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Remarks.

"Exactness in articulation cannot exist without close discrimination and careful analysis." The preceding exercises on the correct pronunciation of words should receive attention. It would be well for the teacher to write on the board a list of words pronounced incorrectly by the pupils, and require the pupils to correct them.

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The author's "Pocket Pronunciation Book " (price 15 cts.), gives 3,000 of the words oftenest mispronounced. Hall's Orthography Made Easy" (price 75 cts.) gives 38 selections of the words oftenest mispronounced, with a key at the end of each giving all the words with diacritical marks. Hoose's " Studies in Articulation" (price 50 cts.) gives a careful study of sounds, with abundant exercises in pronunciation.

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Sanford's 'Limited Speller" (price 35 cts.) gives the 5,000 words most commonly mispelled, arranging them alphabetically, and giving the diacritical marks, so that no mistake can be made in pronunciation. It is perhaps the best adapted to secure results of all the manuals published.

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Instruction in penmanship may be broadly classed under two heads; one which aims to teach scholars to draw, and the other which seeks to develop the forms of letters through the medium of natural movements.

The first makes use mainly of the movements which may be produced by the fingers, thumb and wrists, while the second recognizes a medium of execution which brings into play the entire arm and shoulder muscles.

These two processes are based upon principles so radically different, that a clear understanding of the nature and tendency of each is quite essential to any intelligent plan of teaching.

It would be comparatively easy to suggest theoretically. a method for instructing classes in our public schools which if carried out according to programme would insure excellent results, but in practice we might find it an entirely different thing; the conditions are usually so restrictive, and the requirements regarding other branches to be taught so numerous, that the question really becomes, not so much what ought a teacher to do, as what can he do, under the circumstances? PENMANSHIP NOT ACQUIRED BY IMITATION OF FORMS One of the first requirements, especially in our graded schools, is that a child from the moment he enters shall begin to learn to make the script letters, and to form them into words and sentences, as

A fundamental error.

an essential medium for developing the faculty of language. In doing this if he is able to draw out the forms legibly upon the slate or tablet, the important question of how it is done is rarely considered, and even the more important question as to what future use the child may make of this writing, receives but little attention.

Early forma

habits.

It is a fact well known to teachers that in learning to form the letter, young children almost invariably acquire a habit of grasping the pencil tion of bad in a manner which cramps the fingers, forces the hand over to the right, bends the wrist in toward the body, and places the pen in a position which is so awkward and unnatural as to prevent absolutely anything like freedom in execution; but it is forgotten that this habit of twisting and distorting the position. of the hand must in time become as much a part of the act of writing as the form of the letter itself.

The force of habit will be certain to assert its power, and this strained unnatural position must eventually identify itself with the forming process in every letterthe act of writing becomes a torture instead of a pleasure, and a struggle ensues between teacher and pupil, when the slate is exchanged for the copy book, and the attempt is made to correct the habit.

Nor does the difficulty end when by careful teaching and patient effort the scholar has obtained some control of the pen, and is able to imitate the forms of letters. The carefully drawn page in the copy book will often excite admiration, while the composition or other written exercise presents a style of penmanship which fails to suggest any connection between them, the character of

the handwriting in the two instances being as totally unlike as if written by different persons.

This tendency to write two entirely different hands is not at all uncommon among school children, and demonstrates quite clearly that penmanship acquired by imitation, and with the hand and pen in a false position, lacks the essential quality of practical application.

Under these conditions the teacher is quite apt to become discouraged, and may conclude that such results are inevitable; but when properly understood, the real cause of failure may be traced to the natural difference which exists between drawing two words per minute in the writing lesson, and the attempts to draw fifteen or twenty in the same time in the composition, where it becomes evident that the process of correct drawing must be restricted as to speed.

It is perhaps practically impossible to do away with slate-work in teaching writing to primary

Disadvan

tages of slate work.

scholars, notwithstanding its liability to promote bad habits in pen-holding, its certain tendency to make a scholar careless in all his work; but it is evident that the transition from the unyielding slate surface and the short pencil where main strength often becomes an active element, to the sharp, pliant pen and soft texture of the paper, is altogether too abrupt. Some kind of preparation is needful, and if an intermediate drill in which long lead pencils might be used on calendar manilla paper, was introduced, it would render the change more gradual and be productive of better results.

So long as instruction in penmanship consists of teaching by imitation the forms of letters, with such

occasional directions for position and pen-holding as a teacher who cannot himself hold a pen correctly may venture to give, the theory of an intimate relation between writing and drawing will be accepted; the faculty of drawing will possibly be somewhat developed, but as regards any practical application commercially or otherwise, the process results in failure, the scholar continues to draw term after term, but unfortunately never learns to write.

This may partly explain why the slate work of the primary grades in many of our schools is so much better than the pen work of scholars in the higher classes; the formation in writing is so simple that the elements are rapidly acquired, but in the attempt to use pen and ink, without having been thoroughly drilled in movement, the correct form quickly disappears.

THE SECRET OF SUCCESS LIES IN THE ARM MOVEMENT.

Want of confidence, generally arising from a belief that one must needs be a fine penman to teach this branch successfully, prevents many able teachers from attempting anything out of ordinary routine.

penmanship

A knowledge of the nature and value of movement, the ability to make upon the blackboard a Every teacher few simple elements of form, a little faith may teach gained from personal experience, and a dis- well. position to work, will enable any teacher to obtain as good results in this as in any other branch, and quite frequently much better.

If penmanship as now taught in our public schools is a comparative failure, the fault is largely with the teacher; he does not need to be an expert penman to

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