APPROVED SCHOOL BOOKS BY DR. CORNWELL, F.R.G.S. "We are qualified by ample trial of the books in our own classes to speak to their great efficiency and value. interest evinced or so much progress made as since we have employed these as our school books."—Educational Times. A SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY. 88th Edition, 3s. 6d. ; or with 30 Maps, 5s. 6d. "Very superior to the common run of such books. It contains a good deal of useful matter of a more practical kind than usual, which the exercises are likely to impress on the mind more deeply than by the parrot system."-Athenaeum. À SCHOOL ATLAS. Consisting of 30 Small Maps. A com- Edition, 2s. red leather, or 1s. 9d. cloth. 65th "The excellence of the Grammar published by the late Dr. Allen and Dr. Cornwell makes us almost despair of witnessing any decided improvement in this department."-Athenæum. GRAMMAR FOR BEGINNERS: an Introduction to Allen and Cornwell's "School Grammar." 88th Edition, 1s. cloth, 9d. sewed. "This simple Introduction is as good a book as can be used."-Spectator. The book is enlarged by a Section on Word-building, with Exercises for Young Children. We have never known so much THE YOUNG COMPOSER: Progressive Exercises in English London: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO., LIMITED. THE DATCHELOR TRAINING COLLEGE, CAMBERWELL GROVE, S.E. In connexion with the Datchelor Collegiate School for Girls. Governing Body-The Worshipful Company of Clothworkers of the City of London. Principal-Miss RIGG. Mistress of Method and Lecturer-Miss CARPENTER; Assisted by other Teachers and Lecturers. This College provides a full Course of Professional Training for Women Teachers, together with abundant opportunity for regular class teaching in a School of over 400 pupils. Special provision is made for instruction in Physiology and Hygiene, Elocution, Drawing, and Ling's Swedish Drill. Students are prepared for the Examination of the Cambridge Teachers' Training Syndicate. A comfortable Hall of Residence is provided for Students in the Training College. Terms moderate. A Free Studentship will be awarded in September to a University TUTORIAL CORRESPONDENCE CLASSES Principal J. CARDEW BEDWELL, B.Sc. Lond. CAMBRIDGE HIGHER LOCAL. Pass (per Group), from £1 17s. 6d. Distinction (per Group), from £2 15s. Arithmetic (Pass), from £1 1s. Scheme of Work, Notes, and Tests provided. Ordinary Course consists of 20 to 21 Lessons. Fees payable by instalments. Also L.L.A. and S.K. Examinations. Prospectus, &c., post free from St. Andrews House, Colchester. SOUTHPORT PHYSICAL TRAINING COLLEGE. Lecturers: FRANCIS NEWSHAM, F.R.C.S., Rev. W. A. BULpit, M.A., CENTRAL REGISTRY FOR TEACHERS. 25, CRAVEN Street, CHARING CROSS, W.C. (Telegraphic Address-"DIDASKALOS, LONDON.") Conducted by Miss LOUISA BROUGH, late Registrar of the Teachers' Guild, formerly Secretary of the Women's Education Union, Teachers' Training and Registration Society, &c. Miss BROUGH Supplies University Graduates, Trained and Certificated Teachers for Public High Schools and Private Schools, Visiting Teachers of Special Subjects, Kindergarten Mistresses, &c., as well as English and Foreign Governesses for Private Families. No charge is made to employers until an engagement is effected. For other Tutorial Advertisements see page iv. Edinburgh: OLIVER & BOYD. THE ASSOCIATED BOARD OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC PRESIDENT:-H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES. LOCAL CENTRE EXAMINATIONS, 1901. Entries will be received by the Honorary Local Representatives, or by the SCHOOL EXAMINATIONS, 1901. Copies of Syllabus A and B will be sent Post Free on application to the Theory Papers set in 1896, 1897, 1898, and 1899 can be obtained on application, price 3d. per set, per year, post free. JAMES MUIR, Secretary, 32, Maddox Street, London, W. Telegraphic Address :-"Associa, London." JOINT AGENCY FOR WOMEN TEACHERS. Address-74, GOWER STREET, LONDON, W.C. Registrar-Miss AGNES G. 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THE ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN TEACHERS Supplies highly qualified and experienced Teachers, with University distinctions in Classics, Mathematics, English Language and Literature, History, Economics, French, German, Italian and Science to PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS, as: (1) ASSISTANT mistressES. (2) RESIDENT AND VISITING TEACHERS. (3) LECTURERS for short courses, with Lantern views. Apply-SECRETARY, 48, Mall Chambers, Kensington, W. THE School World A Monthly Magazine of Educational Work and Progress. COMMON EXAMINATION ERRORS. IV: French. By CLOUDESLEY BRERETON, M.A. A MODERN LANGUAGE-MASTER'S LIBRAry of french and germAN. By OTTO SIEPMANN ... MODERN LANGUAGES: WHY, WHEN, AND HOW? By Prof. WALTER RIPPMANN, M.A. current geOGRAPHICAL TOPICS. (Illustrated.) By Dr. A. J. HERBERTSON, F.R.G.S.... The Aim of Technical and Commercial Education items of inTEREST. General; Welsh; Scottish; Irish; Current History ENGLISH PREPARATORY SCHOOLS ... : PRELIMINARY OXFORD LOCAL EXAMINATION, July, 1901. Revision Tests, No. 1 The Heuristic Method of Teaching Science. By Dr. BEVAN LEAN Mercator's Projection and the Central Cylindrical Projection. By Dr. A. J. HERBERTSON, F.R.G.S. : London MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY PAGE 81 1 THE ROYAL SCHOOL SERIES. PERIODS OF A ** Period III. exactly covers the require- PERIOD 1.-Mediæval England. From MEDIEVAL ENGLAND. Part II. PERIOD II.-The Reformation and RECENT FRENCH AND GERMAN. THE NEW METHOD. Elementary French and German Object Lesson Wall Sheets. A Series of Eleven Phonetic Drill Sheets. For Use with Cran's Elementary Object Lessons in French. A Series of Object Lessons in French. Book II. By ALEC CRAN, M.A. Post 8vo, cloth. With many French and German Object Lesson Wall Sheets. A Series of Eleven Sheets, 21 inches Object Lessons in German. By J. J. TROTTER, M.A., German Master Royal High School, ADDITIONS TO THE ROYAL SCHOOL SERIES. Greek and Roman Heroes. Selections from Plutarch's Lives adapted for Class Reading by H. SPENSER, LL.D., Classical Master in the Edinburgh Academy. With Illustrations. Cloth boards, price 2s. A Short History of Ancient Greece. For the Young. With numerous Illustrations. Cloth boards, price is. 6d. By HENRY JOHNSTONE, of the Edinburgh Academy. 173 pages. Trésor des Fèves et Fleur des Pois. (Conte des Fées.) Par CHARLES Nodier. Edited, with Notes and Vocabulary, by EMILE B. LE FRANÇOIS, French Master to the Bristol School Board; Editor of "Achille et Patrocle," &c. Cloth, price is. Complete Catalogue of the Royal School Series post free on application. THOMAS NELSON & SONS, 35 & 36, Paternoster Row, London, E.C.; Parkside, Edinburgh; and New York. The School World A Monthly Magazine of Educational Work and Progress. I By CLOUDESLEY BRERETON, M. A. Cantab., T is rather difficult at the present time to write an article on common mistakes in French examinations. When the French Ministry last July took the bull by the horns and issued their statesmanlike Edict of Tolerance for the numerous peccadilloes and petty offences in orthography and syntax that the grammatical casuists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries had managed to introduce into the code which governs the correct writing and spelling of French, the reform was greeted with enthusiam by the primary teachers of the country, and their joy found an echo in every land where French is taught. But the Ministry seem to have reckoned without those literary Pharisees, so numerous in France, to whom every jot and tittle, be it but a hyphen or an apostrophe, is as precious as the language itself. The Academy has intervened, and the Decree has been withdrawn. In no country was the decree welcomed with greater delight than in England. For years the papers set in our public examinations, with certain exceptions, have been crowded with many of these Chinese puzzles, so dear to the old-fashioned type of examiners who, knowing neither the real difficulties of candidates, whether "small or great,' nor what was veritably essential to a working knowledge of French, were fond of setting these hair-splitting problems, which would test the knowledge of an average bachelier. To English teachers the ministerial decree reads like a general proscription of the unhappy entanglements that it was once lawful, and indeed usual, to set for the luckless candidates in modern languages whom the old-fashioned examiner looked on as so many fera natura that it was his bounden duty to entrap and ensnare. But the present suspension, for practically it is a suspension, of these numerous rules lands us in a worse plight than when they were in full vigour and rigour. What are teachers to teach and examiners to set? Probably the best thing for the latter would be to look on all these grammatical No. 27, VOL. 3.] SIXPENCE. broussailles et épines as a sort of "chasse défendue" and eschew setting any question that bears on them. Unfortunately, however, there are certain points affected by the decree which will be always turning up in practice, as, for instance, the agreement of the past participles. In the present article it certainly seems best to leave all these thorny points in abeyance, especially as many of them are such as should only be set for the most advanced students. Besides, there are many amongst us who believe there are other and better methods of learning a language than by commencing to master the exceptions, which the older type of examiner seemed to presume to be the correct way. We are in favour of setting typical rather than catch questions, unless the latter are of every-day occurrence in the language. Anyone who has had a spell of teaching is well aware that the pupil of fourteen knows so little, and one would rather try to find out what he does know than what he doesn't know. The latter at best is but a negative test; and then again, one is certain, a priori, that his ignorance far surpasses his knowledge, and that examinations, in so far as they tend to the learning of mere tips, of things useful in examination, but not in real life, are not to be encouraged. Perhaps, however, the most difficult point connected with the discussion of common mistakes in examinations, and an attempt to give hints about them, is that it is impossible in the nature of things that a really satisfactory examination paper can be framed to suit more than one form of teaching; whereas at the present time there are at least two distinct methods of teaching in the field, not to mention the numerous sub-varieties. Considering that the great majority of teaching is still on the orthodox semi-classical lines, it is clear that the papers set must be principally framed to fit in with that form of instruction. But the fact remains that many of the mistakes that a pupil brought up on the direct method would make are not those which one under classical training would be likely to commit, and vice versa. Take, for instance, the common confusion made by French people and phonetically-taught children between quand and quant. The Latin taught pupil having always quantum and quando before his eyes will, even in a piece of dictation, H |