, how many front edges, etc. Some one of these sentences is written, read, copied, etc. The class is now ready to talk of almost any object inde- pendently of the teacher, telling the position of the object, describing it, naming its uses, and later describing its manu- facture. Describing the objects in the room (as the clock) leads to describing a clock not in school, and then to telling whe»:e clocks come from, etc. Talking of the use of the clock ' 28 to tell time leads to the discussion of other time, as the day,, week, month, season, year, and later, the cause of these. The names of more objects and qualities are constantly- being learned as they incidentally occur in the talk. "All," "Some," Both," "Other." There are other adjectives not descriptive, as "all," "some,'' " both," " other," which must be named. When the teacher is naming some quality, "rough," shfr uses many objects in which the quality is or is not to be found, as a number of books. The class is able to say, " That book is rough," and " That book is smooth." The teacher will then ask, "Are all the books rough?" The class will answer, "All the books are not rough." The teacher writes that sen- tence, laying stress on the "all." She asks all the boys to- stand, and has the class say, "All the boys are standing." After using " all ' ' in a few more sentences, one of the sentences is- written, read, copied, etc. The teacher may ask again, " Are all the books rough ? "■ and after the class has answered, "All the books are not rough," the teacher will say, " Some books are rough and some are smooth." She then asks if all the boxes are rough, and she- will get for answer, "Some boxes are rough and some are smooth." She may ask, " Are all the leaves yellow ? '' and get for an answer, " Some leaves are green, some are red, and some are yellow." This exercise is repeated with other descriptive- words, until "some"' is used freely. Then some one of the sentences is written, read, copied, and reproduced. In teaching "both," the teacher shows both her hands, sny- 20 ing, " Here are botli my hands.'' She then asks, " Let me see 'both your hands," and says to the different boys, "I see both your hands." She tells them to put both feet under their desks, and asks where their feet are. They will say, " Both my feet are under my desk." Other sentences containing the word '" both" are made, and some sentence is written, read, copied, and reproduced. If the word "pair" has not been presented in the incidental work, this is a good place to teach it, by showing various articles that come in pairs and naming the " pair,'' and' then letting the class talk of " pair " until they can use the term freely. In teaching " other," the teacher holds one hand J)ehind her and says, holding out the other hand, "Here is one hand; where is the other?" If no one can answer, the teacher says, ''The •other hand is behind me," and then writes the sentence. Some two or three of the class will now say, " The other hand is be- hind you.'' She shows the class two or three boxes, blocks, pencils, etc., and says, " This book (etc.) is black; what is the color of the other book (etc.)?" The class will say, "The other book (etc.) is blue (etc.) ." She may say to some one or two of the class, "Your right hand is in your pocket; where is your other hand ? " and boy will answer, " My other hand is on my ;desk.'' A number of these sentences must be made before the ■class will be familiar with the expression. After "other" has been taught, the idea " another" can be «asi]y presented and named by using such sentences as, " I have a blue box, who can find me another?" "Mary has a nice pencil, who has another?" the pupil and class making the answer, "I (or he) have (has) another," or "Here is another." 30 The class should be able to make sentences, such as, " John has. a knife and I hiive another knife.'' "SCCH." " Such " is a word that might be left to be explained in the- later reading matter, but if the word should happen to be needed, it is generally taught in this way: — • The teacher tfeUs the class to look at the clock and then says, '" I have a clock in my house. Who ha? a clock in his house ? " They will all answer, "I have a clock in my house." The teacher then asks, " Is your clock a large clock like this, with glass doors, etc. ? " Some may say, " Yes." The teacher then says, questioningly, "You have such a clock in your house ? " indicating by her hands the extra size or other peculiarities of the clock. If the child assents, then let him say, " I have such a clock in my house." The others will say, " I have not such a. clock in my house." The teacher will then show a table, and ask, " Who has such a table in his house ? " Some pupils may have such a table. The teacher then asks, " What have you in your house such as we have in school ? " There will always be some who have chairs, desks, or rulers, or something such as. they have or the teacher has in school. A sentence with the^ word " such " is written, read, and reproduced. COMPAEISON OF ADJECTIVES. We have named a great many objects and compared them to learn their qualities. Now, knowing the qualities, we can compare them, and thus be able to talk of objects having the^ same quality in different degrees. 31 The teacher asks some tall boy to stand, and asks the •class, " What kind of boy is he ? " The cla^s answers, " He is -a tall boy." The adjective "tall" has been previously taught. She calls another boy to stand beside the tall boy. Slie has the class note the difference between the two boy.^ ami then says, "John is a tall boy, but Tom is taller than John." She asks the class to name some boy who is taller than Tom. She iiovr asks, "Which is taller. Max or Tom? " and the class or some members, will answer, "Max is taller than Tom." Prompted ■by her questioning they will also say, "Tom is taller than John," and Tom will say, " I am taller than John, and Max is taller than I." Max and John may also be led to tell which of the two boys is the taller. Other boys are named ancj their height compared, similar sentences being given by the class. Then short boys may be compared. The teacher shows that one boy is shorter than the other, and asks the class, "Which is the shorter boy? " The class will answer, "John is the shorter boy." In response to her questions John will say, "I am shorter than Mix," and Max will say, " John is shorter than I," and the class will answer, ^' John is shorter than Max." The exercise must be repeated a number of times and by ■different boys before the expression can be used freely. The teacher has the class use all the adjectives previously taught in the comparative degree. When shb shows two pencils of different lengths, the class will tell her that the blue pencil ia longer than the red pencil, or that the red pencil is longer than the blue. Comparing the surface of their coats Tnth that, of the floor, 32 -the class can say the floor is rougher than the coat. They -can tell that iron is harder than wood, and ice is colder than water, etc. Two boys may run as fast as they can, and one boy will run faster than the other boy. The class and each of the runners can tell which boy ran the faster. Two boys may jump and kick as high as possible, and all the children can tell which boy kicked or jumped the higher. The same comparison may be made between the writing and reading of two boys. After the class can use the comparative freely, the superlative may be taught. The teacher calls two boys and asks the class, " Which is the taller boy ? ' ' She then calls another boy who is still taller. To her questions the class will reply that the third boy is taller -than the second, and that the second boy is taller than the first. The teacher now says, ' ' This is a tall boy, and this is a taller boy, and this is the tallest of the three boys." While the boys are standing, the class will tell which is the tallest of the three boys. The tallest boy will say, " I am the tallest boy," and the second boy will say, "I am the taller boy.'' This exercise is done a few times with different boys, and then the class can tell who is the tallest boy in the room. The class can tell who is the shortest boy, and who is the oldest boy, and who is the youngest boy in the room. Some one of these sentences is written, copied, and reproduced. After the pupils are able to form the comparatives and -superlatives in the regular way, the teacher should illustrate -and name the comparative and superlative of "good," The