other good story, and let your style be worthy of imitation. Reading Let the standard of good reading be its resemblance to good conversation. The pupils may be sentences. led to attend to the thoughts expressed, by requiring them to find out what the sentences tell without reading them aloud. The teacher may aid them by proceeding in a manner similar to the following: Request the class to study the first sentence, and each member to raise a hand when able to tell what the sentence is about. Call upon different pupils to state, in their own language, what the sentence tells; in this way they will readily learn to read with easy conversational tones. Distinct Special care should be taken in this step to train pupils in habits of clearness and distinctness enunciation. of enunciation; also to read in an easy, speaking voice. Overcome the faults in reading by taking up one kind at a time, and continue the practice until the pupils clearly perceive the fault and take proper means to correct it. As a requisite essential to success, the teacher of reading should be a good reader. With proper The teacher should be a good reader. management it is a very easy matter to make children read well, and even the teacher who is a tolerable reader may teach pupils to read. That children have learned to read under such teachers I am willing to admit, because the fact is evident; but that they have been taught by their masters I do not admit, for it is impossible for any person to teach well what he does not understand. If a child has sometimes learned to read under an incompetent instructor, it has been, not because of the teacher, but in spite of him; and the question is, not how much he has learned, but how much would he have learned had the teacher been qualified to teach him. The young pupil's knowledge of the meaning of words is limited. One object of reading is to in- Difficult crease the knowledge of words. No definition should be given of those words whose meaning can be inferred from the context, (see page 23). Recourse should be had to a dictionary only when the pupil cannot think out the meaning for himself. words. The child learns the meaning of words by hearing them used-seldom by formal definition. The teacher may impress the idea by resorting to objects, this is the natural way. Sometimes pictures may be at hand to throw light upon the word; again, a drawing may be given at the board to illustrate the meaning of the word. In no case should a definition be committed to mem ory and mechanically recited. The meaning should be inferred from the context, and the Defining words. pupil requested to use the word correctly in a short sentence. Let the pupil tell what the word means in his own language. A definition is a general truth, a deduction; children should be taught primary truths, and, as their reason develops, deduce the definitions, rules and principles. Develop correct ideas, then give definitions. We must not encourage teachers to require pupils to commit the definitions to memory in the primary reading books. But we should insist that the pupils understand the meaning of the words used. "Mind the Teachers somtimes instruct pupils to stop and count "one" at a comma, 66 one, two", at a semipauses." colon, etc. This leads to a mechanical, unnatural style of reading. First attend to the reading of sentences, and lead the pupils to see how the pauses aid in understanding the meaning. Do not teach reading as if attention to "pauses" were the chief object to be attained. Reciting definitions of pauses is useless and leads to waste of time. Teach the use of the pauses, instead of the definition of them. A few teachers pay no attention to the explanation of the words, but turn their attention almost entirely to the names and the pronunciation; important points, to be sure, but by no means the lifegiving elements of good reading. Pure. This is a clear, full and cheerful tone. It is Tone qualities. the language of common conversation. Rotund. This is the pure tone, rounded, deepened and intensified. It is the language of sublimity, grandeur, awe, reverance. Aspirate. This is whispered utterance. It is the language of hate, fear, secresy. Gutteral. This is the sepulchral tone and has its resonance in the throat. It is the language of hate, rage, contempt. Pectoral. This is low, pure tone. It is the language of deep feeling, sorrow. Falsetto. This is a very high tone. It is the language of irritability, etc. A particular stress of voice given to certain words, or parts of a discourse, or a distinctive utter- Emphasis. ance of words specially significant, is called emphasis. A new idea or fact, one now presented for the first time, constitutes the emphatic word or words. That which presents no new or dominant fact or thought is unemphatic, as clauses of repetition, anticipation, sequence, subordination, knowledge beforehand. Do not require children to commit the rules to memory in reading. They are hindrances instead of helps. If the teachers know how to read, those aids in which many school-books abound are worse than useless, because positively injurious. Rules in reading. The competent teacher needs but two rules by which to be guided in teaching the pupils to read : First.-Make the pupils understand what is to be read. Second. Require them to read naturally. It To expect a child to read what it does not understand is unreasonable, and yet nothing is more common. is idle to put marks, rules and directions, whether by words or characters, into books intended to be read by children, for the reason that they are seldom or never used. The teacher's preparation. The teacher should carefully study the reading lesson; should be familiar with the pronunciation of every word, including its literal and its received meaning. He should give the pupils the history of the author and some of his prominent characteristics, this will add to the interest. He should awaken thought in the minds of the pupils,— this will secure interest. It matters not how simple the lesson may be, previous preparation is indispensable. Previous study will add new power and generate better methods, by means of which success will be insured. The teacher will become independent, self-reliant, and a "law unto himself ". III. INTERMEDIATE READING Directions 1. Teach and train the pupils to understand: (a) The prominent objects mentioned; (b) The prominent facts mentioned concerning (c) What they read, so as to be able to tell the Caution 1. Attend to one subject of criticism at a time, and require pupils to correct errors. 2. Practice on one sentence at a time. 3. See that all the pupils understand the thought, and are able to express it. 4. Examine the subject carefully before reading. Results The pupils in the Intermediate Classes in Reading should be able : 1. To pronounce the words accurately. 2. To define the words. 3. To understand the subject-matter. |