fifass L-lJ Id 7 L Book 'JxS. COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT -r 'i THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH TEACHING THE ART AND THE SCIENCE OF LANGUAGE BY PAUL KLAPPER, Ph.D. ASSISTANT PEOFESSOR OF EDUCATION, COLLEGE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK; AUTHOR OF '^PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE," "teaching CHILDREN TO READ" NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1915 f Copyright, 1915, by D. APPLETON AND COMPANY APR 14 1915 ©Cf.Ay|)75U0 7'h) ., I- 5r ACKNOWLEDGMENT The author acknowledges his indebtedness to the many principals and grade teachers who furnished him with copies of compositions written by children under their charge. The writer is especially grateful to Mr. William E. Grady, Principal of Public School 64, New York City, from whose collection of children's compo- sitions and models he took, among others, the letter by Richard Mansfield to his son, "The Autobiography of ft Brutus' Sword," and "The Autobiography of a Base- ball." pi CONTENTS PART I THE EXPRESSIONAL ASPECT OF COMPOSI- TION CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATION . . i Composition a Natural Exercise, i ; The Art of Composition Is the Art of Thinking, 3; The Spirit in Composition Teaching, 4; The Teaching Problems in Composition, 6. II. INFORMAL COMPOSITION IN THE FIRST FOUR- YEARS 10 Oral Conversation and Reproduction Les- sons 10 The Method Governed by the Basic Difficul- ties, 10. Oral Work in the Primary Grades . . 12 A. Conversation and Reproduction Lessons, 12; Opportunities for Oral Language Les- son, 20. III. FORMAL COMPOSITION IN THE FIRST FOUR YEARS 22 The Need of Formal Language Drills, 22; Memorization and Recitation, 23; Learning the Necessary Language Facts, 24; The Sys- tematic Correction of Common Errors of vii viii CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE Speech, 31; Development of Efficiency in Early Language Work Is Slow and Diffi- cult, 35. Written Work in the Primary Grades . . 38 Its Minor Position, 38; The Transition from Oral to Written Composition, 39. IV. COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES . 42 The Selection of a Proper Subject . . 42 The Method-whole in Composition, 42; The Preparatory Period, 43. The Selection of the Subject .... 44 The Sources of Subject-matter, 44. V. COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES (Continued) .... 63 How Secure Organization and Sequence: The Outline 6^ The Tendency to Ramble, 6^; The Principle of Organization Taught by the Outline, 64; Values of the Outline, 66; The Drill to Insure Mastery of the Outline, 6y; Cautions in De- veloping Outlines, 70; How to Secure Va- riety in the Outlines, 71 ; How Closely Shall the Outline Be Followed? 74; Supplementary Means of Developing Power of Organiza- tion, 76. VI. COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES (Continued) .... 78 EXPRESSIONAL LIMITATIONS : ThE MoDEL . . 78 Group Teaching, 79 ; The Outline, 80 ; The In- timacy of Grammar and Composition, 80. The Model 82 Basic Principle of Teaching Language Through a Model, 82; The Selection of the CONTENTS • ix CHAPTER PAGE Model, 83; General Treatment of the Model, 91; How Closely Shall the Model Be Fol- lowed? 103; Should the Model Precede or Follow the Composition? 104; How to Pre- vent Slavish Imitation of the Model, 106. Vn. THE CORRECTION OF WRITTEN COM- POSITIONS . . . . . .115 The Period of Written Composition, 115. The Period of Correction 119 Objects of Correction, 119; The Time for Correction, 120; Incorrect Method, 120; The Method of Correcting Written Work, 122; Seeming Limitations of the Method, 124; Eliminating Individual Errors, 124; How Shall the Class Work Be Kept? 128; The Re- writing of Corrected .Compositions, 128. VIII. HOW TO VITALIZE COMPOSITION EX- ERCISES 130 Introduction, 130; Greater Emphasis on Let- ters, 130; The Correspondence Should Treat of Actual Affairs of Real Life, 131 ; The Cor- respondence Itself Should Be Real, 132; The Class Journal with Its Board of Editors Elected or Selected, 133 ; Use Debatable Top- ics, 134; Aim at Variety of Form and Con- tent, 135; The Teacher, 157. PART II THE FORMAL ASPECT OF COMPOSITION IX. THE TEACHING OF SPELLING . • . .160 Expressional vs. Formal Aspect of Composi- tion, 160; Spelling Usually Tested, Not X • CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE Taught, i6o; Objects of the Teaching of Spelling, i6i ; Principles Guiding the Selec- tion of Spelling Words, 162; Source of Spell- ing Words, 165 ; Media of Presenting Spelling Words, 166; Method of Teaching Spelling, 172; Procedure in Teaching Words, 172; Gen- eral Considerations Governing Drills in Spell- ing, 176; Independent Study of Spelling, 178; The Test in Spelling, 179; Record of Mis- spelled Words, 181 ; Enriching the Spelling List, 183. X. THE MEANING AND USE OF NEW WORDS 185 The Enrichment of Vocabulary . . . 185 Shall There Be Formal Instruction in the Meaning and Use of New Words? 185; Se- lection of the "Meaning and Use" List, 186; Methods of Teaching Meaning of New Words, 187; How Make the Use of New Words Habitual, 190; Definitions, 192; The Supplementary Means of Increasing Vocabu- lary, 194. XI. DICTATION: TEACHING THE FORMAL ASPECT OF COMPOSITION . . .198 Objects of Dictation Lessons, 197; The Choice of the Selection to Be Dictated, 198; Procedure in the Dictation Lesson, 200. XIL MEMORY GEMS: MEMORIZATION AND ^ RECITATION 206 Value of Memory Gems, 206; The Selection of the Memory Gem, 207; Motivating the Memory Gems, 208; Procedure in Memoriz- ing Literary Gems, 209; Retention Through CONTENTS xi CHAPTES PAGE Thought Rather than Through Memory Ap- peal, 213; Aids to Memorization, 214; The Recitation, 214. XIII. THE VALUES OF FORMAL GRAMMAR . 217 The Disputed Place of Grammar in the Mod- ern Curriculum, 217; Grammar a Discredited Subject, 218; Values of Grammar, 223. XIV. PRINCIPLES GOVERNING THE TEACH- ING OF GRAMMAR 229 Begin with the Sentence, 229; Make the Work as Concrete and Practical as Possible, 230; Shall the Method in Grammar Be In- ductive or Deductive? 232; The Use of the Type Form Must Not Be Overem.phasized, 239; By Avoiding Stereotyped Definitions and Set Formulae We Are Saved from An- other Erroneous Form of Teaching Grammar, 240; The Application Step Is the Final Jus- tification of Grammar and Must Be Accord- ed the Most Important Place in the Les- son, 242; Function Should Be Made Focal in All Grammatical Analysis, 244; Analysis Is Important but We Must Not Analyze for the Sake of Analysis, 245; "Parsing Is Es- sential if Used Within Bounds," 246; "False Syntax" Must Be Emphasized, for It Is an Effective Means of Applying the Facts of Grammar, 248; Great Care Must Be Ex- ercised in the Organization of Tests, 249; Proper Reviews Are Essential for Success- ful Work in Grammar, 255; The Textbook Must Be Used Frequently in the Teaching of Grammar, 256; Careful Gradation is a Potent Factor in Removing Difficulties of i Comprehension in Grammar, 257; All Gram- xii CONTENTS matical Forms and Functions Must Be Taught in the Same Association in Which They Will Be Used in Natural Speech, 259; Summary: Place of Grammar in the Elementary Cur- riculum, 262. THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH PART I THE EXPRESSIONAL ASPECT OF COMPOSITION CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATION Composition a Natural Exercise. — Composition is that exercise in which ideas are ordered in a rational sequence and then expressed in accordance with recognized standards of form. This broad concep- tion of the term composition shows at once how varied the art of composing may be, for there are as many kinds of composition as there are forms of expression. He who is dramatizing an action that grips him, making a pictorial representation of a scene that thrills him, or translating in symbols of musical notation a melody or sentiment that charms him, is engaged in the art of composition as truly as if he were employing language, written or oral, to express this action or scene or sentiment. In all these kinds of art an individual must group his ideas in I THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH rational sequence and give expression to theni in strict accord with st^dard forms. This study con- cerns itself with one phase only of the general art of composition, for it confines itself to verbal composi- tion. This theoretical definition has a very practical bear- ing on the work of the elementary school-teacher be- cause it shows clearly how simple and natural an art composition is. It strips composition of the mystery and of the stiff and forbidding formalism which usually accompany it. Children must be shown that they are constantly composing, that they have been constantly composing and that they will continue to compose as long as they participate in rational communication. Composition must be shown to them to be as necessary an activity as talk- ing or walking. The child must be led to recognize that he has 'Composition ability" of no mean degree. Teachers, too, must realize that most children are not deficient in the art of composition. As we listen to a narrative of a ten-year-old lad who is giving his friend a verbal picture of the athletic game he saw, or to a description by his little sister, half his age, of the particular doll that has caught her fancy, we be- come convinced that the art of composition is not foreign to the child. In the formal classroom lesson the life of the informal narrative and the charm of the child's description are ruthlessly crushed by the formidable technical laws of grammar and rhetopc which are imposed upon children. How to transfer this native ability to compose, so manifest in informal 2 INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATION intercourse, to the formal language lessons, is the problem, the solution of which shall occupy the suc- ceeding chapters. Tlie Art of Composition Is the Art of Thinking. — Com- position properly taught has far-reaching educational influences. The very definition and illustrations of the art of composition show that it gives the child a training in thinking through a process of self-expres- sion. A well-graded systematic course in composition is a means of developing clear and sequential thought. But the thought activities of the child are developed in composition only as the pupil consistently and per- sistently expresses himself. This form of mental de- velopment through self-expression is the ideal in the educative process. This estimate of the educational worth of composition is not extravagant when com- pared to the conceptions of its educative worth as formulated by specialists in the teaching of English. Sykes tells us that in composition, *'The pupil's mind and life must be brought into close relationship with his efforts at self-expression." If we recall the defi- nition of composition, this statement follows as a natural corollary. Carpenter, Baker, and Scott see in composition an exercise which is "a process of growth of the child's own capabilities, by careful ob- servation, correct inference and adequate expression." The teaching of composition involves more than merely teaching the child to express himself ; it means teaching him to see and to think and to formulate correctly and systematically the inferences from life's experiences. 3 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH The Spirit in Composition Teaching. — The failure or the success of a composition lesson is determined to a greater extent than in almost any other school sub- ject, by the spirit in which the recitation is conceived and carried out. In order to insure the proper at- mosphere and spirit rapport between pupils and teacher two general cautions must constantly be kept in mind. 1. The Play Spirit Must Pervade the Composition Period. — Composition is too often an unwelcome period to the child. It completely overwhelms him with technicalities and empty formalism. He is asked to write on topics that are far indeed from his sphere of life; there is little that he cares to say about them. If by chance the topic is one concerning which he feels an urgency to express himself, he finds that all pleasure of self-expression is lost, for he must be careful of his penmanship; he must spell words in accordance with a tradition that seems to obey no phonetic law; his verbs must show agreement with subjects; he must bear in mind punctuation, capital- ization, the thousand annoying concerns and cares that make composition a burden in his school life. Composition is an art and, like all art, is conceived in the spirit of play and is designed to give intense pleasure. The composition of the classroom must be as attractive as any other art and as natural as play.^ 2. Technique Must Be Subordinated to Expres- ion. — The second word of caution reminds the teacher that in a composition exercise, form must be subordinated to content. In the formal lesson the child 4 INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATION must be no more conscious of the laws of paragraph- ing, of sentence structure or of punctuation than he is conscious of these in the informal speech of his daily life. The child should learn the laws of sequence, coherence, narration and description as he learns the laws of an athletic game. In baseball, the child gives all attention to the playing, not to the science of the game; in the actual progress of the game the rules are mere incidentals. No boy has ever deliberately memorized the regulations governing various athletic activities; yet what a mastery of them he has devel- oped! The science of the game and the niceties of form which the child acquires are unconscious results of constant playing for the sake of the game itself rather than for its technique. So, too, the laws of unity, development, suspension, ease, force — the whole series of rhetorical laws which constitute the literary technique so pretentiously imposed upon the child — should be learned through actual expression rather than through formal teaching. A composition lesson, conceived in any but this informal spirit, and conducted with a rigor and a formalism altogether too frequent in class instruction, must inevitably produce the stilted and lifeless effects which the average school child turns out. In the light of these two cautions which are sounded in the initial step in the study of methods of teaching composition, we cannot be too severe in our condemnation of the pedagogy which the educational system of one of our leading cities offered to its teachers in its manual. Although it is not part of the current manual of that city, its s^jirit 5 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH still animates much of the work in elementary com- position. When any topic such as sugar, nickel, circulation of the blood or the indestructibility of matter has been as fully treated in a conversational lesson and review as may be thought expedient, the exercise in composition should imme- diately follov^. This should be a class exercise. Care should be taken that the pupils do not make them so long as to pre- vent proper correction. To insure a proper variety of thought and expression it is necessary that the oral lesson which formed the basis of the composition should be so selected as to give a considerable number of interesting points or items. If injuriously frequent repetition and re- view are avoided the several pupils will recall different groups of items and all undue sameness will be prevented. When identical phrases or sentences are frequently found in the exercises they are unquestionable evidence of bad methods, both in the oral lessons and in the teaching of composition. The Teaching Problems in Composition. — In the teach- ing of composition there is a threefold aim which must be achieved. We must now turn to each mem- ber of this triple problem to consider its importance and scope in class teaching. The first aim in the teaching of composition is to stimulate a thought basis for expression. As the formal composition lesson begins, the sources of ex- pression seem to dry up, and the children seem to have no problem in their lives that demands expres- sion, no urgency that craves solution, no personal preference that prompts intercourse and an at- tempt at convincing others. This seeming dearth 6 INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATION of material worthy of expression does not present a very difficult teaching problem. A little thought and sympathetic insight into child life soon re- veal a great number of topics that especially appeal to the imagination of growing children, to their love of story, of action, of biography. The child's emotions and interests are intense even if they are short-lived; his likes and dislikes are many though ever changing. The sympathetic and resourceful teacher therefore need never lack an appropriate subject for children's composi- tions. The second problem is to teach our children the laws of expression, the standards of language. The child must learn and obey the rules prescribed by legitimate usage, by grammar, and rhetoric. Here, too, we have a comparatively simple pedagogical task. A little patience and skill will enable a teacher to teach any law of grammar or rhetoric appropriate to the age and capabilities of the children. If the first lesson does not bring comprehension, a second or a third period of graded and properly presented exer- cises will serve this end. The third aim of composition teaching is to incul- cate in the pupil the habit of employing in the expres- sion of his ideas those laws and principles of compo- sition that have been taught him. This is the most vital problem, for it is the crux in composition teach- ing. Any seventh-year pupil can be taught that double negatives are wrong, that a participle alone cannot be a predicate, but not every child can be read- 7 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH ily trained to avoid "ain't got no," "I seen," or "he done" — expressions that have the force of years of constant use back of them. Habit is the result of constant drill through regular and frequent repetitions. Class teaching is today so hampered by its inherent limitations that this drill in sufficient repetitions in composition lessons is almost impossible. Composition has a science and an art side. The science of composition the child can readily learn but the art of composition he acquires only after long, conscientious and laborious practice. It must also be remembered that the incorrect forms that are characteristic of the speech of children have already been habituated and, in many cases, are further strengthened by the influences of home and street. The teacher must realize the colossal task that c^^ti- fronts him in composition teaching in all cosmopolitan cities and towns. Teachers must learn to feel that they are teachers of composition first and foremost, that an error in English is primary, that inaccuracies in facts of history, geography or arithmetic may, and should, be subordinated to correctness of speech. Teachers in the departmental system who are respon- sible for only one or two subjects must bear this par- ticular dictum in mind. The departmental teacher who teaches English must communicate with his col- leagues, tell them the specific forms of speech that are being taught and thus secure their cooperation by asking them to constantly correct the speech of chil- dren in all subjects. Unless teachers consciously em- phasize the application of the lessons of the English 8 INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATION period in all lessons, it would be better to eliminate the formal teaching of language. SUGGESTED READING ^ Carpenter, Baker and Scott. The Teaching of English, pp. 75-81. Longmans, Green & Co. Hosic, James F. The Elementary School Course in English, Introduction. University of Chicago Press. O'Shea, M. V. Linguistic Development and Educa- tion, chaps. I and II. The Macmillan Co. * The bibliographies at the end of each chapter are not exhaustive. The aim is, rather, to suggest such reading as will amplify and elaborate the various phases of the subject treated in each chapter. Where the publisher is not men- tioned, the reader will find the book or the reference listed at the end of a previous chapter. CHAPTER II INFORMAL COMPOSITION IN THE FIRST FOUR YEARS ORAL CONVERSATION AND REPRODUCTION LESSONS The Method Governed by the Basic Difficulties. — Be- fore planning her method of presentation in a specific subject, a teacher must comprehend clearly the basic problems which confront her. The method she finally evolves must be such as is designed to meet these spe- cific difficulties. The primary grade teacher feels her- self completely overwhelmed by a host of puzzling conditions which the children create when the formal work in composition is begun. When finally system- atized and simplified, these difficulties group them- selves under three heads. What, then, are the basic difficulties which children present to the teacher of primary composition? The initial problem is found in the fact that these children seem to have nothing to say in the dignified composition period. The noisy, active, talkative child is now a social vacuum. A second aggravating prob- lem is produced by the timidity and the backwardness of the child. The newness of the work, the strange- ness of classroom procedure, the consciousness of per- 10 INFORMAL COMPOSITION: FIRST FOUR YEARS sonal limitations make these children unable to forget themselves, to come out of their shells, to lose them- selves in the subject that the teacher suggests. It is obvious that much coaxing and emotional sympathy are necessary. The difficulty of these circumstances Is increased by a third problem, viz., the deficiency of expression. The vocabularies of these children seem too meager to enable them to express themselves even if they have ideas that crave communication. In the light of the basic difficulties that we have enumerated, what must the method of Instruction be? The answer was suggested in the observation above: the method must be governed by these problems; It must seek to counteract them at every step In the lesson. With this end in view it can readily be seen that the method must be, In the main, an oral one — almost exclusively so in the first two years of the course — with only a crude attempt at written compo- sition in the third year. It is through skillful oral Instruction that the patient teacher strives to awaken In the mind of the child preferences and Interests that crave expression; It Is through the Interest and the Ingenuity of the treatment that she hopes to attract the child until he becomes so absorbed In the topic that he forgets himself and Is thus no longer con- scious of personal limitations, and talks freely and spontaneously; it Is through proper gradation and organization of the oral lesson that a few words and expressions are made central In each topic and by dint of repetition become part of the child's vocab- ulary; it is through constant and untiring corrections II THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH in oral drills that incorrect forms of speech are under- mined and finally eradicated. We must turn then to a consideration of the nature, the organization and the method of oral work in composition in the early- grades. ORAL WORK IN THE PRIMARY GRADES A. Conversation and Reproduction Lessons. — i. The Choice of a Subject. — The most common form of oral composition is the conversation, and the repro- duction lesson. The terms are self-explanatory and make formal definition unnecessary. The first prob- lem that challenges the teacher's thought in these oral lessons is the choice of the proper subject. The teacher must exercise great care that she presents no subject that has a thought difficult for the child. It must be a topic with which the child is conversant and which immediately suggests a host of ideas in his mind, pressing for expression. Secondly, it must be a theme replete with action. Every sentence must have a **doing word" in the predicate. These imma- ture minds find no fascination in qualities, observa- tions and inferences. Thirdly, the topic must be, if possible, one about which the child has a preference. ''Shall We Have a Relay Race or a Ring Game at Recess?" is bound to elicit an answer from a normal child. ''The Kind of Dog I Want for My Pet," prompts eloquent speech in every boy. It is well to select for this oral work a series of stories which are told by the teacher and are then used as material for reproduction lessons. These 12 INFORMAL COMPOSITION: FIRST FOUR YEARS stories, properly selected, become a source of far-reaching values for the development of the child. They afford the child an informal and very agreeable means of developing sustained thought; they add to the child's stock of words and expres- sions; they introduce the child to idiomatic English; they give the children their heritage of fable, folklore and stories that have inspired the race to higher ideals of life; and finally they furnish excellent material for self-expression because these stories, by their interest- ing content, stir in each child a strong motive for communication. 2. Mode of Treatment. — Having selected a suit- able topic for oral composition, the teacher is now occupied with the method of presenting it to the class, and with the conduct of the lesson. We must be sure that the facts of the topic are not the goal of the lesson, hence we need have little concern about how exhaustively the theme is treated. Take only the surface facts, talk about the topic rather than on the topic, follow a free and easy sequence if the children are happier in this development. Freedom is the keynote of the course of the lesson. Hence it must not be considered amiss if the pupils change details, or make personal additions or rational mod- ifications. This is not a test period and the lesson must not be conducted in a "quiz" spirit. The main object is to arouse such interest and enthusiasm in the subject that the children will lose themselves in it Nevertheless, we must guard against mere prat- tle. The lesson must possess definite teaching char- 13 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH acteristics. Chief among them we must mention the following : v^ a. Real Motive and Social Spirit. Unusual care must be taken to prevent the discussion from becom- ing perfunctory. Children must be made to feel that they are talking not because they must but be- cause there is an urgency to communicate a con- viction, to narrate a personal incident, or to give pleas- ure to others through the telling of interesting ex- periences. These promptings must serve to make the oral language work in the class as natural as oral communication in everyday life and thus infuse real motive into class discussions. b. The Teacher's Aim. Before each discussion or reproduction the teacher must decide on the ultimate purpose of the lesson. If vocabulary is to be in- creased, what words are the children to acquire and what means must be adopted to make these words part of the pupils' expressional stock? If new type forms of phrases or sentences are to be learned, what shall the teacher do to introduce these naturally and frequently and to insure their use? It may be that the aim is to give pleasing content, stir imagination, provoke personal opinion — but in all cases the teacher must have an aim which molds the lesson and deter- mines its organization. c. Logical Organization. The theme must be un- folded with due regard to rational sequence of ideas. d. All Children to Participate. It is necessary that every effort be made to have all children take active part in the discussion. Many lessons in oral compo- 14 INFORMAL COMPOSITION: FIRST FOUR YEARS sition fail because the teacher neglects the backward and the diffident children who are crowded out of the lesson by the brighter and the more responsive pupils. 3. Dramatisation an Aid in Oral Reproduction and Conversation Exercises. — The teacher who finds the diffidence of some of her children a vexing problem and a cause for their failure to participate in the class discussions and reproductions may enlist the enthusiasm of these timid pupils by an emphasis on dramatization. No appropriate theme that can be motorized should be overlooked, or, if selected, should be developed by exclusively verbal means. Dramati- zation has much to contribute to oral composition. It gives the retiring child a new interest in self- expression; it dispels ultra self-consciousness; it gives to expression a naturalness which it may otherwise lack and thus makes self-expression the pleasurable exercise that it is under normal conditions. But these ends of dramatization are lost unless it is spontane- ous, and has its origin in the child's craving for motor expression. Successful classroom dramatiza- tion is free from affectation, and never degenerates into mere entertainment. In planning a lesson in oral composition, the teacher must seek to incorporate as many motor aids as possible for only then will the children be caught by the enthusiasm of the situ- ation and experience the joy of communication. 4. Systematization of the Daily Topics. — The sug- gestion for freedom and spontaneity in the conduct of an oral composition lesson does not argue for a 15 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH lack of organization in these conversation and re- production lessons. While the children are permitted to develop the topic in any way that gives maximum expression, the subjects that are offered must follow a rational system. Monotony is the pitfall that must constantly be avoided in all this work. The only way to guard against it and insure stimulating variety is to change the nature of the topic daily. Thus, on Monday, it is a personal experience; on Tuesday, it is an ethical topic; on Wednesday, a theme in nature study is selected ; on Thursday, the reading lesson of- fers interesting material for reproduction; on Fri- day, an exposition of a process learned in the manual training period affords material for conversation. How varied a list the teacher has at her command may be seen from the following table: Partial List of Appropriate Topics 1. Narration of Personal Experiences: **What I Saw Coming to School," *'An Accident on the Street," ''Going to a Fire," ''The Game at Recess," "Our Outing to /' etc. 2. Nature Study: Conversation Lessons on "Birds," "Insects," "Flowers," etc.; topics that form the assignment in the course of study for the grade. 3. Description: "Pets," "Playthings," "Pictures," "Places Visited," etc. 4. Story of the Occupations Seen in the Child's Environment: The work of the baker, shoemaker, carpenter, policeman, fireman, etc. 16 INFORMAL COMPOSITION: FIRST FOUR YEARS 5. Habits of Cleanliness: "How to Have Clean Teeth/' "How to Look Bright and Attractive," etc. 6. Habits of Politeness: "How to Behave at Ta- ble," "How to Behave in a Conversation," etc. The last mentioned topics, as well as many of the others, lend themselves readily to simple and effective dramatization which arouses interest, and prompts more natural and expressive speech in children. 7. Commands by Children to Class: Pupils take turn in giving orders to class at dismissals, at recess, while passing or collecting various materials, etc. These exercises are valuable aids in developing ef- ficiency in oral speech because they tend to inspire courage in the timid and backward child, they show the need of definiteness and precision in speech, and they insure natural rather than formal speech. 8. Reproduction of a Story: The original story may have been told by the teacher, read from a book to the class, or read by the children themselves. 9. Number Lessons and Number Games. 10. Exposition: "How to Set the Table," "How We Made a Picture Frame," "How to Make a Kite," etc. 11. Argumentative Conversation: "Where to Go oh an Outing," "What Game to Play at Recess," etc. This is only a partial list to which the teacher can add by drawing on her fund of experience. It is submitted merely to show the primary teacher that despite the simplicity of the work and the limited mental resources of the children she nevertheless has a list of topics rich enough to afford interesting va- 17 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH riety and an opportunity to break away from the dulling sameness which is characteristic of much of the oral composition work in the lower classes. 5. How Do These Oral Lessons Solve the Basic Diificidtiesf — We must now interpret these oral les- sons as remedial measures for the difficulties that were outlined at the beginning of the chapter and show how they are designed to answer the needs of the teacher of primary composition. Let us review, briefly, the three problems, the children's lack of material for expression, their backwardness, and their expressional limitations. It is evident that the variety and the nature of the topics that are selected are de- signed to counteract the first two of these limitations for they give the child plenty of subject-matter that is intensely interesting and capable of arousing such enthusiasm as will transcend the bonds of self-con- sciousness. Once the child has caught the joy of self-expression, the final problems, limitations of vo- cabulary and inaccuracies of speech, can be solved. As each child errs, the teacher judiciously makes the correction. Constant repetition of the same correc- tions of typical errors will soon show positive re- sults. In each topic the teacher selects a few words and expressions, possibly five or six, that are most peculiar to it. In the conversation and dramatization lesson of ''How to Pass a Person," such expressions as ''excuse me," "beg your pardon," "polite," "im- pohte," and "rude" are indelibly impressed upon the mind of the child through repetition. In the lesson "The Kind of Dog I Want for a Pet," such words 18 INFORMAL COMPOSITION: FIRST FOUR YEARS as "good appearance," "handsome," "brave," "cour- ageous," "loyal," etc., are made central until the pu- pil carries them away as his own. The teacher must be ever ready to offer those words which each les- son is to contribute toward a richer vocabulary. As the child hesitates for want of a word, the teacher suggests it and thereby keeps the thought running in the pupil's mind and saves him from the paralyzing effect which a consciousness of his verbal limitations is sure to produce. But these results will not follow from a haphazard series of conversation lessons. The topics must be carefully selected and organized into a progressively graded series. Each lesson must be planned to enrich the vocabulary and to correct the most flagrant inaccuracies in the speech of young pupils. 6. The Danger of Formalism in Early Work in English: Impression, Expression, Formal Instruction the Desired Sequence. — The great danger in early composition lessons is the introduction of a crushing formalism which robs the lesson of all expressional pleasures and renders the topic under discussion a mere excuse for a drill in mastery of words or in idiomatic or grammatical forms. It must be remem- bered that all technical elements of speech must grow naturally out of preceding discussions of interesting themes. The steps in early language work can there- fore be summed up as three: (a) impression; (b) ex- pression; (c) formal language instruction. The first concern of the teacher must be to stir the child's self-activity, so that it acquires a liberal stock 19 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH of experiences, together with a rich imagery of all of them. Hence the lessons in nature study, in read- ing, in local history and geography and in manual training must be regarded as forming the first step in composition, for in all of these the child is acquiring a large variety of ideas. But class instruction in all these subjects that is properly motivated stirs in each child a desire to reproduce what it sees clearly or to communicate to others convictions that have been im- planted. The more interesting the impression, the more intense is the child's yearning for expression. The expressional phases in all lessons must therefore be looked upon as exercises in composition, for they train children in the art of self-expression. Errors of vocabulary, of grammar, etc., made by children in the course of natural speech should now form the basis of formal instruction in English. To deviate from this order, impression, expression, formal in- struction, is to court a formalism which deadens all language work in the grades. Opportunities for Oral Language Lesson. — In conclud- ing the chapter on conversation and reproduction les- sons, we must again emphasize the principle that was made basic in the initial discussion, viz., the manifold opportunities that the teacher finds in the curriculum for giving children the necessary practice in language work. Every subject, even manual training and calis- thenics, can be utilized as material for language les- sons. The less we rely on the formal language period and the more we look upon all subjects in the cur- riculum as agents in developing the art of speech, the 20 INFORMAL COMPOSITION: FIRST FOUR YEARS surer are we to give children the language proficiency that should ultimately be developed. In addition we must urge the values for composition, of memoriza- tion and recitation of selected prose and poetry. These memory selections give children, among other returns, models of correct speech, enlarged vocabu- laries and beautiful sentiments beautifully expressed. Unless we look upon the whole curriculum as a scheme to develop proficiency in language, formal composition lessons become both sterile and stupid. SUGGESTED READING The suggested reading for this chapter will be found at the end of Chapter III. CHAPTER III FORMAL COMPOSITION IN THE FIRST FOUR YEARS The Need of Formal Language Drills. — The discussion of the teaching of composition in the first four years of the elementary course has thus far concerned itself exclusively with the means of stirring and sustaining natural and enthusiastic speech in the classroom. The method outlined in the preceding chapter sought therefore to free itself from all formalism, from all rules of language, and from conscious focalization on the technique of speech. The child saw no serious object in the conversation or reproduction lesson; the teacher, not the child, was aware of an attempt to in- troduce a series of model expressions, to occasion natural communication, or to increase vocabulary. We come now to a discussion of the more formal side of language work in the first half of the school course. If the environment of our pupils were thor- oughly Americanized in language, as well as in cus- toms and ideals, there would be no need of adding to the informal work in composition previously out- lined for the early years. But when we realize the foreign influences and languages that make up the environment of many of our pupils, it becomes ap- 22, FORMAL COMPOSITION: FIRST FOUR YEARS parent that merely hearing correct and corrected speech in the classroom, will not serve to counteract the persistent impressions of incorrect speech which are borne in on the vast majority of children of for- eign parentage. Even in the early years formal lan- guage lessons must be given, drills must be had on set language forms, and typical errors of speech must be systematically undermined and supplanted by cor- rect forms. This formal work in the primary classes can take three forms, viz. : ( i ) memorisation and recitation, (2) teaching necessary language facts, and (3) correction of common errors of speech. Let us turn to these in the order in which they are enumer- ated. Memorization and Recitation. — It is obvious that memorization and recitation of properly selected prose and poetry tends, among other ends, to enrich a child's stock of words and phrases, to give him a series of interesting ideas and inspiring ideals in a form truly artistic, to train in organizing ideas and to discour- age self-consciousness. The value of this form of language work in early classes is obvious, but the method that is followed determines the degree to which these ends are attained. Few lessons are as stilted and depressing as a perfunctory recitation of a memorized selection in which each child recites merely to satisfy the teacher that he has memorized the words and lines in proper sequence. As the method of conducting these lessons is treated fully in the latter part of the book, the reader is referred to a subsequent chapter. 23 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH Learning the Necessary Language Facts. — Their Use for Certain Classes of Children. — We took occasion to note in a preceding discussion that the child whose own language abounds with barbarisms, and whose environment tends to perpetuate these, must be given a series of language drills which will tend to teach the basic forms and constructions of our tongue. Mere imitation of the teacher's English is not ef- ficacious, for it cannot counteract all the contrary forces in the child's environment. Rigorous and per- sistent drills are necessary to teach these children not to say: "I brang my books," "He writ his les- sons," "He hurted himself," "It growed there," ''He learns me out/' ''It stands zvritten/' "Every morning I put myself on" (dress myself), "a eye for a eye," "five mans and six mans is eleven/' "five gooses/' "This is more heavier than that," "The boys is good," "Me and him went," "Me hat and me coat is on the nail," etc. These errors are not imaginary. They form part of a list that the author gathered in the primary grades in one school. True, no one child made all of these errors, but every child heard all of them. It is evident that the informal work outlined in the preceding chapter lacks the vigor and the con- centrated effort necessary to banish such barbarisms from the speech of these children. Cautions in Early Language Lessons. — Great care must be taken in planning these formal drills for the early grades. There are a number of cautions that must be observed lest we dissipate the worth of these language lessons. 24 FORMAL COMPOSITION: FIRST FOUR YEARS I. The teacher must realize that these drills on language forms are not lessons in elementary gram- mar. No attempt must be made to introduce termi- nology or rules. It is not necessary that the child know why ''me hat and me coat" must give way to ''7ny hat and my coat." In the grammar lesson, the justification for the use of the possessive form ''my,'' and the reasons for the condemnation of the objec- tive form, "me,'' must be given; in these early les- sons the child takes language forms on faith and the teacher is concerned primarily with the problem of developing in the pupils the habit of using "my" rather than "me" in these expressions. 2. It must be remembered that an isolated language form does not become part of spontaneous speech. The child who recites "my hat," "my coat," "my book," "my ring," etc., nevertheless falls back to "You should have seen 'me' team play," when en- gaged in natural conversation. Unless the form is taught in natural context, it will not serve to reha- bilitate the speech of the child. 3. It is obvious that an occasional lesson on any correct form of speech will not insure its use. Un- remitting drills, well-graded and varied drills are necessary to put our pupils on their guard against the influences of the incorrect language that may assail their ears. 4. The supervisor of this work must remember that this part of the curriculum must be very flexi- ble, for the language facts to be taught vary with each school district in the cosmopolitan cities and 25 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH towns of the country. It is evident, therefore, that in some schools the list of language facts to be taught will be long, while in others it will reduce itself to only a very few facts, or even none at all. Method of Teaching Necessary Language Facts. — It remains for us therefore to indicate clearly how these necessary language facts are to be taught. To give this work natural context, it is best to group these language drills around a language center. The New York City syllabus offers an illustration of the point in question. It assigns as basic for language drills in the fourth and fifth years,* the four types of sen- tences which give the most important forms of thought, viz., (i) what things do, (2) what is done to things, (3) what the qualities of things are, and (4) what things are. How can these forms of ex- pressing thought become the center of drills on neces- sary language facts? Let us turn our attention to the first-type form of sentence. The teacher introduces this type by calling on the children to tell what men do for a liv- ing. With little trouble there is elicited the follow- ing: "The farmer plants corn and wheat.'' "Soldiers fight battles.'' "The shoemaker mends old shoes." "The jeweler makes rings and pins." At the next lesson the problem is to list what the city does for us. In like manner the following was obtained from a fourth-year class : "New York City gives us many parks." 26 FORMAL COMPOSITION: FIRST FOUR YEARS "It sends its children to school." "The fire department puts out many fires." "The health department saves many lives." Each lesson assigns a central theme around which children form sentences of the first type. Care must be taken not to allow these sentences to become heterogeneous; each day's lesson must have its dis- tinctive center around which these sentences are grouped. Interest is sustained by the variety of ideas contributed. After children can give sentences v/ith a fair de- gree of fluency, each group of expressions may be reviewed in an exercise in which they try to find the "who" or "what" word and the "doing" word of each sentence. ^'The farmers plant corn and zvheaf is therefore submitted to this analysis and the children conclude that farmers is the "who" word and plant the "doing" word. In like manner, ''Neiv York City gives people many parks'' is analyzed, and the chil- dren conclude that New York City is the "what" word and gives the "doing" word. This exercise is continued for a number of lessons until children gain facility in recognizing subject and predicate. The next step in the lesson is to take known sen- tences and require the children to keep the "doing" word and change the "who" or "what" word. ''The fire department puts out many Hres' thus becomes, "The firemen put out many fires/' "Policemen put out many fires/' "Brave men put out many fires/' etc. In the same way children are required to keep the "who" or "what" word and change the "doing" word. 27 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH The original sentence quoted above then becomes, ''The fire department saves many lives/' "The fire department answers the fire alarms/' ''The fire de- partment sends out the engines/' etc. Such synthetic exercises give children practice in making sentences and develop in them a feeling for the function of the subject and predicate. The next progressive set of drills requires a change of number of the "who" or "what" word. Thus, for the first of these drills the teacher gives only regular nouns, the plurals of which are formed merely by adding "s" or "es." The sentence "The farmers plant corn and wheat" is written on the board and the children are required to change to the singular, "The farmer plants corn and wheat" ; or the teacher may give the singular, "The jeweler makes rings and pins/' and ask for the plural, "The jewelers make rings and pins." In the succeeding drills the children learn of nouns, the plurals of which are formed by changing "y" to "i" and adding "es"; of others where "f" is changed to "v," and "es" is added, and of still others that must be changed in form entirely, like "ox, oxen," "tooth, teeth," "child, children," etc. In this series of drills the child not only learns the plurals of useful nouns but also develops a sensitivity for the agreement of subject and predicate. After much repetition the child learns that it is wrong to say "the farmers plants," just as it is incorrect to say "many tooths." In neither case does the teacher give the reason. Up to this point the sentences have been declarative 28 FORMAL COMPOSITION: FIRST FOUR YEARS in form. Interrogative sentences are now taken up. The teacher asks, ''Do the farmers plant their cornf and, ''Does the farmer plant his corn?" and the chil- dren reply respectively, "Yes, they do plant their corn'' and "Yes, he does plant Ms corn." The same groups of sentences are now reviewed in their inter- rogative form and the child receives further drill on plural forms, learns the use of the auxiliary "do," which is peculiar to the English language and acquires a feeling for the agreement in number of pronoun and antecedent. The negative statements are now the subjects for a series of graded drills. The teacher asks, "Do farm- ers waste any timet" and the children reply, "No, they do not waste any time," or, "No, he does not waste any time," if the singular is required. These negative drills, given patiently and consistently, will undermine the double negative, so frequent in the speech of those children whose English is acquired on the street. What was done with the first type, what things do, can be done with the second type, what is done to things. The third and the fourth types, the qualities of things and what things are, offer even wider range of drills in language structure and vocabulary. The following are suggestions for possible language les- sons based on the third type of expression : I. Oral Composition. Topic: '^The Park." Sen- tences of third type elicited: The park is large, The trees are beautiful. The flowers are sweet. The foun- tain is pretty, etc. 29 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 2. Analysis showing "who" or "what" word and "quality" word. 3. Keep "who" or "what" word and change "qual- ity" word; vice versa. 4. Make sentences of the following: the green leaves, the pretty fountain, etc. 5. State whether the following things are hard or soft, cool or warm, large or small, rough or smooth, etc. Give a list of nouns, and elicit the sentences from the children. 6. State opposite qualities or state other words to express the same quality : The day is warm, The day is cool. The day is chilly, etc., hence a vocabulary drill. 7. Plurals and Singulars. 8. Interrogative Form. 9. Negative Form. 10. Given any topic, "The Snow," for instance, re- quire sentences of all types, as follows: "The snow falls on the ground. It is shoveled by men and boys. Snow is very cold and white," etc. The writer does not think that these four types form the best language center for a drill on the neces- sary language facts. They are used for illustration because they are assigned in many courses of study and they serve to show that the elementary language lessons can be freed from cumbrous terminology, and yet be made the .means of teaching the child the structure of the sentence, the function of its parts, the plural form.s, the agreement between subject and predicate, the agreement between pronoun and ante- cedent, the use of auxiliary verbs, the correct form 30 FORMAL COMPOSITION: FIRST FOUR YEARS of the negative statement. These four types of sen- tences may also be made the means of developing richer and more flexible vocabularies. The school where most of the children are of foreign birth can well afford, therefore, to spend two years on these formal drills. The Systematic Correction of Common Errors of Spcecli. — When Necessary. — There are tw^o methods of teaching children the necessary language facts and instilling in them habits of correct form in elementary language structures. The first is by the method just outlined — by a systematic, graded, positive series of drills on language forms. The second method is the negative which teaches only those language forms that children habitually misuse. The first is the method of prevention; the second the method of cure. Courses of study in cosmopolitan cities prescribe the systematic correction of typical errors of speech for all grades beginning with the second or the third year. Limitations in the Prevailing Method of Dealing with Common Errors of Speech. — What is the usual method which teachers follow in their attempt to rid the speech of their pupils of the typical mistakes? Very often a teacher culls all the common language errors which experience has taught her abound in children's speech. These are taken up, one by one, corrected arbitrarily, drilled on in appropriate exer- cises and dismissed for a second common error which is similarly treated in the next language drill. One day the lesson is on "seen and saw," a second on "done and did," a third on "haven't no," a fourth 31 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH on ''brang and brung," until every error on the list has been dignified by a separate period. Very often, the lesson ends with an arbitrary generalization of the type, ''Seen can be used only with have or hasf' What is the usual result of such pedagogical prac- tice? In each grade the entire list of common errors is corrected but in each succeeding grade the very same errors are again studied with the same futile result. There are two reasons which account for this waste. The first reason is lack of drill. We need a sledge-hammer blow; the common method of dealing with these errors of speech makes them all pass before the class in a happy merry-go-round while we ap- ply the feather duster to each. These incorrect forms are habits; the problem confronting us is how to break an old habit and inculcate a new one. Hard unre- lenting drill, untiring repetition, are the price of habit formation. The prevailing method described above surely fails to pay the price. Secondly, the lessons are too formal. The drills are not natural enough, nor are the correct forms learned through natural context in the course of natural expression. A Method of Dealing zvith Common Errors of Speech. — What mode of teaching can we suggest in dealing with common inaccuracies of speech? The following procedure ofifers a more rational and natural form of exercise and also provides sufficient drill. All the common errors found in children's oral speech and written work should be listed and arranged in a graded series by the supervisor. Such a tabulation would give about thirty to thirty-six common forms that children 32 FORMAL COMPOSITION: FIRST FOUR YEARS constantly misuse. Each grade, beginning with the second year, should have a definite number of these errors assigned, three or four in the lower grades, five or six, in addition to a review of those already studied, in the higher grades. With responsibility limited to five or six forms, each teacher could give such drill and application as would permanently undermine these common errors. Let us assume that the teacher of a third-year class must undermine, (i) "it is me," (2) double negative, (3) "I seen it," (4) "I done it," and (5) "I brang my lunch." The first error is selected for study and drill. The teacher puts on the board or better still on a long cardboard the following model sentence : ''It is I who am knock- ing," said Little Red Riding Hood. Then comes the following drill: Teacher: "What was Little Red Riding Hood asked?" Pupil: "Who is knocking?" Teacher: "What did she reply?" Pupil: "It is me." Teacher: "Look at the blackboard." The child who made the mistake is given a chance to correct his answer. Teacher: "William, who spoke when " Pupil: "It was me." Teacher: "Answer as Red Riding Hood would." Pupil: "It was I who spoke," etc. The type sentence is kept in full view of the class for a week or two, depending upon the gravity of the error and the frequency of misuse of the correct 33 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH form. It becomes the basis of short daily drills of two or three minutes in the morning and again in the afternoon. Other model sentences of the same gram- matical construction are presented and the drills are continued. The initial sentence seems to become part of the children for it is a permanent standard for reference in the future. At any time when the child gives the objective "me'^ for the nominative "I/' the teacher simply refers to the standard sentence by asking, "What did Little Red Riding Hood say? Now correct your own sentence." In the same way, this series of drill lessons is fol- lowed by, " T am not afraid ; I have no fear,' said the brave Columbus." This becomes the standard or type sentence for a series of questions in which the child is asked, "Have you money?" "Have you paper and pencil?" "Has he courage?" etc. In each case the teacher requires the two forms of expressing the negative. The child may reply, "I have no fear" or "I haven't any fear," but he is led to avoid, "I haven't no fear." These daily drills are again continued for about a fortnight, when the correct form of the nega- tive becomes part of the child's expressional stock. When, in the future, a pupil tells his teacher, "I haven't no pencil," he is promptly told to recall the type sen- tence about Columbus and model his answer accord- ingly. In such a method of organization and proce- dure the necessary continued and persistent drill can be given to each error, and natural context is used to make permanent the correct form. Each teacher can now be held responsible because the assignments are 34 FORMAL COMPOSITION: FIRST FOUR YEARS definite for each grade. Through such a method the flagrant errors of common speech can be eradicated by the time the child completes his fifth year in the elementary course, and teachers in the last three years would then be spared the discouraging task of re- peating the unsuccessful work of so many lower grades in addition to teaching the advanced language lessons which presuppose a foundation of elementary knowledge. Development of Efficiency in Early Language Work Is Slow and Difficult. — Throughout the slow, tedious and persistent drills that characterize the language les- sons of the early grades, the teacher must not become discouraged. Experience alone can impress the teacher with the slowness and the difficulty of de- veloping efficiency in oral expression among chil- dren. The teacher inexperienced in this phase of ele- mentary instruction loses heart at the slow rate of progress in the linguistic development of her pupils. But this slow maturing efficiency in language is to be expected when we consider the many causes that are operative in producing it. We must now turn to them. I. EfUciency in Oral Expression Is Usually Spe- cial , not General. — People often speak fluently and coherently on one subject but are exceedingly poor in conversational powers on other topics. The pro- verbial example of the professor who is an interesting speaker in his specialty but a bore in other fields of human interest, illustrates this phenomenon. There are students who are exceedingly intelligent in dis- 35 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH cussing athletic topics but who are inane when they participate in general class discussions. Children who are alert and winning in speech during play may show a decided lack of linguistic ability in formal classroom recitation. 2. Efficiency of Speech Is Often a Native Endow- ment. — ^Linguistic ability is with many children a birth gift. This explains why so many people are delightful speakers on any topic and can spin a clever verbal thread around any idea. We listen to them with rapt attention, giving ourselves to their every word, only to find in the end that they have con- tributed nothing of value. 3. Oral Speech Is Usually Developed as Need Is Felt. — The individual who lives a life of social con- tact that prompts expression soon finds that the abil- ity to express himself grows in proportion to need and use. Country children are hence more retiring and less communicative than their talkative and impul- sive city cousins. 4. The School May Repress Linguistic Develop- ment. — The school with its organization and disci- pline, recognizing not the individual but the group, is usually repressive. Free and spontaneous speech is not allowed ; the child as a member of a class has not the opportunity to express himself as often as he ought to, and finally the systematic recitation kills voluntary speech-, for the child must express the book or the teacher rather than himself. Lessons for the School. — This analysis of the causes of slow and labored development of efficiency 36 FORMAL COMPOSITION: FIRST FOUR YEARS in oral expression has its lessons for the school, (a) It shows us clearly that every study must be a lan- guage lesson. Correct speech cannot be habituated unless we make this concession to the place of Eng- lish in the curriculum, (b) Wherever possible, chil- dren should be encouraged to talk freely in the course of the recitation. Topics assigned to a pupil should be broad and should call for expression in a number of sentences. The recitation that is made up of a series of close-fitting petty questions, whose answers require the mere ejaculation of a word or a phrase, is a means of repressing speech and retarding linguistic progress. The topical method, rather than the petty question method of the recitation, should be follov/ed wherever convenient and practical, (c) Overcon- scientious and painfully accurate teachers must re- member that it is not advisable to curb the child's flow of speech by minute corrections. Let the child have his say, let him speak his mind, then offer the corrections, the changes, and the modifications that are necessary. There is no reason why the child should always be interrupted with such petty sug- gestions as, "Answer in a full sentence." This sacred regard for the "full sentence" produces artificiality and stiltedness of speech characteristic of classroom recitations. Adults do not always speak in complete sentences; what justification have we for imposing this standard on pupils? (d) Finally, teachers should always encourage fluent and coherent speech among children. If we are to seek the larger values in our work, petty facts must be sacrificed for proper 37 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH form. When a child formulates his answer in well- rounded, sequential sentences, it must be received with words of praise and held up to the others in his class as an enviable model worthy of their imita- tion. WRITTEN WORK IN THE PRIMARY GRADES Its Minor Position. — In the early years written com- position can be accorded, at best, a subordinate place when compared to the varied forms of oral exer- cise. Too early an insistence on written composition works irreparable harm. The child loses in expres- sional power, for when the difficulties of penmanship, form, spelling, capitalization and punctuation con- front him, all expression is at once killed. We must wait until the elementary requirements in spelling, capitalization, penmanship, etc., have become habitu-^ ated before written work is begun. Written compo- sition in the first three years is hence almost neg- ligible, for the child is then acquiring technical and formal habits in language. It is in the fourth year that the written work assumes any seri- ousness of form and content, for now written com- positions of two paragraphs should be attempted. The methods to be suggested are very much like those that we shall study for the upper grades with, however, such modifications as common-sense and practical experience would dictate. Thus, for ex- ample, in the primary classes the child follows the model more faithfully, imitation is more slavish, the 38 FORMAL COMPOSITION: FIRST FOUR YEARS "preparatory oral drill deals with a greater number of details of spelling, capitalization, punctuation, etc., and the models are imitated for their very form as well as for their spirit. The Transition from Oral to Written Composition. — It is well, however, to note how the first written com- position is to be introduced, how the transition is to be made so that whatever efficiency the child has acquired in oral expression can be transferred to. the written exercises. It must be remembered that abil- ity in oral expression is no guarantee of equal ef- ficiency in written expression. Graphic expression differs psychologically as well as physiologically from oral expression. This is why children efficient in oral composition find that all ideas seem to disap- pear instantaneously when they are confronted with pen and paper. How shall we aid them in their dif- ficulty ? Let the teacher assign the topic, "Yesterday's Fire Drill," and put it on the blackboard. The children are now told that they are to write a composition on it, hence they copy the title on their papers. The teacher then puts on the board the first question, the answer of which will be the first sentence of their composition. The questions are so worded that they contain the words and phrases necessary in the for- mulation of the answer. After the answer is elicited orally the children write it on their papers. The following form may be used both for the blackboard work of the teacher and the children's exercise on paper : 39 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH Teacher s Blackboard Children's Answers on Questions Paper I. Did we have a fire i. We had a fire drill drill yesterday? 2. Did yesterday. 2. The four the four bells ring out bells rang out loud and loud and clear? 3. Did clear. 3. We did not you know whether there know whether there was was a fire or not? 4. a fire or not. 4. The Were the children quiet children were quiet and and quick? 5. Was the quick. 5. The teacher teacher pleased with the was pleased with the drill? drill. The answers written by the children are only tran- scripts of the words used by the teacher. Neverthe- less, when taken together, they show good sequence and make up a well-organized paragraph. This method is pursued until some confidence is developed and transitional difficulties are in a measure overcome. After that, the model is presented and studied, tran- scribed or imitated as the case may require, but the general method will be only a modification of the pro- cedure to be suggested for the grammar grades. SUGGESTED READING Arnold, F. Special Methods of Instruction, pp. 203- 224. S. Mandel, 27 St. Nicholas Place, N. Y. Blount and Northup. Language Lessons. Henry Holt & Co. 40 FORMAL COMPOSITION: FIRST FOUR YEARS Carpenter, Baker and Scott. The Teaching of English, pp. 121-144. Chubb, P. The Teaching of English, chaps. Ill and IV. The Macmillan Co. CooLEY^ Alice W. Language Teaching in the Grades, especially chap. III. Houghton-Mifflin Co. Hosic, James F. The Elementary School Course in English, pp. 11-26; pp. 57-96. University of Chi- cago Press. Klapper, Paul. Teaching Children to Read, chap. VII, Parts B, C. D. Appleton & Co.' 0'Shea_, M. V. Linguistic Development and Educa- tion, chaps. I, II, VI, X, XI, XII. The Macmillan Co. . Elementary School Curriculum, First Year, Teachers' College Record, Jan., 1906. CHAPTER IV COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES THE SELECTION OF A PROPER SUBJECT The Method-whole in Composition. — Careful and thor- ough treatment of a composition lesson necessitates three periods that are distinct in aim and procedure. Briefly we may characterize these as follows: (i) the period of oral preparation in which the science of composition is taught — this is the oral teaching period in which the teacher leads and the child is learning the laws of language; (2) the period of written composition in which the child is given every opportunity to express himself and acquire the art of composition, and (3) the period of correction, the aim and scope of which are apparent. These three periods are usually given on three sep- arate days but any two of these may follow on the same day as the exigencies of special circumstances and classes may demand. The teacher seeking con- structive programs of work need hardly be reminded that no method has universal application in to to. Some parts must be omitted, others modified, and new devices introduced to adjust any method to the spe- cific problems of a particular class. But every meth- 42 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES od that merits pedagogical approval is based on sound principle and worthy aim. In applying a method, the teacher must be sure that despite the changes and the additions that are made, the justi- fying principle has been retained. Any method that is not subjected to personal scrutiny, to modification in an attempt to adjust it to specific needs, becomes a pedagogical strait- jacket and inevitably leads to failure. The Preparatory Period. — The method of teaching composition in the grammar grades is determined by the same considerations as those which govern the method in the primary grades, viz., the basic dif- ficulties that confront the children. We must stop, therefore, to note the problems that make composi- tion teaching a difiicult task for the teacher. In the main we may group these under three heads: I. Lack of Material Worth Expressing. — At first thought this difficulty seems slight and only of pass- ing importance, but a moment's consideration brings conviction to the contrary. College students when asked to select their own topics for debates, essays, and the like, experience a feeling of hopelessness a;:- they take mental stock. They have many ideas, the}" have studied many subjects, but none of them seems big and urgent, and worthy of expression. If this is true of students who have attained some degree of maturity and whose minds have been subjected to the broadening influence of study, how true is it of the child with immature mind and narrow personal as- pect of the world. 43 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH ^ 2. Lack of Organisation of Ideas. — Children do not feel the need for sequence and systematization of facts. They ramble through their subject in aim- less, discursive style ; they do not know that "to com- pose" one must systematize his ideas before giving expression to them. 3. Limitations of Speech. — Having met the first two difficulties, we are confronted by the third — ex- pressional deficiencies. These may be summed up under (a) involved and confused forms of expres- sion, (b) incorrect forms of speech, and (c) limita- tions in variety and extensiveness of vocabulary. In developing the method of teaching composition in the grammar grades we shall follow the sequence in which these difficulties are stated. We turn then to the main problem of the present chapter. THE SELECTION OF THE SUBJECT The Sourcjes of Subject-matter. — Every child has two rich sources of subject-matter for expression; two great reservoirs which can be tapped for material for compositions. These we may term the direct source and the indirect source. The Direct Source. — The direct source sums up all composition material that can be obtained from the child's fund of experience, from his creative im- agination, and from the host of incidents and stories that were heard or read. The mere fact that the child is normal and has lived his short life in an ac- tive society, guarantees a response from this per- sonal source. The responses which can thus be elic- 44 1 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES ited from the children are limited only by the in- genuity and the sympathy of the teacher. Concrete illustrations are more suggestive and con- vincing to the teacher whose composition work does not progress because of the limited number of ap- propriate subjects. Let us turn to a few. What a host of possibilities do we actualize when we ask the child to begin its composition with, "The match that was dropped on the floor of the barn was not lost because " Children in a sixth-year class suggested the following developments in their compositions. These are given in a summarized form. Child A: A tramp in search of shelter steals into the barn. He accidentally steps on the match and sets fire to the structure. The peril of the tramp; the rescue. The tramp turns out to be the long lost and wayward son of the owner. Reconciliation and reform. Child B : A rainy and dismal day. The children of the owner at play in the barn. The match stepped on. The spluttering not heard in the general noise of the game. The fire. The rescue by the arch en- emy of the boy at play in the barn. The reward of the rescuer; friendship renewed. Child C: A rat in the barn. The fire. Total de- struction of the barn with its stock of the owner's wealth. Poverty of the farmer. Moral of the tale. The conceptions of these three children are given to illustrate the many possibilities suggested by such an appeal to productive imagination. Similar top- ics can readily be invented by the sympathetic 45 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH and resourceful teacher, who can enter into the spirit that must pervade the composition lesson. In a fifth- year class, the topic, "What I Found Under a Stone," was assigned for plot invention, preparatory to the writing of the composition. Through questions and suggestions the teacher stirred the children's memo- ries of such incidents and experiences as would readily lend themselves to the building of a new situ- ation suited to the given topic. The richness and di- versity of the results may be seen from the fol- lowing plots evolved, in the main, by the children: Plot i The stone lifted. The opening of a cave. The cave en- tered. The home of a robber band. Death threats. Joins robber band. Gains their confidence. Leads an expedition. Leads robber to capture. Plot 2 Cave, robbers, death threats, as in first plot. Pleading by a masked member of the band. Life spared. Escape with this unknown friend. Recognition — lost and wayward friend. Reformation. Plot 3 Stone lifted. Bag of money found. Seek owners. None found. Money divided with friend. Story of the life of evil and ruin of the one and the life of social service and happi- ness of the other. Plot 4 An inventor, unsuccessful and discouraged, walks in the woods. Sits on the stone to rest. Stone moves and he lifts it. Finds a motto, "Perseverance brings success." Curiosity 46 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES as to meaning. Search for meaning. A message of hope for him. Perseverance and final success. Excellent results are obtained by appealing to this direct source by such a model as ^'Der kleine Johannes/' given in Maxwell and Johnson's "School Composition." It is reproduced for the convenience of the reader. Little Johannes It was warm by the pond, and still as death. The sun, flushed and tired from its day's work, seemed to be resting for a moment on the top of the distant ridge of dunes be- fore diving below. Almost perfectly the smooth water re- flected its glowing face. The overhanging leaves of the beech took advantage of the stillness to gaze intently at themselves in the mirror. The solitary heron, who was standing on one foot between the broad leaves of the water- lilies, forgot that he had gone out to catch frogs, and stared in front of him, lost in thought. Then Johannes came to the little grass-plot to see the cloud grotto. Plump ! plump ! the frogs sprang from the shore. The mirror broke into ripples, the sun picture sepa- rated into broad stripes, and the beech leaves rustled crossly, for they had not looked at themselves sufficiently. Fast bound to the naked roots of the beech lay a little old boat. Johannes had been strictly forbidden to get into it. Oh, how strong the temptation was this evening ! Already the clouds were forming themselves into an awful gateway, behind which the sun would go to rest. Glittering little clouds ranged themselves in lines at the sides, like a body- guard in golden armor. The surface of the v/ater glowed also, and red sparks flew like arrows through the reeds. Slowly Johannes unfastened the cord of the boat from the beech roots. To float there in the midst of that splen- dor ! Presto, the dog had already sprung into the boat, and, 47 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH before his master had made up his mind, the reeds bent and pushed them both forward in the direction of the setting sun. (Translated from the Dutch of "Der kleine Johannes," by Frederik van Eeden.) The children study the model until they see the grandeur of the picture; then they are required to complete the story as their fancies see it. The range of dramatic possibilities varies with the age, the grade, and the native abilities of the pupils. A few of many good results are given. Martin S., aged twelve, in a sixth-year class, sug- gested that a sudden storm which came, *'soon broke the mirror with angry waves that rocked the boat to and fro." Der kleine Johannes now became fright- ened and clung to the floor of the boat for safety. "As darkness fell the rocking boat put Johannes to sleep." In the fury of the storm that followed the boat capsized and the unfortunate lad "never awoke to realize that he too *had set off in the direction of the setting sun.' " This little drama, charming and tender in its conception, bespeaks an emotional refine- ment not usual in the impulsive and ruthless lad of twelve. Such a model opens up a vista of possibilities which make it appropriate for almost any grammar grade, as is proved by the following two products written by children in the last year of the school course. The com- positions as given are accurate reproductions of the children's results except for the correction of a few minor errors, which they themselves corrected when the compositions were returned to them. 48 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES Little Johannes Par. I. Introduction. a. Time. b. Place. Par. II. Little Johannes. a. His longing. b. His dream. Par. III. Home again. It was a warm, sultry day in summer. The lake lay with- out a ripple on its face. Above, the silver birch stood ma- jestically reflecting its leaves and form. Somewhat off from this stood a lone heron solemnly standing on one foot like a sentinel gazing at its own reflection in the lake, forgetting that it had come down to the lake to catch frogs. All of a sudden this tranquillity was broken by a litle boy making his, entrance upon the scene. The birch rustled its leaves in disapproval as some of the frogs having been scared jumped into the water and wrinkled the surface. This little boy's name was Johannes. He owned a little boat which was moored to the shore. He was strictly forbidden to go out in this boat. The little boy had a strong tempta- tion to take just one ride. But he overcame his temptation and sat admiring the old boat, for he had had much fun in it. Night was coming and the little boy finally saw a great many little frog-men dancing around his feet. Then some of the elder ones took him by the hand and took him through a wonderful land. This land was all illuminated with colored crystal-like lights. This was the festival of the frogs; there were some who had the greenest dresses on, with big brown spots on them, and others with brown dresses with white underneath the throat. In one part of this great land there were tables set and great dishes of good things to eat. In another there were frogs dancing and singing in frog language, but the little boy understood them, for the fairy frog had put him under a spell. Finally 49 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH the frogs started to eat and when they had finished they started to depart. Johannes could not go, for he did not know the way. When the last one had departed he heard a great noise and clamor and looking around he saw that everything was dark, and that his father and a number of men were standing around. He had been asleep and his father had been out hunting for him with a number of other men until he found him. His father took him in his arms and carried him home, where he told of his adventure. Johannes' Adventure It was near the close of a sultry day in summer. The sun, tired from its day's hard work, seemed to say "Good night" to the world before it was wrapped up in the darkness of the coming night. The frogs seemed to have stopped their din, as if in awe of the setting sun. Little Johannes thought it was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen as he came tripping lightly down the path. At the sound of his feet the frogs seemed to awaken from their trance and one after another their plump ! plump ! showed they had retreated into the forest of water-lilies. Tied to a tree was a small boat, which was the property of our hero's father. Little Johannes thought that his mother would like to have some lilies. But really he only wanted an excuse to go out in the boat. He set the boat adrift. After half the distance had been covered little Johannes sat back on the seat and fell asleep. He awoke with a start, for he had heard his name called. He listened for some moments to make sure that he was not mistaken. "Johannes !" said a soft voice behind him. He turned and saw before him a beautiful girl. "What do you want and who are you?" asked Johannes, rubbing his eyes to make sure he was awake. "I am the Queen of the Lily-pads," said she, "and I have 50 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES come to warn you that if you disobey your father again and come out in your boat after dark, the Frog King will surely catch you and he is a very bad man." "All right, your majesty," answered little Johannes, "I'll go right home and never go out again, if that nasty old King will let me alone this time." "Oh, there you are," said a voice, and little Johannes awoke and stared around him, thinking that it was the Frog King who had come to get him, but it was only his father. While he slept the boat had drifted ashore and the little lad's father had found him, after a long, exhausting search. The Indirect Source. — The second, the indirect source, sums up all the knowledge the child has, or can obtain from class teaching, textbooks, encyclo- pedias, and magazines. Whenever we appeal to the in- direct source we have composition through correla- tion. In history, the children write on "The Battle of Bunker Hill," *The Voyages of Columbus," or "Daniel Webster." In geography the topic selected may be, "The People of China," "Notes of a Trav- eler," "Pictures of Places I Visited," etc. — in a word, the host of topics to which mentally lazy teachers have recourse. The Danger in the Indirect Source: Overcorr ela- tion, — ^There is great danger in resorting to the im- personal source for subject-matter. The composi- tion lesson is usually regarded by many teachers as a period in which we can elaborate and "fill out" what was neglected in geography, history, or nature study. We must never forget that the primary object of a composition lesson is expression and not the mas- 51 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH tery of information, however important. The most pleasing element in any pupil's composition is its spirit of originality, of spontaneity, and freedom. Composition cannot show these characteristics if it is a mere repetition of the formal lessons in which the child learns to express the textbook or the teacher, but not himself. Injudicious correlation saps life and virility from all composition exercises. The Test of Good Correlation in Composition. — In all correlation in composition the child should be encouraged to introduce his own individuality into the narrative. He should write his story from his own point of view, as if he really had lived through it. The autobiographical element often makes cor- relation helpful and suggestive. Therefore, the topic, "Columbus," becomes "The Conspiracy to Throw Me Overboard — Extract from the Autobiography of Christopher Columbus"; a cold recital of facts in a composition on "Lewis and Clark" takes on a glow of life when the topic becomes "A Page from My Diary Kept During the Lewis and Clark Expedition" ; when the topic is merely "Bunker Hill" we get from the children a mere enumeration of events such as can be found in any history ; but when the topic is changed to "Watching the Battle as an Aide to General War- ren," the composition thrills with real excitement. The dispirited narrative when the composition is on "Arnold's Treason" becomes fascinating correspon- dence when it is turned into "The Letters Exchanged between Arnold and Andre." In this lesson one child impersonates Arnold and makes the offer of betrayal, 52 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES and another is Andre who writes his acceptance and the details of the meeting. The following composition is a good example of the kind of correlation that we must seek in compo- sition : Rosewood Cottage, Fredericktown, Maryland, September 23, 1863. My Dear Joe: No doubt you have read in the newspapers the heroic deed performed in this town. It no doubt has been the chief subject of conversation throughout the country. Of course some versions are greatly exaggerated, but the honor that has been given to that noble old woman she fully deserves. As I was an interested spectator and saw the occurrence from beginning to end, I shall briefly relate to you every detail as it truly happened. I had been stopping for a few weeks at the home of my aunt in Fredericktown, a pleasant little village in the state of Maryland. One cool September morn I was leaving the house for one of my daily walks when I heard the steady tramp of marching feet. Turning, I beheld as far as the eye could see, soldiers in the gray uniform of the Confederate Army, General ''Stonewall" Jackson at their head. We were expecting them, and earlier in the day every Union flag had been withdrawn, notwithstanding the protests of the North- ern citizens. As the Southern army approached the house of Barbara Frietchie I saw her withdraw her head from the window, immediately to reappear with a large American flag, whose staff she placed in the window-sill. The flag slowly unfurled itself and proudly began to wave in the brisk morn- ing breeze. As General Jackson went marching by, glancing from right to left, his quick eye soon noted the waving flag. "Halt !" he cried, and his troops stood fast. "Fire !" Out blazed the rifles. They shivered the sash and window-pane 53 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH and rent the flag. As it fell from the shattered staff Bar- bara Frietchie snatched it, and, leaning far out of the win- dow, waved it excitedly to and fro, while she exclaimed, "Strike, if you must, this old gray head, but spare your country's flag instead." The now excited throng raised a frenzied and mighty shout as it saw this aged and defense- Tess woman, the oldest inhabitant of the town, alone defend- ing her country's flag. A shade of sadness and shame stole o'er the General's face, and he bowed his head upon his breast. Suddenly he lifted his head and, "Who touches a hair of yon gray head, dies like a dog. March on !" he said. All day long sounded the feet of the marching army. And all day long that free flag waved grandly o'er the heads of the Southern host. Hoping this somewhat lengthy narrative will interest you, I remain Your true friend, Harry S. In contrast to the above, let us see the following example of correlation, suggested as a model by the principal of one of our city schools: London, England, June 2, 1905. Dear William : I reached London at ten o'clock Monday morning and the first thing I went to see was Westminster Abbey, a very large church which is one of the largest in the world. It was built by King Edward the Confessor in 1065 and the first great service was held in the Abbey Christmas Day of that year. A few weeks later King Edward took sick from old age and died and was buried there. The Abbey is built in the form of a Latin cross and in the south transcript is the Poets' Corner, where there is a bust of Longfellow, a tablet to Shakespeare and a memo- randum window to Lowell. King Henry added another 54 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES chapel, in which there is the tomb of Queen Elizabeth, and the choir is as large as a good-sized church. Your friend. This composition is a stupid reproduction from the ^'Encyclopedia of Persons and Places"; the compo- sition is dead and was written because it was an as- signed task. The errors of speech, of grouping, and of facts which occur would not have been made if the child understood and felt what he was writing. All this is justified in the name of correlation for the principal's conference notes add : "The children are benefited not merely in the line of letter writing, but their language is improved and they gain valu- able, curious, and interesting bits of information con- cerning different countries of the world, old and new." What Is a Good Subject for Compositionf — ^We can best sum up our inquiry concerning the choice of a subject for composition by noting the salient char- acteristic of a good "composition subject." The dif- ference between a "good" subject and a "bad" one is the difference between "having something to say" and "having to say something." When the child is told to write on Westminster Abbey, he has to say something. All inspiration, all ideas that may be lurk- ing in the mind are at once dispelled. When the child is writing because he has something to say, success is guaranteed because the subject of the en- tire composition is really "I." In the teaching of ele- mentary composition a good subject allows the per- 55 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH sonal pronoun of the first person to be the real if not the nominal subject. In the light of this standard, how stupid and inane are the following models, offered by principals to teachers to be imposed on the children. They have all been gathered in the last three years from con- ference notes and direct "Orders to Teachers." The East River Bridges There are four great bridges connecting the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Each of them is more than a mile in length. You can walk across them, or you can go over them in a car or a carriage. From these bridges you can see steamers with their tall pipes and masts passing up and down the East River. Ferry- boats, too, are seen going back and forth between the two boroughs. The ferryboats used to be the only means of crossing from Brooklyn to New York. Now the bridges make it easier for the people to go from one borough to the other. Coal Hundreds and hundreds of years ago there were great forests. In these forests there were no insects ; nothing was there but large trees. These trees sank into the earth and have become coal. Men go down into the earth in small elevators to get the coal. These men are called miners. They have little lamps on their hats. It is very dark and dangerous down in the mines. Many years ago children worked in the mines. There are a great many halls in the mines. Coal is very opaque and it is shiny and very brittle. 56 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES The Earthworm The earthworm's body is made up of many segments. He has no bones. Fowls and birds eat him. He needs no eyes because he lives in the dark earth. He destroys the roots of plants by eating them. When he dies his body mixes with the soil and makes it richer. Kindness I should always treat others kindly. I should be especially kind to all the members of my own family. I should be kind to all with whom I have anything to do, even if they are not such children as I would choose for companions. If I have pets, I should be very kind to them. How far superior are the following, personal ex- pressions of the children! The Sciences Though I have read few books on science, I have noticed that, with but one exception, they merely gave the facts. For this reason I had almost formed an opinion that science was interesting, but that books on that subject were dry. But when I came in contact with a certain book that opin- ion vanished into thin air. The cause of this sudden revolu- tion of ideas was a book with the dull title — "The Sciences." Edward S. Holden is the author of it. Perhaps I liked the book because the topics were explained in nothing more nor less than a conversation. The illustrations, too, were the best I have ever seen. The experiment was always ex- plained underneath the diagram. I do not know why I grasp the facts better in reading 57 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH conversation than facts. Maybe because the one, being more interesting, engages my attention more. Before read- ing the book I knew nothing of electricity. Now I know a little at least. The book did not take up much about elec- tricity or I would have learned more. My only unfavorable criticism is that the children knew too much and spoke too well for their age. For instance, a girl of nine is not likely to know much about diving bells, planets, etc. But on the whole the book is excellent. "Cherry Ripe" "Cherry Ripe" is a little girl sitting on a huge boulder, with her little toes turned in and her little hands clasped. Beside her on the boulder, on a large leaf, are a number of ripe cherries. "Cherry Ripe" must be a very old picture, for her dress, shoes, gloves and hat are of the fashion of years gone by. Around her neck is a scarf which looks like a bertha. Around her waist is the wide girdle. The long, full skirt comes to her ankles, out of which her little feet just peep. Her gloves come halfway up her arm. Above her the May blossom and wistaria are twining and form an arch. Below her the lilies and tall grass come up and form a frame, but I think that the artist of this picture intended that she should be the sweetest and prettiest flower of them all. It is evident, therefore, that a subject, per se, is neither good nor bad. The point of view and the interpretation of it always determine its value in ele- mentary classes. The topic, "The Snowfall," gives a stupid and lifeless composition if the children are required to treat it in the following topics: In what season does it come? What temperature is neces- 58 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES sary? Its relation to rain? What forms may the flakes take ? What are the uses of snow in preserving plant life? etc. What is here offered the child is an adult's composition on snow, written from a scientific point of view with a serious aim. This is what snow may be to the teacher but it is not what snow is to the child. To him, it has no scientific cause, it jus- tifies itself merely by the fact that it adds to his joy. How truly a boy's composition on snow is the follow- ing! A Winter Day "I'll bet you that we will have some snow this week," my friend had declared the day before the snowfall, and all of us agreed with him, for the wind was cold and biting and the clouds low and dark. The next morning when I awoke I instantly saw that my friend had been right. The windows were frosted and the streets spotless white, as traffic had not yet begun. The ad- joining roofs looked as if they had been covered with a huge sheet, while in the park every twig- and branch was clothed in its winter garments. The street was as quiet as a grave- yard, except for an occasional rattle of a truck as it rolled over the frozen pavement. After eating breakfast and taking as few books as pos- sible, I started off for school and met a number of my friends. "Hello, Willie," I cried to one of them, "how do you like the" — when, biff! came a snowball, which found lodgment in my ear. "Say, Is, how do you like the" — came derisively from Willie, while several boys laughed heartily at my misfortune. Then began a battle, which soon ended, as time was flying and we did not care to be late. After school we met in our clubroom, and together we went to some building lots, where the snow was undisturbed, and began building a fort, for which we were to have a 59 , THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH battle. When the fort was completed we chose sides, and I was put on the force which was to capture the fort. As I am not an accurate thrower, I was given the position of supplying snowballs. We soon overpowered the enemy and with a loud cheer took possession. We kept on playing until dark and then went home, hoping that there would be a bliz- zard during the night, which would insure some fun on the morrow. The practical teacher may admit the possibilities of these results with classes in the upper part of the school course, but may insist that in the lower grades the expressions must be more or less formal and the content must possess a simplicity that seems insipid to the adult mind. It Is evidently such lack of confi- dence In the Imaginative products of children that prompted a principal of an elementary school to sug- gest the following models for fourth-year classes : My Doll My doll is a toy. It looks like a baby girl. Its head is made of china; its arms and legs are of plaster. The body of the doll is sawdust and rags. It has glass eyes that turn down when the doll is put to sleep. The Trolley Car The trolley car is a combined wagon and big machine. It moves by electric power. The motorman makes it go by turning a handle. The trolley car can draw heavy loads. It travels on wheels ; these wheels turn on tracks. The ma- chinery is under the car. 60 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES Principals and teachers possessed of sympathetic in- sight see at once that to the child the doll is more than a composite of china, clay, glass and sawdust. It is a living object upon which are spent all the emotions of latent motherhood. In the second model the trolley car is not an object of wonder and awe, a monster of strength and speed. These models do not lift the child above the level of the commonplace or the cold realities of life. Contrast them with the following compositions written by second- and third-year chil- dren whose teacher's sympathy enabled her to stir the magic force of their imagination, so that the results are rich in imagery and poetic charm. Where Does the Wind Begin? The wind begins in the sky. The wind talks. What does the wind say? The wind says, "00000." Angelina L. The wind begins in the clouds. The wind goes to sleep in the forest. John H. I know where you live wind you live in the tree you are laughing wind. Albert V. Where does the wind begin? A big man blows it out of his moth. Philip V. The Robin's Song I hear the robin singing in the trees. He sings "The but- terflys are angel flowers." John R. Wake up ! Wake up ! Wake up ! It is robin Readbrest. Sunny warm weather is coming. Angelo S. 6i THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH The robin sings the spring is coming. The spring is wak- ing the green grass. Little green buds are coming out of the trees. Joseph G. The robin sings to the Daffadils, "open your yellow eyes." The Robin's sits on my window and tells me a secret of spring-time. Mary R. I see the robin on the bushes. The robin is singing me a lovely song. The robin is telling me a secret. The flowers are bursting out of their buds because it is spring. Clara B. The robin sings Twee ! Twee ! Twee ! The robin says "Appleblosoms come out of your buds." He tells me to be happy for spring is here. Cornelius O. The Dark The dark keeps me warm. I see a lady dancing on the spark of the moon. The sun eats all the little people up. Mary R. The dark is all around. I see emporers and kings march- ing by. The sun swallows them up. Albert P. In the night it is dark. At night I see strange people and I hear strange music. In the morning the dark goes away. In the morning the strange people fade away. Clara B. SUGGESTED READING The suggested reading for this chapter will be found at the end of Chapter VIII. CHAPTER V COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES (Continued) HOW SECURE ORGANIZATION AND SEaUENCE: THE OUTLINE The Tendency to Ramble.— Of the three basic prob- lems that confront the grammar class teacher in com- position, lack of subject-matter, lack of sequence and expressional limitations, we have considered only the first. Our immediate task is, therefore, a considera- tion of the problem of organization of ideas for ra- tional expression. Children's compositions often lack this primary requisite, proper sequence of ideas. The child's tendency to ramble is responsible for his characteristic composition which lacks clearness and force. But we need not ascribe this weak- ness solely to children; adults, too, are often guilty of flagrant violations of the simple principle of logical sequence. Examine the trend of conver- sation in any ordinary gathering; every important topic is touched on and passed over in the "drift" of discussion because every new interest challenges at- tention. Class discussions of mature students are often examples of verbal spirals. Listen to the aver- age adult as he tells of some incident or expounds 63 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH some principle, in which there is no inherent sequence of events — what a heterogeneous composite of facts! Illogical sequence of ideas and lack of coherence of thought are general failings. Teachers must not, therefore, be surprised to find these defects in chil- dren's work. Just as adults are unconscious of their limitations in this respect, so, too, are our immature pupils. The first problem that presents itself, there- fore, is not to teach the principle of organization but, to bring home the consciousness of its need and its importance. This can best be done by a method of reductio ad absurdum. After the child realizes his- limitations, present the positive aspects of the lesson, teach him how to secure organization through the elaboration of the outline. The Principle of Organization Taught by the Outline. — Let us suggest a lesson designed to bring home to the child the inherent tendency to ramble and to teach him a method of securing rational and syste- matic ordering of ideas. A descriptive composition on a well-selected topic can readily achieve this double end. With this purpose in view, the subject, "The Circus," was assigned to a fifth-year class. The chil- dren Avere made to understand that they must write such a description of the circus as would give one who has never seen it a clear idea of what he will see, and stir in him a desire to see the wonderful feats of skill and daring. Every child was then told to be ready to make a contribution of fact, each to tell what he would include in his own composition. The teacher took these items in the order in which they were sug- 64 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES gested by children who were called upon promiscu- ously. Such a request for material brought the fol- lowing data from the class : the daredevil acts, the animals, the great tent, the three rings, the large signs, the group of small tents, the crowds, highly colored pictures, the peddlers selling refreshments, the horse riders, the acrobats, the "barkers" at the "side-shows," the band, the apparatus, the funny sights, the freaks, the arrangement of seats, etc. A few judicious questions and suggestions soon led the children to realize the utter absurdity of such an arrangement and to feel the need of systematic pres- entation of details. That done, the teacher elicited from the children a suitable sequence. "What would one see on first approaching the circus ground?" The conclusion reached by the class was : "The first para- graph ought to treat of the outside of the circus." The question, "What would one see on entering the circus inclosure after passing through the admission gate?" suggested to the class the theme for the second paragraph. In the Circus Grounds. The teacher then asked, "What would attract one's attention in the main tent?" and brought the children to a realization that the concluding paragraph must tell of the Great Circus Feats. The paragraphs with their respective headings were then written in separate columns on the blackboard and the first step in the development of the outline was completed. The children then folded their papers into three divisions, each part to serve for the outline of a single paragraph. They were then led to take up each item 65 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH in their original promiscuous list of data and decide for themselves in what paragraph it belonged. Thus the first contribution, "daredevil acts," is evidently part of the paragraph on The Great Circus Feats; the second, ''the animals," part of the paragraph on Within the Circus Grounds, etc., until every fact worth including in the composition was properly placed. The result presented an appearance similar to the following: Par. I. Outside the Circus 1. stretch of can- vas 4. the great tent 2. large signs 5. the crowds 3. highly colored pictures Par. II. Within the Circus Grounds 7. the animals 1. group of small tents 4. the peddlers sell- ing refresh- ments 2. "barkers" at "side-shows" 3. the band 5. the funny sights 6. the freaks Par. III. The Cir- cus Feats 2. the three rings I. the audience in seats 6. horse riders 5. acrobats 7. the races 4. the apparatus 3. the clown 8. the daredevil acts This done, the children were asked to examine the items in each paragraph and determine the logical po- sition of each. With the aid of prefixed numbers, they worked out the sequence of ideas in each para- graph as is shown in the outline above. Values of the Outline. ^ — The values of such a lesson in sequence and organization are many and significant. It is obviously an effective means of teaching the 66 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES child the need of rational sequence of thought, and the mode of grouping ideas for clear and forceful ex- pression. The outline, properly used and elaborated, also trains the child in systematic thought, in clear and continued development of a line of thinking. As a formal classroom exercise for challenging the child's powers of judgment and concentration, it is excellent. Another inestimable value of the out- line is that it is the most concrete and the most efficacious method at the teacher's command of teaching the paragraph, its meaning, its develop- ment and its unity. This is true because the nature of a paragraph can best be taught through a form of contrast. There must be a number of paragraphs developing under the pupils' hands, otherwise they carry away notions that are vague and inaccurate. Then, too, the child learns best through some form of motorization. The method suggested for teaching the outline enables the child to learn the organiza- tion of paragraphs by actually evolving a number of them simultaneously arid noting the various basic ideas that determine the unity of each. The Drill to Insure Mastery of the Outline. — Since the object in all language teaching is to habituate the correct form it is evident that vigorous and persistent drill must follow this lesson. This drill must be varied as well as thorough so that interest in the les- son will not be endangered. To this end we may suggest a number of exercises : I. Similar topics are suggested to the class and the method is applied to each of these by the steps 67 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH that were outlined in the model lesson. Such topics as, ^'Our Church," "The Polo Grounds," "Our School," "A Sporting Goods Window," "The East River Bridge," "The Peddler Selling Mechanical Toys," etc., allow for a simple application of the method learned to the new topic. 2. Incidents, descriptions, expositions and the like, which abound in the children's textbooks, are taken up one by one and analyzed into component ideas in order to lay bare the outline which the author had in mind when he wrote the particular selection under study. The children are taught to point out the topic of each paragraph and then to test its paragraph unity. 3. The next form of drill should take up varied top- ics of narrative, argumentative, expository and descrip- tive nature, which should be used in oral exercises. A few minutes after a new topic is announced the children must be ready to tell the number of paragraphs they would use in developing it and the theme of each para- graph. When a tentative set of paragraphs has been accepted the children must quickly evolve an appro- priate content for each and offer it to the class orally, when called up. After the last paragraph is given, a new topic is announced and the same rapid oral drill takes place. The subject given to a 6A grade in such a drill was, "The Breakdown of the Trolley Car." By skill- ful leading and emphasis of correct answers the teacher elicited from the class the following develop- ment: Par. I. The Trolley Car Collides with a Wagon. 68 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES Par. 2. Impatience of the Passengers. Par. 3. Examination of the Extent of the Accident and Attempt at Repairs. Par. 4. Arrival of the Emergency Wagon and the Repair Crew. These four paragraph headings were put on the board and attention was then directed to the develop- ment of each one. In attacking the first one for elabo- ration, the children were able to work out a good opening sentence. After a few colorless attempts in which the teacher indicated the cause of the weak- ness, a sentence offered was, ''While I sat in a Third Avenue trolley, impatient at the slowness, the car came to a sudden standstill." The teacher's com- mendation of the opening sentence soon provoked from another child, " What terrible service ! What a snail car this is,' I said to myself, when all of a sudden there was a crash and the car stopped with a terrible jerk"; and from a third, "No trolley car travels so fast as when the motorman loses control of it." One development of this first paragraph, as given orally, was, ''We were all shaken up a bit but soon recovered from the fright and the noise of crashing window-panes. There was great excitement for a minute as the people rushed to the doors. When they realized that the danger was over they became calm and went to their seats again. It seemed that the wagon that collided with our car got the worse of it." Paragraph number 2, on the "impatience of the pas- sengers," brought sentences which told of the strain- 69 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH ing of necks, of complaints, of people who left in dis- gust, of women who wanted their fares back, and of men who lost themselves in newspapers. The third paragraph dealt with the examination of the acci- dent by the motorman and the conductor, their quar- rel with the wagon driver who caused the accident, their conference, their futile attempt at repair, and then their telephoning for help. The concluding para- graph, developed orally in the same way, told of the arrival of the emergency wagon, the business-like procedure with which these expert workmen set to work, the policeman taking notes, the final repair and the relief of having started again. All this work was oral; only hints and outlines of paragraphs were jotted down either on the board or on the children's cards. Every child's answers were examined and the class as a whole passed upon them, deciding whether particular facts were appropriate in the paragraph under consideration, whether the sequence of paragraphs was correct, etc. In the same way the following topics might be treated : "A Sport- ing Goods Window,'' ''A Mounted Policeman," "Jo^> the Pretzel Man," "A Beggar," "Pvcport of a Game," "An Athletic Meet," etc. Three or four of these topics could be taken up orally in one period. Cautions in Developing Outlines.- — There are common but erroneous practices in developing outlines that we must constantly guard against if we are to secure maximum results in this type of exercise. We must now turn to these cautions in this form of language work. 70 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES 1. The Outline Must Be the Child's Outline, — Every part of the lesson must be the result of the children's self-activity; they must suggest every fact in the outline; they must evolve the number of para- graphs; they must judge each item and decide upon its place in the general organization. Unless every act of judgment is performed by the pupils, the maxi- mum results of such a lesson cannot be realized. 2. Too Many Details in the Outline Must Be Avoided. — It is important that the outline should not be laden with too many minute details. There should be a general organization, a broad suggestion of the line of development and of the proper sequence. An outline that gives an enumeration of petty details crushes individuality, kills spontaneity and robs the final composition of its best expressional elements. 3. Avoid a Stereotyped Class Outline. — A final word of warning counsels that we avoid such out- lines as will give a set of compositions bearing re- markable similarity to one another in every detail — exercises that seem as if they were printed from the same type and cast in the same mold. How can we guard against this slavish imitation? How can we introduce individuality of expression and variety of form? How to Secure Variety in the Outlines. — i. Outlines Should Not Be Copied Verbatim. — Despite the fact that the class as a whole or a particular division may be writing on the same subject and from the same general outline, variety of expression and in- dividuality in the final product need not be stifled. 71 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH After the outline is elaborated and the final form is shown on the blackboard, it should be erased and the children should be required to construct their own, each child thus producing an outline reflecting his own point of view and his own individuality. No matter how retentive the children may be, a delight- ful variety can be secured. 2. Encourage Variety of Grouping. — After the children have learned the modus operandi in the con- struction of an outline, the teacher must not rest con- tent with one grouping of facts. Show the children that the number of paragraphs is not fixed, provided the items in each are shifted and rearranged under their logical heading. Variety will invariably result. Thus in a composition on "Our School," let it be sup- posed the visitor arrives in a carriage and enters at once, then what is the sequence of paragraphs? Evi- dently, paragraph i. Interior Structure; paragraph 2, Decorations; paragraph 3, Activities; paragraph 4, Exterior. Or, the visitor on entering is attracted by the work that is being done; hence the paragraphing is, paragraph i, Activities; paragraph 2, Structure That Makes This Possible; paragraph 3, Teaching Apparatus; paragraph 4, Decorations; paragraph 5, Exterior Structure, etc. Each child may therefore select that grouping which appeals to him most. In the description of the circus the teacher and the children should evolve other forms of paragraph development than the one suggested in the lesson, viz., paragraph i. The Parade Before the Opening of the Circus; paragraph 2, The Circus Grounds; paragraph 72 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES 3, The Circus Performance; or, paragraph i, The Circus Grounds; paragraph 2, The Performance in the Main Tent; paragraph 3, The Side-shows; or, paragraph i, The Preparation Before the Circus Comes to Town ; paragraph 2, How the Circus Is Put Up; paragraph 3, The Rehearsals; paragraph 4, The Performance. A child who experiences difficulty with one arrangement of paragraphs may find another sug- gestive and interesting. He must therefore be given free choice and be allowed to follow a paragraph grouping that is entirely original, should his ingenuity suggest one. 3. Allozv Personal Choice of Details. — Once the paragraph themes have been suggested, teachers must allow children perfect freedom in the choice of de- tails. Thus in the paragraph on The Circus Feats in the composition on "The Circus," children may omit any data offered in the outline and incorporate any other feats of skill and daring that have greater attraction for them. What children are to say about the various suggestions in the outline about the *'side- shows," ''the barkers," "the acrobats," "the clown," etc., should never be indicated. Whatever the word suggests to their minds they should write, unham- pered by injudicious direction and dictation, and thus again offset the undesirable sameness of class pro- ductions. 4. Encourage Variety of "Attacking and Closing" the Subject. — Another means of securing variety of form and showing personality in expression is to elicit a variety of beginnings and endings. The com- 73 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH positions on *'Our School" showed the following in a 5B class : 1. "I am very proud of my school for it is so at- tractive." 2. ''Every visitor who comes to this section of the city is attracted by our school." 3. "I praised my school so much that my uncle finally made up his mind to visit it. I met him at the teachers' entrance." 4. "One of the very beautiful buildings in this city is . . ." 5. "My country cousin was never so much sur- prised in all his life as he was when he visited my school." Then came a contrast between the city school and the country school. 5. Avoid the Wordy Outline. — A final suggestion for securing variety in the organization of composi- tion is to suggest each item in the outline in only a word or two. Outlines made up of sentences or long phrases are bad, for the children soon learn to supply a few predicates, an adjective or an occasional modi- fying phrase or clause and the composition is com- plete. The scantier the outline, the better. How Closely Shall the Outline Be Followed? — A final problem which arises in the course of the employment of the outline is the extent to which the children shall consciously follow it. The answer cannot be didactic nor positive. It all depends upon (a) the nature of 74 COMPOSITIDN IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES the composition, and (b) the age and capabilities of the children. When the topic is one of exposition, or narration, or argumentation, then logical sequence is exceedingly important in securing clearness and force. But in writing a description of a person, a sunset, a brook, or a quaint room, the ultimate aim is to give a lasting and vivid impression of the pic- ture; here the choice of detail rather than the se- quence of facts is the vital problem, hence the out- line need only be followed in its general trend. As far as the child's age and capabilities are con- cerned, it may be safe to assert that through the sixth year of the elementary course, the outline must be a conscious prop in composition, and must inevitably take a considerable part of the oral period which pre- pares for the final expressional exercise. But there- after, it should gradually begin to assume a minor place in the preparatory period, not that the outline is now less important but because a habit of mind should have been formed in the fifth and sixth years of the school course. Where the outline is properly taught and impressed through drill of sufficient fre- quency during these two years, the child should be able in the later years of the school course to organize facts without aid or direction. Pupils of the seventh and eighth years when confronted by a composition subject, should habitually think: (a) What is the subject as a whole, i. e., what mass of facts comes under it? (b) What are the best groupings of these facts, i. e., how many paragraphs do I want and what are they? (c) How shall I organize each paragraph? 75 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH and (d) what is an appropriate opening sentence and closing sentence? Before writing his composition, the child should give evidence of having accomplished this organization. The outline should be made a part of the composition and may even be placed at the head of the sheet. Supplementary Means of Developing Power of Organ- ization. — In addition to the formal lessons on the use of the outline, various supplementary methods can be incorporated in all periods for developing in children a sense of logical organization. After a story is read to the children, or by them, a few minutes may profit- ably be spent in eliciting from the pupils the outline that must have guided the author. Various games and processes, that make up the work of the physical training and the manual training periods respectively, may be submitted to careful analysis, and the steps in the procedure listed in proper sequence. In all lessons the teacher should take occasion, in the summary, to call the attention of the pupils to the organization of the facts that guided her in planning the topic for the period. Thus, after a geography, a history or a nature-study lesson, the teacher naturally calls upon the class to summarize the most essential facts. As the lesson is retraced, step by step, by the children, the main topics and subtopics should be listed on the board. When this summary is completed, the chil- dren see the sequence which governed the organiza- tion of the lesson. Then, too, all study lessons can be made informal but nevertheless direct means of teaching children the art of organization. The child 76 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES who studies his lesson in geography tries, first, to as- certain the meaning of the text and then to group the most important facts in a logical outline before com- mitting to memory any of the data. These study les- sons make unmistakable contributions to the child's growing sense of organization. SUGGESTED READING The suggested reading for this chapter will be found at the end of Chapter VIIL CHAPTER VI COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES (Continued) EX1»IIESSI0NAL LIMITATIONS: THE MODEL The method of teaching composition in the gram- mar grades, it was seen, must be governed by the basic difficulties which confront the teacher, viz., lack of content, lack of organization, and expressional limita- tions. The first two of the three have already been considered in detail in the preceding chapters. We must now turn to the third factor which makes chil- dren's work poor and the teacher's problem difficult — expressional limitations, which consist of (a) un- grammatical forms, (b) confused and awkward ex- pressions, and (c) paucity of vocabulary of necessary words. Time and the influences of general education tend, in a measure, to overcome these three limitations and strengthen the child along these very weak lines, for as the child's education progresses he learns the primary laws of grammar, gradually acquires better expressions, and in the course of his daily reading, conversation, or study, enriches his limited stock of words. But all these modes are governed by chance. What specific means have we of bringing about prog- ress in these directions ? In the main, these are four : 7^ COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES (i) group teaching, (2) a wise use of the outline, (3) establishing an intimate relationship betzveen grammar and composition, and (4) the use of the model. 1. Group Teaching. — It is the common experience of all teachers that children usually vary greatly in expressional ability. Natural gifts seem to assert themselves in composition in most unmistakable terms. Some children are precocious in their expressional work, some are exceedingly good, while others seem hopelessly behind. The following compositions were written by two children in a seventh-year class. Both these boys had been in attendance the same time, came from about the same kind of home, and were in Amer- ica about the same number of years. King John King John was a cruel king. He cared more for money than for his people. Sometimes he would torture people just to see them in pain. One day the barons rebelled and made him sign a paper called the Magna Carta. This gave them rights they never had and put King John under control. King John King John was a very crul. He did not care for nobody but himself. People were very angry on him. They gave him a peace of paper wich was called magn Cart wich he was to sign to the peple. What a ludicrous attempt, therefore, is the compo- sition lesson which assigns the same topic to all chil- 79 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH dren, presents the new principle simultaneously to them and expects the same standard of result from such varying abilities ! What a wrong to neglect those able and gifted in expression or to stultify their power by dragging them down to the level of the mediocre ! How stupid to expect the backward and hopelessly deficient to keep up with the standard of general class progress! When shall we realize that indiscriminate class teaching which neglects personal aptitudes or weaknesses and individual needs, stifles unmeasured ability on the one hand and perpetuates hopeless igno- rance on the other! The need for group teaching, for teaching according to personal capacity, is more urgent in composition than in any other elementary school subject. The possibilities for grouping are here more numerous and the conveniences for group teaching are greater, yet teachers are less prone to group in this subject than in others. The difficulties that a pupil encounters in composition are peculiarly personal, hence, only as we try to approximate indi- vidual work in composition, will the child outgrow his personal expressional limitations. 2. The Outline. — A good outline, it was shown, is a great help toward clear and direct thinking. But expression follows thought; hence, clearness of ex- s pression is the inevitable sequel to clearness of think- ing. The outline, by systematizing the child's ideas, guarantees the necessary antecedent of clear and forceful expression. 3. The Intimacy of Graimmar and Composition. — A third factor that seeks to minimize and correct ex- 80 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES pressional limitations is the close relationship of gram- mar to composition. The ideal course in grammar is so planned that it emphasizes those parts that can be of service in writing, or can become standards of judgment and correction; the ideal grammar lesson has its origin in the faults committed by the chil- dren in their composition and finds its application in correction of these same faults. For purposes of il- lustration let us suppose that an examination of a set of compositions shows a tendency toward sentences related in thought but independent in construction, giving a very amateurish and childish effect. Ex- amples of this prevalent weakness are, ''Columbus was a bold navigator. He never feared to sail un- known seas" ; "The Civil War was a long and bloody conflict. It brought untold human misery." A num- ber of sentences similar in looseness of structure are put on the board. By a few well-chosen questions the teacher elicits that each pair of sentences has the same subject and that they can readily be united into one. The ever ready ''and" will undoubtedly be offered but again the children can be led to see that the same looseness of structure is still present. If no pupil can combine the first two sentences to produce a sus- pended sentence, the teacher offers, "Columbus, who was a bold navigator, never feared to sail unknown seas." As the loose sentence, "Columbus was a brave navigator and never feared to sail unknown seas," is compared with the suspended one, the children readily feel the difference in force and the superior ability of the latter to command attention to the very last 8i THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH word. It is now a simple matter to elicit from the class that the word "who" made possible this im- provement in their loose sentence structure. In the same way the succeeding pair of sentences are taken up and the children led to see the value of such words as "which, who, whose, whom," etc. The question, "What shall we study in our grammar lesson to-day?" brings the answer, "The words, who, zvhich, whose, zvhom/' The lesson is thus justified, a vital motive that prompts dynamic interest is supplied, and a defi- nite aim is established for the period. At the end of the lesson each child carefully reads his last com- position and improves every loose construction by a form of the relative pronouns he has learned. Such lessons make grammar real and enable the child to im- prove his speech by intelligent self-criticism and cor- rection. THE MODEL The most potent single factor in elevating standards of expression is the model. Its place in the teaching of composition must receive our attention for the re- mainder of the chapter. 4. Basic Principle of Teaching Language Through a Model. — The psychological principle which justifies the emphasis that is to-day placed on the model as an aid in the teaching of composition, is the oft-quoted dictum, "Language is learned through imitation." The model is studied appreciatively until its appeal sinks deep and becomes part of the pupils, so that un- consciously a child reproduces its wording and its phrasing in his own speech. This method of teaching 82 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES composition based on imitation is not a process of in- struction peculiar to the school; it is the method fol- lowed by writers of the first rank. Stevenson tells us, "I always kept two books, one to read, one to write in. . . . Whenever I read a book or a passage that pleases me, I must always sit down and ape that quality. ... I have thus played the sedulous ape to Hazlitt, to Lamb, to Wordsworth. . . . That is the way to learn to write." Many of the great masters have developed technique by this method. We see then that we need not concern ourselves very vitally with those teachers and principals who refuse to use the model because ''it means imitation and a curbing of individuality of expression." Properly used the model discourages that peculiar individuality of expression that children can well afford to lose. The Selection of the Model. — The proper choice of a model will often determine the spirit, the enthusiasm, the efficiency of the lesson itself. What considera- tion should guide the teacher in making the selection for a particular class? I. The Model Must Be Above the Children in Tone hut not in Comprehension. — The trite advice, "Use models of plain everyday English," has little to jus- tify its application. The model must present no thought difficulty; it must be on the child's level of comprehension and interest. But its tone and spirit must be literary and lofty, so that the child consciously looks up to the model. Dr. William H. Maxwell, Su- perintendent of New York City Schools, therefore, cautions teachers not to make up their own models. 83 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH He insists that their source should be of some standard literary repute. But it is important, however, that the teacher reahze that there is a sharp distinction between the literary standard of the child whose appreciation is crude in the extreme, and the literary requirement of the adult whose linguistic taste has been refined through years of cultural pursuits. Judged by literary canons, a particular selection may possess unusual merit, but its very excellence may make it inappropriate for the pupil of school age. We must see the model through the child's eyes and interpret it in terms of the child's interests, otherwise we may thrust the child into deep waters from which he cannot emerge, and he drowns in utter discouragement. O'Shea, in his 'Tingulstic Development," warns us therefore: The pupil must feel the limitations in his present equip- ment before he can appropriate readily and effectively the means of extending it. So it is poor policy to give pupils in the seventh and eighth years and even in the high school, models in literary expression taken from the involved writ- ings of Milton, Shakespeare, Bacon, Tennyson, Addison and the like. The formal grammatical and rhetorical textbooks are full of complicated but excellent examples of expression, judged from the standpoint of the appreciative adult, culled from the wrorld's great literature, the aim being to illustrate every quality of strength and grace and efficiency in style by the best instances to be found anywhere. But there is an error here which runs through much of our educational theory; what is logically "best" in adult appreciation is in- terpreted to be most suitable for the child at every stage of his development. 84 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES Bearing this warning in mind, the following letter of the late Richard Mansfield to his son Gibbs meets the first requisite of an appropriate model. It is charm- ing in its simplicity. Its diction, its force, and its ease raise it to a literary plane. Private Car 80, Colorado Springs, May 27. My dear, dear Boy: I received your beautiful letter, and I was proud to think that you could dictate it yourself. Of course, you want to go fishing, so does your Dada, and also to go rowing, but he is sorry you do not want to play Indian. Playing Indian is great fun, for you carry a gun or a bow and arrow, and you lope all day long after somebody without stopping to eat or drink, and, when at last you find this somebody that you have been looking for you 'get down on your stomach and wriggle like a snake without making any noise until you reach him. Then you give a dreadful whoop and cut ofiF his hair, if he has any, and hang it up in your wigwam. There are lots of other things you can do, but it is time for me to talk of something else now. I am sitting in my car and the lamps are lighted and are covered with pink shades, and outside it is raining (it wouldn't be pleasant if it were raining inside, would it?) and the drip, drip, drip of the rain on the roof makes me feel very cosy and sleepy. If you were here, I would give you some beautiful marbles to play with, and you could sit on the rug and roll them. To-day it rained so hard that all the little streams drank so much water that they grew and grew and grew until they became giants, and then they were proud and naughty, and took the bridges and the rails in their quivering hands and tore them away, so that your Dada's train could not go any farther. When you are a grown-up engineer you will build 83 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH bridges and rails that the giant streams can't tear away, won't you? On Sunday I went for a drive with Mr. Dillon, and we went to a spring where real soda water bubbles out of the ground, and then drove home through a place called the Garden of the Gods, where there are rocks formed by Na- ture to look like eagles and frogs and little old men and all kinds of people and things, and we saw a little baby donkey, a real one, and your Dada bought it for his little boy, and if he is as good as he always is (not the donkey, but the boy), then Dada's boy can ride and drive it next year, please God. And now Dada kisses his boy just one hundred and one times and fifty and a half are for mudder. Jefferson is bringing Dada's supper, and Dada is going to eat it and thank the Lord he has such a good boy and such a dear mudder. Dada. Compare this literary letter, charming and appeal- ing in its simplicity but essentially on the child's level of comprehension and interest, with the following flat and insipid models offered to teachers by principals wHo believe that ''models must be on the plane of everyday English." Jack and the Beanstalk Jack lived with his mother. She was a poor widow. A giant had killed her husband and stolen her gold. One day the widow told Jack to sell her cow. The foolish boy sold it for a few beans. His angry mother threw the beans out of the window. The next morning Jack found a beanstalk growing outside his window. It seemed to reach the sky. 86 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES The Golden Touch There was once a king named Midas. His little daughter's name was Marygold. The king loved gold very much. So he was given the golden touch. Then everything he touched became gold. At first this made the king feel very happy. One day he touched his little daughter. She became a golden statue. Then the king was glad to get rid of the golden touch. These pseudo-models lack zest and inspiration ; they are entirely devoid of literary merit and cannot there- fore stir in the child a spark of enthusiastic appre- ciation. How inferior does the second selection ap- pear in contrast with the composition written by a fourth-year child in spite of the repressive influence of the principal's literary sense. King Midas ' Many hundreds of years ago there lived in a far-off land a king whose name was Midas. He had a beautiful little daughter named Marygold. The king loved her very much. Midas was very greedy. One day, a fairy came to him and told him he could have any wish he pleased. The king said, "Oh, kind fairy, please give me the gift that everything I touch should turn into gold." The beautiful fairy touched him with her wand, and said, "King Midas, you may have your wish." Then Midas was very happy. His happiness did not last very long. He wanted to eat a piece of bread — it turned to gold. He touched an apple — it turned to gold. One day he was in his treasure house counting his gold. His little daughter Marygold came in to kiss him good morn- 87 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH ing. He kissed her and she turned to gold. Then the king fell to the floor in a swoon. When he recovered he wished that he could lose the gift. Soon the fairy came back and Midas begged her to take back the gift. She took it back and changed everything back to its proper form. Yetta H 4A The two models quoted fail badly because they violate the very first of the cardinal principles of selection, — they are not above the children in tone and spirit. 2. The Content of the Model Must Appeal to the Child's Interest. — The model must at all times reflect the child's life and environment. However beautiful in form, however lofty in appeal and literary in style, the content and not the form of the model will, in the last analysis, attract the child. We must be sure that there is something active, urgent and personal in the selection that is presented for analysis and study. The two models that follow illustrate the point under consideration, — the first, however, by its neglect of this requisite quality. How TO Play Tennis Tennis is a game played very much by both men and women. A ball, a racket for each player, a net, and a marked court are needed. The ball is hit with the racket by the first player. He must place the ball within certain lines or the hit counts against him. If the ball is placed properly, the second player must hit it with his racket. The object is to keep hitting the ball and placing it within the lines. The player, who has the highest count, wins. 88 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES How "flat, stale, and unprofitable" is this imper- sonal, lifeless explanation when compared with the following personal, active, and natural exposition ! How I Built Davie's Wagon Little David is but six years of age, and like many other youngsters is determined to have his way. It was a hot day in June and David wanted to have some fun. His heart was set on a wagon. He stepped up to his hard working father and said, "Papa, make me a wagon." I, a friend of the neighboring carpenter, was standing nearby. So Mr. Abelman, turning to me, said, "If you don't mind, George, here is a box, some tools and a plank. I am con- fident you like carpenter work. Go into the back yard and make Dave a wagon." Having nothing to do, I agreed to this. I secured wheels and set to work. The first thing I did was to nail a plank to the bottom of the box exactly in the center, extending it a yard beyond the front of the box. I next nailed on the back axle and attached its wheels. I afterward took the front axle and nailed it to a small piece of flat board. I bored a hole through the center of the plank, three inches from its end, and another through the small piece of flat board on which the axle was nailed. Then I put a large screw through these holes so as to make the steering apparatus. Last of all I attached the front, smaller wheels and a cord to both ends of the axle. Now everything was complete; the wagon was finished and a pretty good job it was. You can imagine David's joy after the completion of the wagon. He owned a wagon he could call his own and made the other little fellows envious. 3. The Model Must Illustrate Only One Specific Principle. — The model that exemplifies many princi- ples of composition usually teaches nothing, for in 89 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH the end it entails diffusion of attention and results in no permanent acquisition. Select a model because it shows how to describe a person, how to describe a place, how to tell an incident, how to write a dialogue, how to give a clear exposition, etc. At the end of the period the child must consciously feel that at least one lesson has been made central, at least one principle of composition has been learned and mastered. 4. Models Should Be Reasonably Short. — Another consideration governing a good choice of the model is its length. Models should be short, seldom exceed- ing two hundred and fifty words. The long model dissipates energy and attention and weakens the point to be taught. The short model allows for closer con- centration on the vital point, deeper and more lasting impression, and easier grasp of the underlying prin- ciple that is involved. 5. All Models Need Not Come from ''Reputed Lit- erary Sources f — A final suggestion counsels that we use the best compositions of the last class as models for the succeeding pupils. This is in direct contra- diction to the prevalent belief that all models must have "reputed literary sources." The model of "re- puted literary source" may discourage; its very per- fection may preclude any attempt on the part of the child to imitate and approximate it. In all practical higher endeavors in life we usually strive to attain the possible, not the perfect. Confronted with the perfect literary model the child may feel his help- lessness and thus put forth no effort in his discourage- ment. One of the great limitations of the old en- 90 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES graved copy-books was that the copy represented per- fection; hence failure seemed to the child a fore- gone conclusion. But with the product of one's own classmates as a model, a child is roused to healthy emulation, for the goal is possible and probable. General Treatment of the Model.— Now that we have justified the use of the model and have considered the guiding principles in making the most appropriate selections, we must turn our attention to the method of presenting it to the class. To make it easier to fol- low the lesson through its progressive steps, we must take a specific illustration and refer all procedure to it. *'Gellert," a narrative model offered by Sykes in his "Elementary English Composition" (p. i6), will serve this purpose admirably. Gellert Prince Llewellyn had a favorite greyhound named Gellert, gentle at home and valiant in the chase. One day the prince was about to go hunting and blew his horn for his dogs. All his dogs came save Gellert. He blew again and called but Gellert did not come. He could wait no longer and set off without his favorite. He had little success and returned to his castle vexed at his ill luck. As he came up to the castle-gate Gellert came bounding out to meet him. But the prince noticed that his lips and fangs were dripping with blood. The prince was startled. He thought of his infant child who often played with the dog. Rushing to the child's room, he found everything in disorder, the cradle overturned and daubed with blood. More and more terrified at the signs of conflict, he sought for his child but in vain. At last he felt sure that the hound had destroyed his son, and with the cry, "Monster, thou hast 91 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH devoured my child/' he plunged his sword into the grey- hound's side. As Gellert gave his dying yell, a cry was heard from be- neath the overturned cradle and there Llewellyn found his child unharmed and just awakened from sleep, and beside him, torn in pieces and covered with blood, lay the body of a great gaunt wolf. Llewellyn was grieved to the heart; but nothing could bring his faithful dog to life again. He buried him by the castle wall, and over his grave he raised a great cairn of stones so that every passer-by might see it and remember his story. And the place to this day is called Beth Gellert or the Grave of Gellert. The Model in the Hands of the Children. — Each child must be supplied with a copy of the model. Merely to hear the model read by the teacher will not suffice for the auditory appeal is of the very weakest. To see it on the blackboard may help, but too many children cannot see all of the writing and proper con- centration is impossible with the disconcerting cir- cumstances attending such a presentation. With the model in the hands of each child, the proper appeal can be made and the necessary concentration and at- tention can be given. The Reading by the Teacher. — The lesson itself should begin with a reading of the model by the teacher, the children following on their individual copies. To call upon the children is not the most advisable procedure; they stumble and hesitate, new words confuse, new constructions fail to arouse proper meaning and the necessary expression is lost ; all these circumstances militate against the success of the les- 92 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES son. The teacher's reading gives meaning and spirit to the selection; the expression of the reading will give comprehension even where words and phrases may be unfamiliar to the children. The lesson is thus begun with proper interest and attention and the proper attitude toward the work is aroused. The Outline of the Model Developed. — The next step is to trace the structure and the organization of ideas in the model. With this end in view the teacher must elicit the outline of the model. The children read it silently and then give ( i ) the name of each paragraph by pointing out the topic sentence. (2) They then analyze the contents of each paragraph and test for paragraph unity. Is the topic sentence justified? Does every sentence in the paragraph treat of the theme announced in the topic sentence? (3) Attention is next directed to the sequence of the whole series of paragraphs. What guided the author in making his paragraphs follow as they do? (4) The children are finally asked to consider, What are the opening and the closing sentences? Are they ef- fective ? Why ? The Comprehension of the Model. — Now that the children have seen the organization of the model and the development of the theme, the detailed study is begun. The teacher must see that all necessary words and expressions are made familiar, that unusually ef- fective expressions are emphasized, and that the chil- dren are led to imitate them orally and to attempt varia- tions upon them. Let us refer to "Gellert," the illus- tration selected. Do the children know the meaning of 93 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH "greyhound," "save Gellert," "fangs," "conflict," "de- voured," "gaunt," and "cairn"? If they do not, all further study must wait for the acquisition of this information. "How shall it be given?" the teacher asks— "through the dictionary, through the context, through sentences, through word study and etymol- ogy, or through direct telling?" Any method will suffice, but in the main, the direct telling, the much condemned didactic method, must be used, for the governing object of the lesson is not to study words but to carry away the spirit and the form of the model as a whole. Since mere words must be subor- dinated to the thought and its expression, the shortest method is the best. Drill on Superior Forms of Expressions. — The teacher now turns attention to the best phrases in the model and tries to bring out their force and their worth as media of expression. Thus, "valiant in the chase," is subjected to a little exercise like the fol- lowing: "How would you express the same thought?" To this query of the teacher, children in a fifth-year class replied, "Brave while out hunting," "Courageous while out hunting," "Fearless while chasing the deer," "Brave while pursuing the deer," etc. The statements offered by the class as equivalents were compared with the original expression in the model and the chil- dren were led to note its superiority. To cap the point and make the drill effective, insist on original application. Let the children give a list of situations where the phrase can be applied, e. g., to the fireman, policeman, soldier, sailor, etc. Then have 94 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES them construct sentences about these situations, using the expression that is to become part of their vocabu- laries, e.g.: ''The fire captain was valiant at the scene of the rescue of the old woman," ''The policeman was valiant in the pursuit of the burglar," "The general was valiant in the attack," etc., until an ef- fective impression has been made and the expression is on the highroad to the goal of habit. A similar drill can be given on "dripping blood," "vexed at his ill luck," "The prince was startled," "but in vain," etc. But the teacher may object, "When will the oral period come to an end if each good expression be made focal in such a drill?" Much time would un- doubtedly be consumed. Since the time is necessarily limited, we must sacrifice the number of expressions studied to the thoroughness of the drill. The teacher must select only two or three of the dozen admirable phrases and make sure that these become part of the children. If each model could be made to contribute two or three of these expressions toward the child's permanent linguistic possessions, each term would witness unmistakable progress. Emphasis on the Principle of the Composition Illus- trated by the Model. — The next point, and the most im- portant part of the lesson, is the emphasis on the spe- cific point that led to the selection of the model, the drill on the principle of composition which the model illustrates. If the model was selected to illustrate an argumen- tative composition, then it becomes the aim of the teacher to show the children that the organization re- 95 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH quires successively, ( i ) that the topic or the question be stated, (2) that the outline of the arguments be foreshadowed, (3) that the first argument be posited, (4) that the proof for the first argument be given, (5) that the following arguments and their proofs be stated in the same way, (6) that the conclusion be drawn to bring home the contention that is up- held throughout. In the following composition, these points are attempted after a study of the model. The child's product lacks much that is desirable, but it is nevertheless a good statement of what the child feels and thinks. Resolved: That Examinations Are Unnecessary Examinations are given every term to test the pupil of his or her knowledge of different subjects. It is I -I done from the lowest grade in the primary to the highest department in college. The question arises, "Are these necessary?" I firmly believe that examinations are entirely unnec- essary because, first, they make the pupil nervous, and 3 •! second, marks can be obtained in other ways. When the pupil is in the examination hall, things taught her leave her head entirely, therefore they are not a fair test of the pupil's knowledge. It is much better to count the pupil's recitations during the term than for them to be sent on short notice to the examination hall, as one is more familiar and feels more at home in one's own classroom. It's hurtful to the pupil's health as it works the pupil up to a nervous pitch and many pupils become very ill after them. 96 I COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES My opponents may say that the pupil has to be marked so that the teachers may know whether he or she is fit to go on to another grade, but that can be done by marking the pupil on his or her daily work, and averag- ing up the marks on the different subjects at the end of the term. Then again the other side might say that the pupil might become more nervous standing up and fac- ing the class while reciting than just answering an ex- amination paper, but again I say one feels and is more at home in the classroom and with the teacher than in the examination hall. They also might say that if one is not healthy enough to stand an examination they should not be at school, but it is just the examinations that make them unhealthy and nervous after the exami- nations. Annette H 8B. When the model is used to teach the art of expo- sition, emphasis is laid on (i) how the topic to be expounded is announced, (2) the importance of care- ful sequence, (3) the need of sentences that are distin- guished by their simplicity and clearness. As a final point we may mention that the child should be taught the test of good exposition. To do this let the chil- dren follow out the directions and see if the result is the desired end. Thus, in the composition on ''How 'to Lay off a Baseball Diamond/' the child should actually 'lay off," to a scale, the measurements and the lines on a sheet of paper, and test the clearness of the exposition and the logic of the sequence. Whenever an exposition is written, each pupil should be required, if feasible, to express diagrammatically or graphically the directions in his own composition as a test of the efficiency of his written work. 97 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH In the case of narration, the analysis of the model must be such as will reveal the four component ele- ments of a good narrative : 1. The Plot, ^The What?" 2. The Characters, "The Who?" 3. Situation, "The Where — The When?" 4. The Purpose, "The Why?" The introduction must give the "who," the "where" and "when," and the "why"; the succeeding para- graphs offer the "what," the plot. The child thus learns that the organization of a narrative lies in the sequence of events as they happened in time, that the series of occurrences begins with the preliminary events and the setting of the scene, and gradually works up to the climax which in its turn is followed by the denouement, the surprise in outcome or ending. An analysis of the model on "Gellert" reveals, very readily, this structure. Of course, it is obvious that not all these elements and principles of composition would be taught in any one period. A whole lesson may well be spent learning how to write a climax. The children analyze the model and note that the climax is preceded by rather slow movement, long sentences, discursive style, that the climax has maxi- mum movement and is made up of a number of short sentences and independent clauses. Thus, in the model studied, we find, "The prince was startled . . . rushed to the child's room . . . everything in disor- der . . . cradle overturned . . . daubed with blood" . . . Every verb is an action word. This is followed by a series of imitations by the children, in which 98 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES they take first the same subject and then similar sub- jects for their themes. The teacher takes one or two topics and gives his chmax as he would write it; the children then try their own. Thus, the teacher offers, as the climax in a composition on "A Fire" : The smoke was now curling out of each window. It be- came blacker and denser. The crash of breaking glass filled the air. Above the din, a sharp cry rang out. A helpless woman stood on the third floor fire-escape. A sheet of flame now leaped out of the story above. The upper struc- ture was almost entirely enveloped. "Help ! Help !" was taken up by all bystanders. But help was almost beyond human power. The children are asked to suggest a similar situa- tion and the teacher offers to give the climax in appro- priate form. Suppose that the children suggest "The Fire Engine and the Child." The teacher proceeds: The sharp shrill whistle of the engine is piercing the air. The heavy wagon is rounding the corner. The strained face of the driver changes. He pulls frantically at his reins. What can be the matter? See! ... a child in the road- way ! The mother's screams ring out wildly. The bystand- ers are in dismay. Horror-stricken they stand motionless. I shudder to see what the next moment will bring ! As the children's imaginations conjure up new situ- ations of hairbreadth escapes and breathless excite- ment, the teacher gives, on the moment, the fitting climax. This arouses great enthusiasm and the teacher need only challenge the children to imitate this construction in new topics that he may assign. A com- 99 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH petition is started, to see which pupil can, by using short sentences and independent clauses with action verbs, give the greatest feeling of suspense and ex- citement in the situations of "A Man Overboard," "The Stranded Ship," ''Columbus Sighting Land," 'Tocahontas Saving Captain John Smith," ''Crash- ing into an Iceberg," and the like. Only as one point is made focal in the lesson, harped on, imitated, and repeated from varied views and angles, is the child's language ability developed. In the same manner we treat in the formal lesson, a model description. Now the teacher carefully brings home, the fact that in effective description we should give: (i) the general impression, "As I looked up, a most delightful spectacle confronted me," etc.; (2) the point of view, "There, before me, stretching to the right and left, lay a beautiful sheet of water"; (3) the general comparison, "It resembled those charming oval lakes that stud the landscape of North- ern Maine "; (4) choice of details, use of color and picture words — those words and details which empha- size the calm of the lake, and the feeling of quiet satisfaction, and which give the most vivid picture; (5) the lasting impression, "It was one of those haunts of Nature where peace and contentment reign." Here again, we must remember that for any one lesson only one point is selected and the drill is given to make that a permanent acquisition. Let us sup- pose that details and color words are to be empha- sized in the study of a particular model of description. "Der Kleine Johannes" is studied and the children are 100 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES led to see that all details, all words, suggest tranquillity, peace of nature and of man. A new topic is given, the dominant characteristics are elicited and suitable adjec- tives listed on the board in preparation for the drill. Topic I. A Rapid River 2. A Snowfall 3. A Beggar Brooklyn Bridge by Day and by Night 5. A Street Scene Characteristics I. movement mass of water noise 2. slow quiet calm pure 3. pity fear disgust 4. Contrast of im- pression noise rush hurry scurry insignificance of the individual lOI Adjectives 1. noisy turbulent rushing whirling, etc. 2. Same words as characteristics 3. ragged hungry thin pale sickly dirty shaking pleading, etc. 4. Contrast of ad- jectives 5. Same words as characteristics THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH Each topic is now taken up and with the aid of the suggestions on the blackboard, the descriptions are at- tempted orally by the children. In this way a number of themes can be outlined and elaborated in the oral period and the child learns that in writing the de- scription of a place, a person, or a thing, only such characteristic details and color words are selected as will give the auditor or reader one predominant and permanent impression. But it may be argued, ''Why study these forms in the elementary school?" It is true that when children leave school they will not indulge in descriptive para- graphs nor does their correspondence require an in- timate knowledge of the technical structure of nar- ration or exposition. While this must undoubtedly be admitted, we cannot, however, draw the conclusion, "Therefore do not teach these." We are engaged in teaching correct expression; and these forms are the media. Even though letter writing does constitute the sum total of the written composition in the later life of most people, a letter which rises above the level of personal twaddle and gossip shows touches of description, of narration, of exposition and of argu- mentation. And, finally, we must remember that these composition exercises have their value and applica- tion in the literature lessons. When in the course of future reading, the child sees a passage that in- terests him, he can analyze it and criticize, it in terms of his standard. His eyes are open, for instance, to the masterful picture of Ichahod Crane, to Irving's happy choice of characteristic details and rich picture 102 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES words. These exercises, properly presented and stressed, teach the child the technique of expression and give drill until correct forms become habit in both oral and written speech. The Final Reading of the Model. — The topic un- der discussion is the consideration of a method of teaching the model. The mode of procedure fol- lows a number of steps : ( i ) the reading of the model by the teacher, (2) the outline of the model for the study of its sequence, (3) a study of unfamiliar but necessary wording and phraseology, (4) a study of the basic principles for which the model is chosen. The final step in the study of the model requires that we have a final reading of it, either by the teacher or by one of the best readers among the pupils. The reasons for this last reading are many and obvious. In the course of the analytical and detailed study, the model was well dissected. It is now necessary to give a unified impression. The final reading leads not only to this end but to an increased familiarization. In addition one always experiences a keen pleasure from an increased appreciation of old knowledge. It is in this final reading that the child sees how much the lesson has meant to him, how much more he now reads into it, and consequently how much more he reads out of it. How Closely Shall the Model Be Followed? — Having presented the model systematically and thoroughly, the teacher must next concern herself with the prob- lem of how closely to follow it in the course of con- scious imitation. A moment's thought will show the 103 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH futility of the positive answers found in so many- manuals on composition. Any degree of imitation is justifiable, depending upon governing circumstances. These are (i) the ability of the children, (2) the previous study and use of models, (3) the nature of the topic. It follows, therefore, that the imitation will vary from exact transcription, to writing on the same topic, to writing on a kindred topic, to studying the model after the original is written by the child. Imi- tation, therefore, varies from the appropriation of the exact words and phrases to a mere reproduction of form and spirit. The degree of imitation hence grad- ually grows less as the child progresses through the grades. But even in the upper classes different privi- leges and varied treatment must be accorded to the children on the basis of ability. If we follow some group system of teaching composition, then children in the proficient group are required to apply the lessons learned from the model, in original topics, while those in the second division who are medi- ocre or deficient, follow the model closely, write on the same topic and try to reproduce the organ- ization and even in parts the very phraseology it- self. Should the Model Precede or Follow the Composition? — A source of endless contention among writers on composition is the time when the model is to be studied — before or after the composition is written by the children. The debates are spirited and enthusiastic, each side claiming the glory of victory. The verdict, however, cannot be given to either side, for both are 104 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES correct, each, of course, in its own circumstances. What are the merits in the dispute? Those teachers who argue, "before," that the model must precede the child's written composition, insist that language is learned through imitation. If the model is not given the child before the written composition, he has nothing to imitate. When a new topic is presented or a new form of composition is assigned, the child feels lost. All expression is para- lyzed in the face of the technical difficulties. Let the child learn the mode of procedure, the organiza- tion, and the attack, from the model, and the feeling of confidence which ensues, guarantees free and easy expression, for the child, unhampered by formal prob- lems, expresses his mind freely. Those who champion the opposite side of the con- troversy are much perturbed by such a contention, for they argue that to present the model first kills all originality and deadens every spark of personal in- terest. The child is too immature to see the literary value and beauty of the model. Let the child, there- fore, write his own composition, replete with crudi- ties and flagrant errors. Then let him study the model, compare it with his own product and see its inferiority in the contrast. Thus there will be aroused in each child a feeling of discontent with his limi- tations and he will be spurred on to greater effort. But may it not entirely dishearten the child when he perceives his own inferiority? These contestants do not realize that there are two uses of a model, viz., a standard for imitation and a 105 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH standard for correction. In discharging the first func- tion, the model must naturally be used before the composition, but for purposes of correction, it fol- lows the child's own production. Realizing the limi- tations of any arbitrary law, it may nevertheless be stated as a safe tendency that through the sixth year all models should precede children's compositions, for the pupils are still too poor in language possession to launch out for themselves. In the seventh and eighth years the model should be used as a standard for imitation in new and difficult forms, i. e., in de- scriptions, in argumentations, and the like. But, when the topic is of an old form, a narration, or a business letter, or a biography, the children should write their own compositions first and then use the model as a standard for correction. The model is studied very carefully and then the original compositions are cor- rected in the light of the lessons learned and the limi- tations noted. How to Prevent Slavish Imitation of the Model. — The final topic in the discussion of the model is the means of guarding against overimitation, which makes com- position little more than a transcription exercise and kills whatever originality and enthusiasm the child may have in his self-expression. The suggestions that are offered for guarding against slavish imitation are simple indeed, though often neglected in the rou- tine of teaching. I. Variety of Organisation. — The simplest method of introducing a personal note in the compositions written after the model is studied, is to evolve with io6 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES the children all the possible forms of organizing the facts of the subject. At the end of such an exercise each child decides for himself, the number of para- graphs he will have, the theme of each, and the group- ing of facts under them. It is evident also that each mode of organization will have its appropriate open- ing and closing sentence. In discussing the element of originality in the outline, instances were quoted from children's work illustrating the point under dis- cussion. 2. Drill on Synonymous Expressions. — In the study of the model entitled ''Gellert" it was shown how rich and varied an exercise can be worked out by eliciting synonymous expressions for "valiant in the chase." Such a drill entails a verbal stock-taking which leaves the child with a more varied and richer vocabulary. In the "Pied Piper of Hamelin," we find among others, the expressions, "The town was infested with rats," "The people were beside them- selves," "His clothes were variegated," and "gray rats, brown rats, young rats, old rats." These were made basic in a drill on variety of synonymous ex- pressions with a fifth-year class. The children gave, "The town was rat-ridden," "It was a town of rats," "The rats of the universe seemed to collect there," "The rats made the town their home," "It seemed as if no rat was happy unless it got there," etc., for the first. "The people hardly knew what to do," "The people were driven to desperation," "The problem seemed hopeless to the townsfolk," "The townspeo- ple despaired of ever getting rid of the rats," are 107 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH types of equivalents that were elicited for the second. Such a drill is therefore an effective means of guard- ing against too close an imitation of the model. The Variation Method. — A special method known as the "variation method" is gaining much popu- larity in many schools. Teachers who follow this method select a story which is read to the class. The story is then outlined and subdivided into logical parts. The first logical subdivision is treated somewhat as follows. The first sentence is written on the black- board. Subject, predicate, complement and important modifiers are marked off by vertical lines. Each part of the sentence is then subjected to variations and each contribution that is accepted is put on the board in its proper column. The writer observed such a lesson in which the sentence for the day was, "The old scholar arose early each day to study the holy law." For the subject, "the old scholar," the chil- dren offered : "the old prophet," "the prophet of old," "the pious old man," "the God-fearing rabbi," "the religious teacher," "the old religious student." For the predicate verb, the teacher elicited, "awoke," "be- stirred himself," "left his bed." For the adverbial modifier, "early each day," the children offered, "at the dawn of day," "at the first sign of day," "at the coming of daylight," "before the sun showed his face," "before the darkness of night had left," "when the world was still wrapped in the darkness of the night." Toward the end of the period, the blackboard work took on an appearance like the following, each contribution being in different colored chalk : io8 COMPOSITION IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES I ^' _d 'S '^ !3 -O O f^ O ■-^ 5- o n J ^ cfl O U "5 ■:S O :S "5 o o o o Kfi (U •+-> ^ ^ ^ 1 >. .^ ^ <+-< Oj r*^ en 03 'O ^ o _bJO bjo 03 .s ^ 4-> ^ -T^ "S CO <5j ID Cii rt rt OS ^ ^ c • ^H ;3 ■<-> CO to Oh 3 CO :3 [§) en ^3 1 •^ 2 ^ s >■"<. '0 5—1 Ph "o. 0) *o ca hn, with his dog, are in the room." The teacher appeals to their knowledge of grammar, and asks such questions as *What is the subject? the predicate? the rule of agree- ment? What are the modifiers?" If for some reason, 122 THE CORRECTION OF WRITTEN COMPOSITIONS answers to these cannot be obtained from the chil- dren, a direct explanation is given and the reason for the inaccuracy is stated by the teacher. The children are then called upon for the correction of the sentence. Under no circumstances should the teacher offer the correct form, for the aim of the lesson and the test of comprehension are both defeated. In this way each general error on the board is taken up, discussed, and corrected by the pupils. When this work is completed, the children read their own compositions with great care and look for such typical errors, which they un- derline and correct. In this work a few minor cautions are necessary: (i) The corrections on compositions written in ink should be made with a different colored ink or lead pencil, for if the same colored ink is used, the chil- dren's minds become occupied with the problem of how to correct surreptitiously; an "e" is filled up and dotted to become an "i," a small ''s" has its head en- larged to become a capital letter, and the like — prac- tices which take attention away from the main issue, the comprehension of the cause of error and the in- terest in self-correction. (2) Let the children under- line each error with ruler and pencil, and refrain from indicating by a confusion of symbols what literary sin they have committed. These symbols cannot an- ticipate every possible error that children in their ig- norance can perpetrate. The period is often wasted with questions of the type, "I put in double quotation marks where I should have had single ones ; how shall I mark it?'* etc. A line under each error ought to 123 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH suffice. (3) It IS important that children look for only- one or two typical errors at a time. To ask them to read their compositions and correct in the one reading all their errors is too big a task for them. In the re- sulting diffusion of attention, they overlook flagrant mistakes and neglect important corrections. (4) We must stimulate them to set to this task with spirit and avidity. They naturally fear to bring out all their errors prominently. Hence we must put a premium on correction. Let them feel that all errors corrected are excused; all uncorrected, count doubly against them. In this way we reduce the teacher's burden, lead the children to see their errors and note the cause, and to develop habits of self-criticism. Seeming Limitations of the Method. — But it may be argued that there are serious limitations to this meth- od. To begin with, not all errors will be corrected. This imputation is true, but it is better to have some of the errors corrected and feel that an effective effort has been made to undermine them than to correct them all only to be chagrined by their unwelcome reappear- ance in the next composition period. A second criti- cism that can in all justice be urged is that in such a method all typical errors will be eliminated and per- haps eradicated, but how will those errors that are. pe- culiar and personal to each child be brought out and corrected? To reach the child's personal limitations and incorrect forms, this method must be supple- mented in a number of ways. Let us consider them. Eliminating Individual Errors: i. Each Composi- tion to he Read by a Critic. — The first means that we 124 THE CORRECTION OF WRITTEN COMPOSITIONS have of undermining those peculiar errors that are made by each child is to arrange to have each com- position read by a critic. We have all seen evidences of the children's desire to read one another's compo- sitions. Exchanges are constantly going on behind the teacher's back if such a practice is foolishly for- bidden. Such a desire can be utilized for educational ends. Just as soon as the teacher knows her pupils she can group them by two's and have each child act as an assigned critic of his classmate. Thus, a child who writes good compositions is made the critic of one whose work is below grade. The former can re- ceive little constructive criticism from any of his class- mates; the latter can gather a great deal of helpful advice from the assigned critic. The teacher must direct the critics' efforts along certain lines by hang- ing a large cardboard in some conspicuous place, con- taining these directions: Critics Look for : 1. Paragraph Unity and Structure. 2. Sentences — (a) Capitalization. (b) Subject and Predicate. (c) "and" habit. 3. Punctuation, Spelling, Capitalization. Each critic reads the composition three times, each time for one specific error. To add to the serious- ness and the dignity of the task, each critic must sign 125 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH his name and pin his criticisms to the original compo- sition. In marking compositions, the teacher should rate the critic as well as the writer of the composition. The compositions are then returned and each child reads the critic's suggestions, carrying out such direc- tions as appeal to him, and verifying the doubtful ones by reference to textbook or to the teacher. Where class discipline is properly organized, children are al- lowed to sit together, to discuss their compositions, and decide on the final corrections. However, those whose ideas of discipline call for deathlike stillness, with a repressive silence and military responses, may shrink from such a suggestion. In this form of cor- rection, children take pride in offering good correc- tions and in bringing compositions to their critics that have as few mistakes as possible ; they are at all times kept active learning the art of self-criticism. 2. Compositions Criticised by the Class. — A sec- ond supplementary device to detect personal errors and shortcomings is the common exercise of having the class criticize the compositions of individuals. To elicit criticism that is direct and pointed, the children should be trained to listen intelligently by having a chart similar to the one mentioned before in front of the class, and requiring "Group I" to listen for para- graph unity and sentence structure, "Group 11" for grammatical correctness, and "Group III" for begin- nings, endings, kind of facts, etc. In this way much of the stupid criticism that is often made by children can be eliminated. The class should be encouraged to point out commendable efforts so that the child who 126 THE CORRECTION OF WRITTEN COMPOSITIONS reads his composition does not feel that he is running the gantlet of adverse criticism. It is also advisable to allow a child to answer his critics and to defend his stand if he is not willing to accept the criticisms that are too freely offered by the thoughtless. 3. Personal Correction and Criticism by the Teacher. — A third supplementary aid to help each child overcome his own personal pecuharities is to have the teacher give his personal attention to each composition. The task is not only colossal, but when carried out in the usual manner is, as we have seen, devoid of results. Hence the teacher should take only one-third or one-fourth of the whole set of composi- tions each week, the following week the second third or the second quarter, etc., until every member of the class has received the benefit of the teacher's criticism. But it must be remembered that each composition must be read with the child, the error pointed out, and its cause explained, but the pupil himself must indi- cate the correct form. No mark is made on the com- position that the child does not personally dictate. One-third or one-fourth of a large class would rarely give a teacher more than twelve or fourteen composi- tions a week. The children can meet the teacher In personal conference before school hours, during study periods, or for a few moments after sessions. In this way the teacher is not overwhelmed by a task that saps energy and vitality, the children learn the cause of their errors, habits of self-correction are engen- dered, and positive and effective steps are taken to im- prove standards of expression. 127 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH How Shall the Class Work Be Kept ?— When the work is completed, how shall it be kept? Surel}^ not in the altogether too prevalent form in which papers of the whole class are collected, fastened tight, adorned with ribbons and elaborate title pages, and hidden in the dark recesses of a closet to await the criti- cal eye of principal or superintendent. These compo- sitions must be kept in individual envelopes or in note- books so that each child has a cumulative result. At a moment's notice the teacher must be able to see a child's progress or retrogression. The children like this meth- od better, for the pride of ownership and evidences of tasks accomplished are always sources of keen pleas- ure. The Rewriting of Corrected Compositions. — The final consideration in the matter of correcting compositions is the problem of rewriting compositions. Not many years ago, the unanimous verdict was, ''All composi- tions must be rewritten." To-day the camp is divided. Many insist that compositions should never be rewrit- ten. Their many arguments, when summed up, re- duce themselves to the following: (i) Time is lav- ishly spent in an exercise that is a matter of penman- ship rather than of composition. (2) The period is dull since it is at best a stupid repetition, a mechanical transcription. (3) Such lessons have a deadening ef- fect upon future compositions since no joy is experi- enced in this kind of expression. The opponents insist on rewriting, for they argue that in real life the first draft is generally not the final one. We rewrite as a result of self-criticism of 128 THE CORRECTION OF WRITTEN COMPOSITIONS the first effort. Second, the habit to polish, to modify, and to correct an initial effort is well worth acquiring. Third, the final rewritten form leaves a good impres- sion upon the child's mind. Each side has legitimate claims and a pedagogical basis but nevertheless suffers from the excesses of an extreme point of view. A moderate policy counsels that compositions should never be rewritten for the sake of improved penmanship nor at regular periods, like once a fortnight or once a week. All rewriting should spring from a desire on the part of the children to have an opportunity to improve an unsuccessful first attempt. For purposes of illustration we may assume that a composition was written and the model was studied afterward for comparison and correction. The children now realize how far from the mark they hit, how much better they could do if a second trial were allowed them. If this is the feeling that pre- vails, the children should be permitted to rewrite their unsuccessful compositions. This second exercise is alive and spirited, for it is actuated by strong motive power and earnest conviction. SUGGESTED READING The suggested reading for this chapter will be found at the end of Chapter VIII. CHAPTER VIII HOW TO VITALIZE COMPOSITION EXERCISES Introduction. — The concluding chapter on the teach- ing of composition asks how life and enthusiasm can be introduced into the varied expressional lessons of the elementary school, because children generally feel that these are routine drills, devoid of all interest and giving no pleasure. They experience little exhilara- tion but much fatiguing effort because teachers neg- lect the basic tenet that was laid down at the begin- ning of this discussion, viz., ''The play spirit must characterize the art of composition, for all art was conceived in a play spirit." We must now turn to a series of miscellaneous suggestions that seek to vital- ize composition and infuse into it this play spirit of art. i. Greater Emphasis on Letters. — Compositions m essay form usually lack the naturalness of letters ; they are as stiff and stilted as our own high-school and col- lege essays used to be. The reason, in the main, seems to be that the child sees no use for the composition form just as we saw no use and felt no need for the essays imposed upon us. But a letter stands out as a form of communication that is essentially useful, prac- tical, and personal; these attributes give it spirit and 130 HOW TO VITALIZE COMPOSITION EXERCISES Interest. An examination of the term's work in ele- mentary classes reveals a surprising preponderance of the essay form. It is evident that the usual ratio of three essays to one letter each school month must be changed to at least two letters and two essays. 2. The Correspondence Should Treat of Actual Affairs of Real Life. — If letter forms are to be emphasized, we must eliminate at once such letters as are letters in form only and essays in spirit. One may write to a cousin, as is so often done in the classroom, about "How people live in China," or "How the Battle of Bunker Hill was fought," and use the proper form, arrangement, superscription, salutation, etc., but he is, nevertheless, sending an essay, not a letter. A recent publication much used by teachers suggests the following "Subjects for Letters" : "Imagine you live in Honolulu; write to a brother telling of the people, their life, occupations, etc." "Write to your uncle on what you think of a book." "You just returned from a visit to your cousin in New Orleans ; write him about the return trip." "Write a letter describing your im- aginary visit to the South." "Write a letter telling how you spent your last vacation." "Write a letter telling your aims in life." These are a few of numer- ous suggestions, all violating our cardinal dictum which holds that a letter is a personal expression on a personal theme rather than a general expression or an artificial literary effusion. Select titles like the following : "Letter complaining that inferior goods were sent by a department store, and the answer"; "Letter of application, and the an- 131 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH swers: (a) acceptance, (b) rejection"; "Letter of apology for a business error" ; "Letter of introduc- tion"; "Letter asking for an advertisement for the school paper"; "Letter challenging another class to a contest"; "Letter to a hotel asking for summer rates" ; "Letter to a summer camp asking for terms" ; "Letter to the Association for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals asking that the authorities send for a homeless cat"; "Letter to the Board of Health complaining of some source of contagion," etc. In all cases the child should be required to write the answers also. Because these relations and affairs necessitate correspondence in actual life, they must be the topics for the letters in the schoolroom. 3. The Correspondence Itself Should Be Real. — ^Not only should the theme of the letters reflect real life and human relations, but the form of the correspondence should be made as actual as possible. In the workaday world one writes because he is actuated by two condi- tions: (i) He has something to say, and (2) he has someone to whom to say it. In school, children usual- ly write because they must say something; what they say is stored in the teacher's desk in neat packages. It is evident that classroom correspondence must be ac- tualized by having it addressed to a real person who will read and answer it. The letter asking for an ad- vertisement in the school paper should be addressed to one's permanent critic, who reads it and answers it. The exchange of letters actually takes place. This means life and spirit, for the letter is real, it bears a living message, and brings the coveted answer. Every 132 HOW TO VITALIZE COMPOSITION EXERCISES opportunity should be seized upon to make classroom correspondence real and urgent. Children should write letters to their teachers when they have a complaint to register or when they seek advice. If a member of the class is sick, or is at home because he has lost a mem- ber of his family, notes of sympathy should be writ- ten and the best ones sent. If teachers keep watching for such opportunities, they will find innumerable ones arising in the course of ordinary routine during the term. 4. The Class Journal with Its Board of Editors Elected or Selected. — A class journal can be organized in the sixth, seventh, and eighth years. A board of editors of three or five is appointed by the teacher or elected by the children. This board is directed by the teacher and brings out an issue at regular intervals of about a fortnight. The journal is of simple construction and can be mimeographed so that each member of the class receives his personal copy. The editors read each week's compositions and select the best three or four for reproduction in the class journal. They post no- tices on the class bulletin boards calling for original stories, anecdotes, timely clippings, appropriate per- sonals, and the like. They write up interesting class- room incidents, summarize school athletics, give the news of the class teams, hold contests for the best short story — in a word, contribute to the life and spirit of the class. Such a journal can be made an agent of untold value. There are a number of pupils in each class who like to read, who do read, whose imagination is rich 133 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH with interesting inventions but who have no motive and no reason for giving expression to these through writing. The journal draws them out and produces surprises for the teacher. It is also a means of re- veaHng the true natures of some children to their teachers. Because a child is not proficient in the work of the grade, he is judged stupid. But his contribu- tions to the class journal may reveal a sense of humor, an originality, a fund of common-sense, and practical judgment which will stand him in good stead in later years. These revelations offer most agreeable sur- prises. Such a journal will also make for greater class solidarity; it creates good class spirit, acts as a wholesome spur toward better compositions, for chil- dren strive to be selected for the editorial board and to have their compositions reprinted in the issues of the paper. 5. TJse Debatable Topics. — Debatable topics should be used with greater frequency, for they meet with much favor among the children. They are popular because — if well chosen — they give the child an oppor- tunity to express his personal preference. Hence we must be sure to select a topic that reflects the child's life and desires, his point of view, his yearnings. The following list of topics urged in a standard book much used in elementary grades cannot receive unqualified indorsement : ''Physical Training Should Be Compul- sory in Public Schools," "Woman Suffrage," "The Civil-Service System Should Be Abolished," "The Term of the Supreme Court Judge Should Be Lim- ited," "Canada Should Be Annexed to the United 134 HOW TO VITALIZE COMPOSITION EXERCISES States." A more appropriate series of topics would be: ''Resolved, That We Have a School Paper"; ''Resolved, That We Have a School City" ; "Resolved, That the Girls Should Vote in the School City" ; "Re- solved, That Examinations Be Abolished" ; "Resolved, That John Brown Was Not Justified in His Actions" ; "Resolved, That the Fireman Is More Useful than the PoHceman, or the Nurse than the Teacher," etc. The children should be allowed to take sides; an advocate of the negative should be declared a partner of a sponsor for the affirmative, and should be re- quired to exchange his composition with him. The succeeding composition lesson should continue the same subject so that each child has an opportunity to answer his opponent. The results, when the topic is appropriately chosen, are most satisfactory because the two governing motives which prompt natural expres- sion are present, viz., the children have something to say and they are addressing their views to some defi- nite person who will read them. Enthusiasm and pleasure are guaranteed to the children in such work. 6. Aim at Variety of Form and Content. — An exam- ination of a term's compositions usually reveals one marked Hmitation — there is woeful lack of variety of form and content in them. If one were to check up the titles of these compositions, he would find that biographies lead by a large margin. When in doubt as to a subject, a teacher usually selects a character about whom the children have read in history or litera- ture and tries to make him yield the inspiration for the week's composition. These biographies are simple 135 2. Imaginative Incident THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH to write, for these persons were all born, lived their eventful lives, and then died, thus affording an obvi- ous sequence and a stereotyped organization. There is no reason why we should lack variety of subject-mat- ter if we consider the many possibilities that are at hand. The outline here given suggests types of composi- tions appropriate for the range of grades in the ele- mentary school : I. Narration — T, . . -fa. Story Read or Told I. Reproduction of -^ , t -i . ^tt- i [b. Incident Witnessed a. Personal Anecdote, Humorous b. Serious Story, Result of Child's Imagination The following compositions are types of imag- inative incidents taken from the work of school children. They are quoted not because of unusual merit but rather because they are typical of the humor and the tragedy that most children feel and can ex- press. The Expected Guest On Monday afternoon my uncle from Boston was ex- pected to pay us a visit. I had never seen him, because he had not visited us for fifteen years. We occupied a flat in the house situated in the upper part of Manhattan, and mother and I were alone. At about two o'clock the bell rang and I answered the 136 HOW TO VITALIZE COMPOSITION EXERCISES door. A man entered and inquired if Mrs. Green was at home. I replied, very politely, "Yes, sir; walk right into the parlor and sit down. Mother will be in in a minute." Then going to the kitchen where my mother was, I said to her, "Mother, uncle is in the parlor." So she slipped off her apron and went in. As she came near the door the man arose and said, "Madam, I would like you to try a new brand of coffee which I am advertising, and if you like I will leave a sample with you and call to-morrow for your order." My mother did not feel like ordering coffee that day because she was sadly disappointed. But we had a good laugh, and about nine o'clock that evening my uncle arrived. A Daring Rescue On the evening of November 22nd I was seated in my father's store writing a composition, when I was disturbed by a great hullabaloo outside. Whenever I am occupied in this way the least disturbance irritates me. So, throwing aside my work, I ran to the door to find out the cause of the disturbance. I was horror stricken at the sight which met my gaze. The whole street was lighted up with a red glow. Glancing up at a house nearby, I saw flames belching forth from a first-story window. A great crowd of furious people had been attracted to the spot and the street was crowded. Some daring boys had climbed up the fire-escape and one of them had muffled a blanket around his face and had gone into the burning flat. He immediately withdrew and in his hand he clutched a chair. He was just giving it a final tug when he was overcome by the pungent smoke. He hurled the chair back and ran down into the street, closely followed by the other boys. The sea of expectant faces was suddenly turned upward. For on the top floor, the figure of a girl was seen standing on the window-sill ready to jump. The flames could never have reached that height, but the girl had probably been THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH crazed by fear, and had acted upon the impulse of the mo- ment. "Would nobody stop her ?" I kept repeating to myself. To jump would be fatal. One of the men in the crowd had courage enough to climb swiftly up the fire-escapes. He reached her just in the nick of time. Bidding her be brave, he gripped her around the waist and cautiously climbed along the narrow ledge to the opposite window, where the fire-escape was situated. Their forms were plainly silhou- etted against the white wall of the building. Every neck in the crowd was craned upward. The girl had now collapsed and the burden was entirely upon the man. He descended slowly, oh, so slowly, until he reached the first floor where the flames were snarling, hissing, and crackling from the window. He paused a moment ! Would he falter after having gone so far? Gathering all his remaining strength in one last effort, he made a desperate spurt into the very heart of the flames, and just when his strength was desert- ing him a fireman snatched the girl from his now feeble arms and lowered her down to a waiting comrade below. For meanwhile the firemen had arrived. The girl and her rescuer were badly scorched and they were both carried to a neighboring drug store. At this stage the fire was at its height. The flames had burst through the ceiling into the flat above. The owner of the burning flat, who occupied a store directly below it, was crying piteously, for, said he, "My wife and baby are above." With difficulty he was assured that they were safe. Meanwhile the firemen were exerting every effort and soon had the fire under control. Not a pin was saved from the ruins after the fire. But what is of more importance no lives were lost. The follow- ing day the papers had a thrilling account of how "A driver at the risk of his life saves a girl of eighteen." II. Description. — A descriptive composition may vary considerably so that the child never realizes that 138 HOW TO VITALIZE COMPOSITION EXERCISES he is writing the same literary form, for it may be a description of a place, of a person, or of a thing. But in all description we should bear in mind the fact that the child is not interested in writing a description merely for the sake of description, merely to give to someone a rich, detailed picture which he himself sees. Every description that is written in the elementary school should have either a personal touch or a story element in it ; it must always be a description for some definite purpose; to give the setting of a story, a pic- ture of the main character in an incident, or the like. A child's language stock is too poor to enable him to indulge in description freely, and to give a vivid im- pression of characteristic details merely through the use of rich color words and suggestive phrases. In describing a person the child must be made to realize that he can give us a picture of the person by telling what the character does and says as well as by giving an enumeration of the distinguishing features. What is meant by having children write description with a personal touch or a story element, can perhaps best be seen from an analysis of concrete illustra- tions. Illustration A. A boy is about to start out from a country town to try his fortune in the city. De- scribe him. Illustration B. "Der kleine Johannes" — Descrip- tion of a lake. Its beauty and splendor tempt Johannes to row in the boat, in violation of his mother's commands. Illustration C. My Classmate. 139 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH My Classmate On coming into the classroom every morning it is a habit of mine to glance at a certain individual whose antics are quite amusing. There are very few characters in our class whose descriptions would be as interesting as that of my hero's. He is as tall as the average fifteen-year-old boy. Per- haps not many peculiarities as to traits can be seen unless he is closely watched. He has a kindly disposition and is at peace with all. The mention of black hair, dark brown eyes, prominent nose and rather thin features will suffice for a description of his appearance. One of his chief character- istics is modesty. Of course he knows grammar, but when he gets up to recite he misses because being so modest he is satisfied that somebody else should get the glory. Many times in the different rooms of the departmental section, he can be seen gazing out of the window, watching the clouds as they sail gracefully by. I remember distinctly on one occasion, while he was in one of his favorite reveries, I arose to read a composition about a diamond necklace valued at $10,000. At the mention of such an enormous sum of money his eyes grew as large as saucers, his mouth expanded to twice its natural size, and his face was aglow with excitement. So noticeable was this that the teacher on seeing it remarked, "Master X has really awakened." I might relate some more very interesting incidents re- garding him but I am afraid my narrative may become tedious. Hoping the one of whom I write will not in any way be offended, as I have tried hard to say nothing that would embarrass him, I will close feeling certain that my description has not been in vain. Pupil in 8A Grade. Illustration D. The Beggar. Turgenieff : "Dream Tales," 140 HOW TO VITALIZE COMPOSITION EXERCISES The Beggar I was walking along the street. ... I was stopped by a decrepit old beggar. Bloodshot, tearful eyes, blue lips, coarse rags, festering wounds. . . . Oh, how hideously poverty had eaten into this miserable creature ! He held out to me a red, swollen, filthy hand. He groaned, he mumbled of help. I began feeling in all my pockets. . . . No purse, no watch, not even a handkerchief. ... I had taken nothing with me. And the beggar was still waiting. . . . And his outstretched hand feebly shook and trembled. Confused, abashed, I warmly clasped the filthy, shaking hand. . . . "Don't be angry, brother; I have nothing, brother." The beggar stared at me with his bloodshot eyes. His blue lips smiled; and he in his turn gripped my chilly fingers. "What of it, brother?" he mumbled; "thanks for this too. That is a gift too, brother." I knew that I too had received a gift from my brother. III. Exposition. — The next form that composi- tion may take is the expository one. But here, too, it must be remembered that in the question of form vs. content, form always proves — to the child — to be less interesting. The teacher must make sure of a fitting content, hence children should not be required to write expository compositions merely for the sake of learning the technical requisites of literary exposi- tion. There must be a personal element, and an in- dividual expression throughout the essay. From this point of view, models like the following are poor, for 141 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH in the final analysis they have no reason for being and are expository merely for the sake of expounding. How TO Play Ping-Pong Ping-pong is a game played by men, women and children. A light, hollow ball, a pair of rackets, a net and a table are needed. Boys often use small boards and a cloth stretched across a table, but grown-up people use regulation tables and rackets. The game is like tennis. Since it is played on a table, it is often called table-tennis. The first player serves the ball. If he fails to "place" it properly, the count is against him. Should he "place" the ball within the correct space, the second player must hit it with his racket. The object is to keep hitting it and sending it within the proper lines. The player who has the highest count wins. The system of points is the same as that used in tennis. How A Canal Lock Works A person who has never traveled on a canal is always interested in the operation of the locks. A lock is a struc- ture in a canal that is designed to raise boats from a low level to a higher one or vice versa. Since the land through which a canal flows is not absolutely level, it becomes nec- essary to raise or lower a boat with the changing height of the water. The lock has two strong gates across the canal. These separate the two levels of water. When a boat comes to the lock from the low level, the gate is opened and it is allowed to enter. The gate is then shut and the boat is inclosed between the two gates. The second gate is then opened, and the water from the higher level gradually runs in. The boat is raised slowly. When the gate is opened wide, the water in the lock is the same height as the higher level in 142 HOW TO VITALIZE COMPOSITION EXERCISES the canal. The boat is then pulled out of the lock and proceeds on its way. Teachers' manuals on the teaching of composition are replete with expositions of this type, excerpts that give a list of impersonal directions, written, as far as the child is concerned, for no other purpose than to illustrate technicalities of formal language No worth-while effort by the child can find its impulse in the indifference which such models arouse. How can one add the personal touch and introduce motive in the exposition written by school pupils ? An analysis of the following essay written by a 7A boy may give the answer: His First Swimming Lesson My last summer was not the happiest one of my life for not many weeks had passed before I broke my leg in a bad fall down the stairs. It was difficult indeed for me to get about with my clumsy crutches and my foot in plaster. The day was hot and I felt that I would enjoy the cool breezes of the East River. I therefore hobbled over on my crutches to the dock which is only three blocks from my house. I had not been there very long when one of the boys who was carelessly jumping from one canal boat to another and from one raft to another, slipped and fell in. By the terrible struggle to grasp the raft I saw he could not swim. Had I been well I could have saved him. But with my bandaged leg I could do nothing. I rushed to the end of the pier as well as I could. By this time the lad luckily grasped a loose board. As he held on I shouted my directions to him. I told him to fill his lungs with a deep breath and hold his head above water. As soon as he did this I advised him 143 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH to kick with his legs and push the board in the direction of the raft. He tried it but was too excited to do it right. I then told him to push the board under his arms to be sure of support. He did it. I then began the arm movement, hands together, all the way out, palms turned out and each arm pushing through the water in a semicircle until the palms touch, then push hands out again. He did as he saw me do and covered a short distance. I then shouted to him to keep his legs working. Just then a swell of a passing boat pushed him with some force and he reached the raft. It was an exciting day but even if I did not save the careless boy, I gave him his first lesson in swimming. The feeling one gets on reading this child's effort is that the exposition of the swimming strokes is not forced ; it is not written because he was trying to carry out the set formula for this special form of composi- tion. Its setting is natural, its context is real, its ex- planations are spontaneous, and its very expression intensely personal. The following list of topics may give added illustrations of how to introduce a personal note in exposition in order to produce more spirited and lifelike results : "The Boy on the Coaching Line Advising the Play- ers." "The Captain of the Basket-ball Team Explaining the Signals to His Players." "The Captain of the Baseball Team Giving His Players Instruction in 'Stealing Bases.' " "How I Won the Championship in the Ping-Pbng Tournament." "How I Made My Record in Tennis." 144 HOW TO VITALIZE COMPOSITION EXERCISES ''How I Made a Tabouret that Won My Teacher's Praise." "Why the Apron I Sewed Was Not a Success," etc. IV. Argumentation. — In a previous connection, necessary cautions, suggestions, and a list of appro- priate topics for argumentation were given. Nothing need be added here for elementary composition. V. Invention. — This is a form of composition that finds the children most responsive, for it appeals to their sense of originality ; it calls for all their ingenu- ity and for a full and free expression of those ideas that crave most for utterance. It is obvious that the forms of inventive composition can be as varied as the teachers who guide the lessons and the children who write the final product. The forms most fre- quently used are: A. Imaginary Conversations. — The success of these compositions is determined primarily by the ap- propriateness of the topics selected. The following situations have brought uniformly good results : I. The Little Girl Pleading with Lincoln for Her Brother's Life. One cold, damp Sunday morning in the spring of 1863 a little girl was seen ascending the steps of the White House. She rushed past the guard at the main entrance and before she could be overtaken was in the large office of President Lincoln. The president, surprised, looked up with a start and then asked: "What can I do for you, my dear girl ?" "I have come to ask for a great favor." "To plead for your rebel father, I suppose." 145 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH "No, sir, for my brother, John." "A rebel who should be freed for shooting his northern countrymen, I suppose." "No, sir, he is a loyal supporter of his country's flag." "Then why come here to plead for him?" "Because, sir, he fell asleep while on sentinel duty. For eighteen hours he fought bravely with his regiment and helped win the battle. When the fighting was over, he was put in the first batch of sentinels. He is not strong, he is young, only eighteen. He trotted up and down and, before he knew it, he was asleep at his post. He was caught and is sentenced to be shot." "His offense is a grave one indeed," said the President, "but so brave a boy and the brother of such a sister can be of greater service above ground than under it. Go home, you have saved your brother." In her great joy the little girl rushed from the office without stopping to thank President Lincoln. B....A.... 6B. 2. An Encounter with a Beggar. — The writer of the composition meets the beggar, who solicits aid. A conversation ensues in which the sad life of the beg- gar, the series of misfortunes, the downward path, etc., are brought out. 3. The Capture of Andre. — The three patriots stop the inquiring stranger ; the conversation in which Andre raises their suspicions and finally implicates himself, the search, the conference among the patriots, the decision to bring Andre to the American com- mander. 4. Columbus Before the Court of Spain. — Colum- bus explains his ideas and hopes, the sceptical and sarcastic questions of the ministers, the sympathetic 146 HOW TO VITALIZE COMPOSITION EXERCISES questions of Isabella, the answers of Columbus, the final convincing argument, Isabella's offer of her jewels, etc. This topic allows for a skillful blending of exposition and dialogue, and for effective correla- tion of history and composition. 5. Cat-and-Mouse Story. — The following effort by an eighth-year pupil shows a commendable result. It is given in full because the topic and the organiza- tion will readily suggest to the teacher a host of simi- lar situations appropriate for the needs of any class: An Incident Plump ! Bing ! Tarra-r-r ! Bang ! "What in the world was that?" said I, startled by the noises which were heard from the cellar. "There goes the shelf with the tin cans," answered my brother, turning a white face toward me. "I guess there must be robbers down in the cellar," said I, trying to look scared, although I could hardly keep from laughing. My brother looked to see if I was in earnest, but he soon discovered the deception, and we both laughed outright. "That's Tabby hunting for mice," said I, and with that we each took a candle and crept down to the cellar. The maltese cat met us with a glad "meouow," and we noticed that he was licking his chops in a satisfied manner. The Cat's Story "Well, you see it was this way," said the cat, when asked to relate the incident on the back fence to the assem- bly, who generally congregated for the usual evening con- cert. "I had been taking a nap on the trunk, when some- thing stepped on my tail, and, turning around, I found Mr, 147 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH Gray Ears and Mrs. White Tail sitting there and staring at me. With a cry I sprang toward them, but they suc- ceeded in scurrying away with me close at their heels, but I caught Mrs. White Tail. I could have caught Mr. Gray Ears only I did not want to eat too much, so I let " Wiff ! Poor Tabby toppled off the fence from the effect of a well-aimed shoe, which had just come from the top- story window of a house nearby. The audience soon dis- persed, and all scattered to their respective homes. The Mouse's Story "Friends, countrymen and mice, I have just passed through the most thrilling experience that has ever befallen any of our great tribe. I have met our worst foe and van- quished him. "You knew that I and Mrs. White Tail took a walk yes- terday. When happening to cross the wood pile I discov- ered the cat sleeping on the trunk. I bravely walked over and stepped on his tail, so he would awake. The minute he tried to spring at me, I rushed at him. He turned and was going to run away, when he saw Mrs. White Tail, and quickly grabbing her in his mouth he ran away. I pursued him, but he outdistanced me, and so I had to come home without poor Mrs. White Tail." 6. On Board the Caravel. On Board the Caravel The following conversation took place between Columbus and his sailors in mid-ocean: "Where are you taking us?" shouted the sailors. "You are going on this journey for fame, and your mothers will be better off when we return," said Columbus. "We will never see our parents any more," replied the sailors sadly. "We will reach land in a few more days," 148 HOW TO VITALIZE COMPOSITION EXERCISES spoke Columbus hopefully. "We will sec our death by that time," they shouted as they walked away towards the deck where other sailors were conversing secretly about their plans. Finally one sailor said, "Let's make him reverse the ship and take us home." "That's a good idea; his life now lies in our hands," said the sailors. "Who will volunteer to take the mes- sage?" asked the sailors doubtfully. "I will," answered one sailor, who was attempting to stir up a mutiny aboard ship. The sailor walking towards Columbus said, "Columbus, reverse the ship, and your life will be saved." "No; I will keep on the voyage until I discover land for Spain," replied Columbus angrily, yet firmly. "Is that your final answer," replied the sailor bitterly. A shrill whistle was heard and the sailors soon appeared. They all crowded around Columbus. "What does this mean ?" asked Columbus, calmly. "It means that you must reverse the ship, or we will throw you overboard." "I will have you put in chains when we arrive home," retorted Columbus coolly. "We do not care, but we will give you just a half-hour to think the situation over," replied the sailors as they left Columbus. While looking in a westerly direction Columbus thought he saw land; he took a pair of spy glasses, and, sure enough, it was land. Columbus, now encouraged, shouted, "Land ! Land !" The sailors, hearing the cry, sprang from their seats and rushed upon the deck toward Columbus. "Where is land?" asked the leader, impatiently. "Look for yourselves," replied Columbus, handing him the spy glasses. The leader looked and saw islands not far away. They soon reached land, where, falling on their knees, with their faces turned toward heaven, they prayed that God might protect them. By 8th Year Pupil, 149 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH B. Imitation of Fables. — A second type of In- ventive composition that meets with popular response by the children is the construction of a fable in imi- tation of one that was studied as a model. The fable of ''The Wolf and the Lamb" is read and its con- struction noted. Similar elements are suggested and the children construct their own fables, e.g.j *'The Pike and the Minnow," "The Hen and the Worm," "The Pigeon and the Hawk." A fourth-year pupil in a foreign section of the city gave the following as his result : The Hen and the Worm One bright day a hen started out to find some worms' for her children. She right a way met a fat worm. She wanted to eat it, but she wanted, too, an excuse. "How dare you clap on my door?" said the hen. "How can I clap on your door, if I ain't got no hand," said the worm. "You are the loafer that bites my children," said the fresh hen. "You are wrong," said the worm, "How can I bite your children if I ain't got no teeth." "If you didn't then your brother or your father did," said the hen. Whereupon she bounced upon the poor worm and carried it away. A lad whose stay on our shores barely exceeded four months wrote on a topic all his own in trying to imitate the fable which tells of the rats in convention deciding on a plan to tie a bell on the cat's neck. The phase of American street life that struck him most inspired the following : 150 HOW TO VITALIZE COMPOSITION EXERCISES The Boys and the Policeman One day boys was shooting crap so a policeman caught hime and brought to the station house. And when they got free thay made a meeting and said, what shel we do to the policeman. So one wise boy went up and said, we will put a bell on his neck. So another boy went up and said, who will put the bell on his neck? C. Ending a Story Whose Beginning Is Suggested to the Children. — This is another form of inventive composition the possibilities of which were discussed in a previous connection in Chapter IV. D. Personification of Inanimate Objects. — A fourth popular form of inventive composition is the autobiography of an inanimate object. While these topics usually prompt successful results, the teacher must be careful not to personify an object that means little or nothing to the child. The autobiography of an eraser, of a coffee bean, of a package of tea, etc., are topics that allow for much correlation, but the child is nevertheless indifferent to the life history of these articles. The object chosen for personification must be one that thrills the child, stirs his imagina- tion rather than his memory, or is at times a source of joy to him. The following are compositions by school children showing topics that were happily chosen : The Baseball's Story "I was once a proud baseball, proud of my white glisten- ing cover and the trade-mark so conspicuously placed on my 151 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH head. My stitches were of the brightest red, and were so becoming to me that I was the most talked of person in our store. In fact the wagon-tongue bat lying on the shelf became so envious of me that he would gnash his teeth and would threaten that if he ever got a chance he would pay back the grudge he owed me. But what did I care for the mutterings of a miserable old bat. So the days passed on without any special happenings. "One day as I was lying on the counter in my softly lined box a man came in and asked our salesman if he had any good baseballs. I was immediately chosen. 'That one will do/ said the man, taking me out of my soft box and placing me roughly into his pocket. 'Now, I'd like to see a bat,' continued the man. My enemy on the shelf was brought out and he also was purchased. "I knew nothing until I felt myself being taken out of that hot stuffy pocket. When I beheld the light again, I uttered a sigh of relief. Turning around, I saw my old enemy, the wagon-tongue bat, grinning at me. This morti- fied me very much. I was then tossed to a man whom I had never seen before and he looked so queer in short trousers and striped stockings that in spite of my sadness I could not resist laughing at him. He took me in the palm of his hand and threw me so swiftly to the catcher, that I barely had time to catch my breath. 'Strike one,' I heard somebody call. One thing that attracted my attention on my way to the catcher was the manner in which the wagon- tongue was eyeing me. I was tossed to the pitcher. He twisted me in his fingers and curved his wrist so that I feared he would break it. I was again thrown, yet so queerly did I twist and turn that I became giddy and knew nothing until I found myself in the catcher's glove as before, and my enemy, the old wagon-tongue bat, rushing at me with great violence, but failing to hit me. 'Strike two,' the same voice cried. I was again thrown to the pitcher, who after twisting me in his fingers as usual delivered me. Crack ! Oh, my ! The wagon-tongue bat had carried out HOW TO VITALIZE COMPOSITION EXERCISES his threat at last and with a terrific whack sent me speeding into space. 'Ha, ha !' I heard him laugh. T have caught you at last, proud one.' I knew nothing until I found myself lying here in this dark crevice. How I came here I am unable to say, but my opinion is that after striking the ground I must have rolled into this dungeon. But now look at me; begrimed and dirty. I, who was once so proud and vain, am hidden from all the world, perhaps forever." Brutus' Sword "Oh ! what a cruel life I have led," murmured a beautiful sword wearily, as it lay beside its dead master, the noble Brutus. "It seems, too, most strange, that I, praised as I have been, should have committed so many cruel deeds. "When made I was one of the handsomest of my kind. While admiring myself I was clutched by a hand that showed firmness of character. Looking up I recognized my new master, the noble Brutus. I was bought on the Kalends of March, and lived in peace until the Ide of March. But on that day I unwillingly undertook to do the most wretched deed of all. I together with fifty others of my kind, all with their respective masters, Cassius, Casca, Metellus, Cim- ber, Decius, Trebonius and others, waited on the steps of the Capitol ready to assassinate the ambitious Csesar. When Csesar had been seated the murderous Casca crept up behind him and plunged his sword into Caesar's body. As he did so, Csesar jumped and shouted aloud, but in vain, for as he stood a shower of daggers pierced his breast. I was among the last to do this awful deed and as I ran through him he cried to my master, 'Et tu, Brutus/ I burned for shame and when I was put into my scabbard I shed many a bitter tear. "My life of cruelty was not over, for after Mark Antony had delivered his oration, my master was pursued by the citizens of Rome. He fled to Philippi, where a battle took place. Here I was used very frequently. But still worse THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH was to come. When my master heard that Cassius was dead, feeling unable to face the enemy alone, he ordered his servant Strato to place me so that he might run against me and thus kill himself. Strato argued, but to no avail. At last he consented and now here I lie awaiting my miser- able fate." E. Imaginary Diaries. — These form another type of inventive exercise that brings enthusiastic responses from the children. The diary of a beggar, of a sol- dier, of a sailor, of Captain Peary at the Pole, of Livingstone and Stanley while on journeys in Africa, etc., are usually productive of gratifying results. These forms of invention can be multiplied to a num- ber limited only by the child's ingenuity and the teach- er's ability to conceive nev;^ situations. VI. Biographical Narratives. — The lives of the inspirational figures of literature and history supply some of the topics for class composition. But as v^as observed heretofore, these must not receive more than their proportional allotment of the composition pe- riods. In making the life history of any man the basis of a composition, teachers should try to avoid the old hackneyed sequence of birth, boyhood, manhood, death and lasting results of his work. The children should be encouraged to seek originality in the group- ing of the facts, and should emphasize only the one or two great achievements that gave the individual the position he occupies in the history of civilization. There is no reason for such complete categories of details and petty facts as one habitually finds in class- room products. Treated in the traditional sequence 154 HOW TO VITALIZE COMPOSITION EXERCISES referred to, there can be little or nothing that is in- spirational in the biographies studied in the class. But the most distinguishing characteristic of a biographi- cal study must be the inspiration which such a life stimulates. The model on the ''Life of Hale," as given in Sykes' "English Composition for Grammar Grades," illustrates the proper organization and the proper relative value of facts in biographical narra- tives : Nathan Hale In 1776 Washington was endeavoring to capture the city of New York from the British. He needed to know the plans of his opponent, General Howe, and to have maps of the shores of the Hudson and the Sound. Washington asked Knowlton to call his officers together, to tell them of the desperate state of affairs, and to ask for a volunteer. A common spy could not do the work, for it required a man who understood military plans and could make drawings. No one responded to the first appeal. Men who had no fear of death recoiled from the dishonor of a spy's fate. As Knowlton was urging them further, Nathan Hale entered and at once undertook the task. Any service done for one's country, he said, was noble. . . . Hale received his last instructions from Washington, and, disguised as a school-master, he crossed from Harlem Heights to Long Island. For two weeks he was within the enemy's lines and made plans of all their defenses. His work done, he was staying at a small tavern on the shore waiting for the boat which would take him to safety. In his shoes were the drawings with full notes in Latin. But a Tory, a man said to be of his own kin, recognized him. The man went out, and a few minutes later word was brought Hale that a boat was approaching. He dashed out THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH to meet it, and shouted greetings to his friends, as he thought — but found muskets leveled at his breast. He was carried to the headquarters of General Howe. Hale made no secret of his name, rank, and errand, and there was no choice for Howe but to sentence him to the spy's fate, to be hanged. Early next morning Hale stood on a ladder leaned against a tree. A rope was about his neck ; the end of the rope was about to be thrown over a limb of the tree. The Provost Marshal asked him for a confession. Hale answered: "I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country." "Swing the rebel off !'* was the command, and in a moment all was over. The Provost Marshal had been unnecessarily cruel to the prisoner, and had destroyed the letters Hale had written to his friends, so that, as he said, "The rebels should never know they had a man who could die with such firmness." But Hale's dying speech was heard by a generous young British officer. Captain Montressor. Sent with a flag of truce to announce the execution, Montressor repeated the words to Captain Hull of the American forces. Such words can never die, and the memory of such men as Hale is immortal. VII. Letters. — ^Letters, with their complete variety of form and content, come next in this list of types of expression. The early part of this chapter gives in detail suggestions and methods for letter writing. Letters may be (i) business; (2) social. In the latter group, we have (a) the formal, and (b) the informal. It is overstating the case to maintain that formal letters should receive no attention in the ele- mentary school; they should receive but little consid- eration until the child develops a fair degree of pro- ficiency in writing the informal letter and the busi- 156 HOW TO VITALIZE COMPOSITION EXERCISES ness letter. The stiff formal letter with its expression of chilly sentiment is ill adapted to instil the enthusi- asm that must characterize the composition lesson. VIII. Miscellaneous Suggestions. — To this long list of possibilities we may add such topics as reports to newspapers ; reports to the class on a book, picture study, etc. With children in the upper grades it is often desirable to unify this variety of forms of ex- pression by having the abler children outline a long story or a play of three or four scenes. In the first lesson the plot is evolved; in each of the succeeding periods a logical part or a component literary unit is written until the whole task is completed. Such a story or play must in the nature of the case be com- posed of narration, description of places and people, exposition of processes and activities, argumentation, dialogues between characters — the whole variety of forms of composition studied in unrelated lessons. In- terest is easily aroused and maintained and effort flows in plenty in such related and continuous work. Where composition is taught by some group method, it is found that the more proficient children produce re- sults that are well worth dramatizing. 7. The Teacher. — The final inquiry, "How Can We Vitalize Composition?" was answered in terms of a number of constructive suggestions, the last of which counseled variety of form and content. The table of possibilities that is offered, though not scientifically accurate nor complete, shows the teacher what a rich field of subject-matter can be brought to the children. But the most potent factor that makes for efficiency 157 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH in composition teaching is the teacher — his spirit, his zest, his Hfe and enthusiasm, his faith in the ultimate ability of the children. The methods suggested must never be regarded as more than general guides; they show proper tendencies, correct goals, but they are not designed for accurate and absolute imitation. Each teacher must interpret the suggestions in terms of his own peculiar problems and seek to adjust them to the individual needs of his specific class. Without this personal interpretation and specific adjustment all methods are doomed to inevitable failure. SUGGESTED READING Arnold^ F. Special Methods of Instruction, chap. VIII. Carpenter, Baker and Scott. The Teaching of English, pp. 12 1- 1144. Longmans, Green & Co. Chubb^ p. The Teaching of English, chap. XI. The Macmillan Co. GoLDWAssER, I. E. Method and Methods in the Teaching of English, chaps. XV and XXII. D. C. Heath & Co. Hosic, James F. The Elementary Course in English, pp. 97-128. University of Chicago Press. KiRKPATRiCK, E. A. Fundamentals of Child Study, chap. VIII. The Macmillan Co. . How Children Learn to Talk. Science, Sept., 1891. Klapper^ Paul. Principles of Educational Practice, chap. XII, pp. 1 16-123. D. Appleton & Co. 158 HOW TO VITALIZE COMPOSITION EXERCISES Maxwell, W. H. An Experiment in Correcting Compositions. Educational Review^ N. Y. 7 '.2/\o. McMuRRY, Charles A. Special Methods in Lan- guage. The Macmillan Co. '. Oral and Written Composition. New York Teacher's Monograph, Vol. Ill, No. 3, June, 1901. Report of the Committee of Fifteen. On Teach- ing of Composition. Spencer^ H. Composition in Elementary School. Taylor, J. S. Composition in Elementary School. A. S. Barnes & Co. PART II THE FORMAL ASPECT OF COMPOSITION CHAPTER IX THE TEACHING OF SPELLING Expressional vs. Formal Aspect of Composition. — It is obvious that the teaching of composition presents two phases: The first deals with the problem of ordering ideas and giving expression to them so that the mean- ing is conveyed, clearly and convincingly, to another mind. This expressional aspect of composition was treated in the first part of the book. But ideas must be expressed in commonly accepted forms of spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. This second phase of com- position, the purely formal or technical aspect, must now be treated from the point of view of the teaching problems involved. The second part of this book will therefore concern itself with the teaching of spelling, meaning and use, dictation, memory gems and gram- mar. Spelling Usually Tested, not Taught To children and teachers alike, the spelling lesson is usually a dull period and a hard memory grind. Despite the vig- i6o THE TEACHING OF SPELLING orous drills in spelling, the results are poor. The writer's visits to classes led him to the conclusion that in most instances spelling is tested, not taught. Lists of varying lengths are assigned in various ways for memorization. The succeeding spelling lesson is occupied with a test to discover those children who know the words and those who do not. Problems and devices in the methodology of spelling have received more than passing attention, for spelling is rich in fads. The spelling matches, word analyses, and dia- critical markings which were the boast of the teachers of the last generation have given way to contextual spelling, multiple sense appeal, exclusive muscular ap- peal, and phonogrammic grouping which are the meth- ods of the teacher of to-day. Objects of the Teaching of Spelling.^ — We shall be in a better position to estimate the relative worth of all these devices and to evolve a method of teaching spell- ing if we formulate in definite terms the ultimate ends which must be achieved in spelling lessons. ( i ) The dominant aim is to inculcate the habit of writing the word correctly in context while consciousness con- cerns itself primarily with the thought to be expressed. The child who writes correctly a word that his teacher dictates with exaggerated clearness while the mind focalizes on the form of the word in question has not attained the highest end in spelling. Can the child write this word correctly while he is lost in the thought that he is expressing? This is the standard by which good spelling must be judged. (2) A second aim is to develop the ability of self -correction. The spelling 161 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH lessons must teach children simple rules of spelling, the use of the dictionary, and a method of word com- parison so that they can correct the spelling in all their written work. (3) A third aim is to make correct spelling a matter of deep concern to the children so that they will gladly suffer the inconvenience of going to the dictionary, of make inquiries rather than put down incorrect forms of spelling. This "word con- science" can be developed in the higher grades through proper motivation in spelling lessons, in which teachers lead children to feel the social need of correct spelling. Principles Guiding the Selection of Spelling Words. — How shall words be chosen for the spelling exercises of a grade? This is a matter of importance when we note the wide divergences among the lists suggested in standard spelling books. I. Spelling Words to he Taken from Expressional Rather than Interpretational Vocabidaries. — Each person is the possessor of two vocabularies. The first, the expressional vocabulary, is the sum total of the words he uses in all his writings and oral inter- course. But each one of us knows a greater stock of words than he employs. In listening to others and in reading, we meet words, the meanings of which are known to us but which we would nevertheless not use in our own speech. This is the interpretational vocabulary. Thus, a child in the eighth grade may know the meaning of rectitude, mien, consecrate, but only the unusual child would- use them. These words are evidently part, of the child's interpretational vo- cabulary. But every eighth-grade child uses receive, 162 THE TEACHING OF SPELLING believe, judgment, prejudice, guarantee, repetition, and separate in his expressional exercises. Since the need for speUing is felt only in written intercourse, and since only those words which are in the expres- sional vocabulary will be used in writing, it follows that spelling words must be taken out of the expres- sional rather than the interpretational vocabulary. An analysis of the spelling lists used in many classes will reveal the fact that this law is more honored in the breach than in the observance. Very often a class that averages ninety per cent, in formal spelling must be ranked seventy per cent, in the spelling of the composition and dictation exercises. In the desire to gather a rich and varied spelling list, the common words in the expressional vocabulary are overlooked and the words of the interpretational vocabulary are incorporated. Dr. Leonard P. Ayres tabulated the words found in about 2,000 social and commercial letters of representative teachers, lawyers, physicians, and business people. In all, about 24,000 words were listed, and only about 2,000 separate words were found. Of this latter number, about 750 ap- peared only once. Dr. Ayres found that 43 words were repeated so frequently that they made up half the whole number of words tabulated; seven-eighths of the whole number were 542 common words used with great frequency. ''It is evident that the average letter writer does not begin to use even the number of words he learned in elementary school grades, for some spelling books contain over 10,000 separate words." Dr. Ayres made a further comparison of the 163 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH words used in letters with the words in the usual spelling lists. Of the 414 words on the National Edu- cation Association's spelling lists which were used in Cleveland in 1908, 289 did not occur at all in any of the 2,000 letters. It is evident that a correct spelling list cannot be evolved by speculation on what words one ought to know. Experimental investigation will reveal a remarkably small list, which children must master before the sixth school year, and which will put them in possession of an expressional stock suffi- cient for ordinary correspondence after they have left school. 2. Words to Be Tested Before Incorporation in Class or Grade List. — All words selected for a class or grade list should be dictated to the children in natural context and then corrected. Only such words as are missed by a majority of the class ought to be- come part of the class list. Those that are mis- spelled by a few or even by a minority should be in- corporated in the individual spelling list kept by each child. A test will readily reveal the fact that many words in the grade or class list can be spelled by a large part of the class and must therefore be trans- ferred to the individual lists. 3. Words to Be Selected with a View to Class Subjects. — In assigning spelling words for any grade, it should be the practice to assign them in that class in which they will correlate with the other subjects. Words like attribute, modify, dependent, should be taught in the grade that begins formal grammar ; bor- ough, county, etc., in the grade that studies local ge- 164 THE TEACHING OF SPELLING ography. In the teaching of spelHng, correlation be- comes a means of motivation. Source of Spelling Words. — Assumed that spelling words will be selected in accordance with rational principles, the next problem concerns itself with the possible sources of these words. Chief among them we must mention: 1. All Expressional Exercises. — Teachers must be ever mindful of the fact that spelling tends to be- come highly formalized, because it lacks content and is taught without motive. But when all the chil- dren's written exercises — compositions, dictations, notebooks, test papers, etc. — are regarded as the first source of the spelling list, the spelling lessons become possessed, at once, of both content and motive. In reading any written work of the pupils, teachers will find those words that must become part of the spelling list. 2. Terms Found Necessary in Class Subjects. — All the subjects taught contain words and expressions that the children must use in their oral and written recitations. Words like premium^ commission, insur- ance, brokerage, remittance, etc., will be contributed by the term's work in arithmetic. In the same way every subject will present its addition to the child's expressional vocabulary and, therefore, in the last analysis, to the spelling list. 3. The Teacher's Experience. — Every teacher has found that, regardless of the grade, certain words are generally misspelled by the children. Such words must, therefore, be incorporated in the spelling list 165 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH without reference to the grade of the children. A teacher in a seventh-year class may find it necessary to submit words like too, their, wear, azvkward, be- lieve, receive, proceed, procedure, judgment, and guar- antee to the regular spelling drill. 4. Good Spelling Books. — The disadvantages of spelling books are many ; they will be discussed in an- other connection in this chapter. But it is evident that a good spelling book may be a helpful guide and a suggestive standard in terms of which one's own list may be judged. After a tentative list has been col- lected and arranged, it should be compared with the lists for the same grade found in standard spellers. This comparison will reveal at once many weaknesses and omissions which must be rectified. To make the spelling book the sole source of spelling words is obvi- ously wrong, but to ignore it is an unjustifiable neglect of a valuable aid. Media of Presentlr^g Spelling Words. — The teacher who has selected her spelling list correctly and has had recourse to all useful sources is nov/ confronted by the problem of the medium by means of which the words are to be presented to the class. The various media that are suggested must now be analyzed and their relative worth noted. I. Incidental Presentation. — Many wTlters would abolish all formal presentation of spelling and rely upon the repeated but incidental and informal meet- ing of these words in the course of reading and study- ing. Chubb tells us, "Do not be fussy about it (spell- ing). Good reading, clear enunciation and the ear 166 THE TEACHING OF SPELLING training that goes with it will do more for spelling than the routine of the spelling book. Write on the blackboard words that are generally misspelled, and let them be listed in the notebooks, by way of provid- ing for the eye-minded and the motor-minded child, as well as for the ear-minded." * The teacher, accustomed to the grind of the formal spelling drill and disheartened by the persistence of spelling errors, may be somewhat startled by this com- plete elimination of formal spelling. Experience teaches that incidental spelling in the average class in the ordinary public school is out of the question. Most children read little and write less. Their inci- dental experience with symbols will not suffice to give them a mastery of words. A psychological analysis of the problems of reading and spelling will reen- force this objection against incidental teaching of spelling. Words and phrases are read as wholes, and not by the synthesis of their component elements. Spelling is an analytical process that focalizes at- tention on constituent symbols in a given word. Read- ing is a process of thought acquisition. Spelling is a process of mastery of symbols in sequence, and is, therefore, no function in reading. When introduced in reading it develops habits that militate against rapid, thoughtful reading and make for slow word reading and lip movements. 2. The Spelling Book. — A medium of presenting spelling words that Is now being revived Is the spelling book. Its use Is a moot question. Those in favor * Chubb : The Teaching of English, p. 170. 167 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH of a spelling book urge that It saves time and gives the teacher a rich list graded by a specialist. But assuming that the spelling book is the best on the market, we must remember that there is no agree- ment, thus far, on a common list of spelling words. A list suitable for one school may not be appropri- ate for another. Gradation in spelling is almost impossible, as neither length nor phonetic charac- teristics are the basis of classification; mien, although shorter than freedom, is considered more difficult, and once, although highly unphonetic, is regarded as simpler than independent. In addition to these limitations we must add that the spelling book makes the spelling list a series of words unrelated to other subjects, for it is not an outgrowth of difficul- ties encountered in written expressional exercises and motive is, therefore, lacking. The spelling book must be used, as was previously suggested, as a standard by means of which a teacher may judge the worth of her own list. 3. The Teacher's List. — A means of overcoming most of the limitations of a spelling book is the prac- tice of requiring each teacher to collect and systema- tize her own list. In this way words selected are more appropriate to the grade and related to the written exercises of the children. Where a teacher's list is used it must be mimeographed so that time will not be lost in needless copying and words will not be miscopied by the children. But a list, culled by teachers or textbook writers, is open to the serious criticism that mastery of any 168 THE TEACHING OF SPELLING elements in a list is no guarantee of even approxi- mate proficiency in using the same elements in natural context. As has been said before, children who spell correctly words that are dictated in lists by the teacher in a spelling test misspell these very words when they use them in their own compositions. It is essential that words be taught in the same associations in which they will be used later in life. 4. The Teacher s List in Natural Context. — It is evident from the objections to formal lists, that the list which is selected by the teacher and then incor- porated into a natural text will overcome the limi- tations of the media previously suggested. After the teacher has decided on the spelling list, the words should be grouped and a context supplied for them. The first twelve words in a list selected by a fourth- year teacher were : 1. brought V 5. continent 9. success V 2. discover V 6. weave 10. enemy V 3. thankful 7. receive 11. courage 4. prison V 8. jealous V 12. Columbus V Those words that can be related in any way are checked as noted above and a sentence is then woven about them. Thus, "Jealous of his success, the ene- 8 ^ 9 mies of Columbus brought the discoverer of the New 10 12 X 2 World back to Spain as a prisoner,'' affords a con- text for seven words, which form the first day's spell- ing lesson. Very often it will be necessary to write as 169 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH many as four sentences to include the words for a lesson. But if the selection is made, not from twelve words but from a larger part of the list, the text will follow more naturally. At times a stanza of a fa- miliar poem or an extract from a selection in the reader will give this context. Thus an interesting context was afforded for two days' spelling work in a third-year class, by Stevenson's stanza: In winter I get up at night And dress by yellow candle-light. In summer, quite the other way, I have to go to bed by day. These four lines suggest that a phonic basis may be selected for grouping the words in the formal list. Thus the word night suggests light, zvay suggests day, etc. Upon examining her list a teacher may find the words would, could, and should, or extreme and su- preme, or valleys, keys, toys, days, ladies, babies, and enemies scattered through the term's work. It is ad- visable, therefore, to gather all phonic similarities to- gether and teach them i-n the same lesson, thus sup- planting a mechanical association by one that is logi- cal. The old gradation of spelling based on the lum- ber of syllables is therefore giving way to gradation based on related meaning or phonic similarities. At regular intervals each child receives a mimeographed sheet giving in sentences, paragraphs, and stanzas the spelling words in proper context. 5. Supplementary Lists. — Spelling lists should be as flexible as possible, so that every teacher may feel 170 THE TEACHING OF SPELLING free to modify the assignment in accordance with the dictates of personal judgment and experience with a particular class. It follows also that in large schools there must be some uniformity in requirements for the sake of the children as well as for convenience of supervision. For these reasons supplementary lists are advocated so that there may be three lists used by a teacher, the grade list, the class list, and the indi- vidual list. The grade list is that list which is uniform for each grade in a school or in a school district. These words may be taught parallel with, or in advance of, the subjects from which they are taken, the aim being to prepare children for difficulties that must inevitably arise in their paths and thus prevent misspelling. The class list is composed of those words which are misspelled by the majority of the class in all writ- ten exercises. The aim of this list is to eliminate inaccuracies that children have already acquired. This list varies with the class and with each term. The individual list is kept by each child and varies necessarily with each child. Children must be re- quired to list all words that they misspell in written exercises but which are not taught in class. These lists should be subject to regular inspections, and spelling periods should be set aside when each child tests his neighbor on the words in the individual list. Children may be told to write all the words they can recall in a limited time. These words are corrected and the incorrect ones are then added to the individual list. In this way a child is learning not only those 171 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH words which the majority of his classmates cannot spell, but also those that sum up his personal weak- nesses in spelling. Method of Teaching Spelling.^Assuming the proper selection of words and the proper medium for pre- senting them to the class, we must pass on to the consideration of the method of teaching spelling. The complete method has three distinct parts : i . the teaching, in which the child learns under the teacher's supervision the phonic peculiarities of the words. 2. the independent study, in which the child tries to master the words taught in class. 3. the test, in which the teacher seeks to ascertain the child's mas- tery of the words taught and studied. Procedure in Teaching Words. — i. Meaning. — The first step must be the reading of the text that contains the words to be taught and the attempt to explain their meaning. Since proper spelling lists come from the children's expressional rather than interpretational vocabularies, little or no time will be consumed in making clear the meaning of the words. 2. Accurate Pronunciation. — Unusual care must be taken to guarantee accurate pronunciation of each word. The teacher should offer the pronunciation and should then call upon children individually to sound the word. Concert recitation should be used with caution and only after a sufficient number of children have individually pronounced the word cor- rectly. Mispronunciation or slovenly pronunciation lies at the root of most faults in spelling. A foreign child wrote in his composition, He vent vid me, but 173 THE TEACHING OF SPELLING later in the day, when his teacher dictated the same sentence, he wrote. He went zvith me. The cause for the change is obvious: in the first case, the child sounded these words to himself and spelled accord- ingly; in the second case, the child's ear heard the correct sound and reproduced it accurately. What is true in this case is true of all children — incorrect auditory images prompt incorrect spelling. In teaching correct pronunciation, the method of imitating the teacher should not be the sole procedure. Words should be marked diacritically and the chil- dren should be called upon to sound them. Other words should be syllabicated as a cue to proper pro- nunciation. In later classes the words should be found in the dictionary and the pronunciation evolved. Time spent on careful pronunciation is time saved in teaching spelling. 3. Syllabication and Division into Phonogrammic Units. — The difficulties in most words are removed in the next step, the syllabication of the word or its division into known phonic units. Words like eman- cipation, nationality, modification, comparative, etc., are purely phonic; the child that can syllabicate them and recognize the known phonograms of tion, man, etc., has no difficulty in spelling these words. 4. When Necessary, Focalize Attention on the Dif- ficulty in a Word. — Many words are purely phonic in all but one respect. It is much better to have the child's attention directed to this difficulty exclusively than to drill on the whole word. Thus, if the word is supreme, it is related to extreme and the eme of each 173 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH is underlined in colored chalk on the board. In the case of the word altogether, the rule is taught and the child now knows the spelling of ahvays, also, etc. If the word is separate, we elicit that it means "cut into parts." Since part is spelled with an a, separate is spelled sepa^ not sep^^ as children repeatedly do. In the case of phonic anomalies like cojnb, pneumonia, etc., the peculiarity is singled out and attention called to it by encircling it with colored chalk or by writing it in different forms and in exaggerated sizes. Every means must be taken to focalize attention on the phonetic anomaly. 5. The Class Drills. — Rigorous drills should follow the instruction step in spelling. These drills must be spirited, planned to stir maximum self -activity, and designed to appeal to children of different sense gifts. Among the important forms of drill in spelling we may mention the following: a. Individual Oral Spelling. Various children are called upon in promiscuous order to spell the word as the rest of the class listens to the spelling and sees the forms on the board. b. Light Concert Spelling. The class as a whole may be asked to spell the word orally in concert as each child follows visually the teacher's pointer going from letter to letter. c. Flash Method. The word is written on a card or on the blackboard and is exposed to the view of the class for only two or three seconds. At the end of that time various children are called upon to spell the word as they saw it. If the class is warned of 174 THE TEACHING OF SPELLING the limited time that will be allowed and the con- centration necessary, the results are usually grati- fying. d. Motor Appeal. The word to be learned is writ- ten by the children with their fingers lin the air or on the desk or on paper with pencil. With many children this proves to be the strongest sense appeal. e. Visualization. A popular means of drill is through strong visual appeal. The visualization drills may be given in many forms. The simplest of these drills is to have the children look steadily at the word written in unusually large size on the board. At the end of a limited time the children are asked to shut their eyes and "see" the word. Those who cannot "see" the word with eyes shut are permitted to look at the word again and then try to visualize it with eyes shut. When all children can "see" the word, they are asked to spell it as they "see" it. Another method of conducting visualization drills is especially applicable to higher classes. Three or four words are selected for simultaneous drill and are written on the blackboard either in one line or in a column. A word is erased and then a child is called upon to spell the word that must be replaced. This procedure is repeated with each of the words. Later in the term -two words are erased, e. g., the second and the fourth, and children are called upon to spell "the word that was in the second place," or "the word that was in the fourth place." This is usually a spir- ited and an interesting drill. f. Dictionary. Another means of drill on words 175 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH is to have the class locate the word in the dictionary. The effort in finding the proper page and column, in comparing the word on the board with the word in the dictionary, in noting the mode of syllabication, arouses enough self-activity and forms enough asso- ciations to give permanence to the impression that the word makes. These drills are designed to give variety, speed, and interest to the spelling periods. It must be remem- bered, however, that no one word is to be subjected to all these forms of drill. The method of drill should change with each succeeding word so that the elements of variety and novelty give spirit and en- thusiasm to the lesson. General Considerations Governing Drills in Spelling It is obvious that drills in spelling in order to be effec- tive^must make a multiple sense appeal; they must impress the visual-minded, the auditory-minded, and the motor-minded children. Children should be taught as early as possible that the senses are not equally efficient; that they vary with each individual; that one can find out, by "self study," whether he is visual, auditory, or motor minded. In a properly organized educational system, children should be tested in the psychological laboratories for these facts. But in the absence of these tests much can be done by the pupils themselves. The child who discovers his special sense gift can save himself needless mem- ory drill. In the past the visual appeal was thought to make the most vital contribution to the general image of 176 THE TEACHING OF SPELLING the word. But recent psychological investigations tend to prove that it is the motor appeal that makes permanent the graphic character of a word and habitu- ates its writing. Experiments with patients suffering from aphasia and agraphia show that although the visual center must make its contributions if we are to write words easily, writing can be accom- plished without these contributions. Adults and children were taught the Greek alphabet in two ways. One group was blindfolded and learned the letters by tracing them with their fingers; the other group learned them through visual experience. When the results were tabulated they bore out Professor O'Shea's contentions, ''The visual image is not the all controlling factor. ... As development occurs, the visual imagery takes on even more the simple func- tion of mere suggestion. ... It (visual imagery) does not appear to be essential to the graphic repro- duction of auditory words." The practical estimate of the relative importance of the contributions made by the various senses re- enforces the conclusion of psychological investigations as to the vital importance of the motor appeal. The primary object in spelling is to reduce the zvriting of the word to habit. Oral spelling and visual ap- peals are used only as aids toward permanent fixa- tion, but neither has worth in social intercourse. The child who wins the oral spelling match but who hesitates in writing these words is a poor speller, while his neighbor who is utterly confused in oral spelling but who writes the words automatically has 177 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH reached a high level of proficiency. Since spelling is made necessary by written intercourse the written ap- peal must be considered the most important form of spelling drill. Independent Study of Spelling. — Many children need no further drill than was outlined in the discussion of the procedure in the teaching of spelling. But in every class there are pupils whose impressionability and retention are weak and further memory appeals are necessary. Only these latter children require addi- tional drill, e. g., writing spelling words in and out of context. The practice of excusing from further drill those children for whom the class spelling lesson is sufficient will tend to intensify attention during the period of instruction. Teaching Children to Study Spelling. — In later grades children should be taught how to study spell- ing without the teacher's aid and direction. A para- graph in one of the textbooks should be assigned for this purpose. Elicit from the class that the first task must be a selective one in which they eliminate such words as offer no difficulties either because they are known or because they are purely phonetic in their spelling. The words that merit attention are then looked up in the dictionary for meaning, if neces- sary, and for pronunciation and syllabication. Chil- dren in a seventh-year grade when asked to do this with such words as salient, surety, soliloquy, siphon, etc., showed very clearly that they lacked an elementary knowledge of the alphabetic sequence in the diction- ary and of diacritical marks. After the dictionary 178 THE TEACHING OF SPELLING work is accomplished children must be led to detect that phonic element in each word that renders it diffi- cult. That done, they can now follow any of the forms of drill used in the class. Study lessons in spelling may take other forms. A list of words like consider ^ companion, tax, pleas- ure, value, adapt, measure, favor, etc., is written on the board. The children are told to add able to each and then look up the spelling in the dictionary to see if any changes are necessary. This task completed, each child must try to formulate a rule in spelling to govern such cases or must try to find the suitable rule in the ''Rules for Spelling" given in his dictionary. Such study lessons are means of developing judg- ment, initiative, power of organization, and self-re- liance, and afford a natural method of teaching chil- dren those mechanical elements in the use of the dic- tionary that every school graduate should know. The Test in Spelling. — In current methods of test- ing children's ability to spell, the teacher dictates the list of words taught and the children write these in a column. The correct form is then shown or re- cited and each child checks his neighbor's inaccura- cies. When the papers are returned to their owners, all words misspelled are written correctly a given num- ber of times. This writing degenerates into care- less penmanship, in which the child is hardly conscious of the phonic elements and especially of those that gave him trouble. Test Ability to Use Word in Context. — We have need for a method that is personal and constructive 179 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH and that tests the child's abiHty to use the words in a natural context of his own. In the test period the teacher should dictate the word and the child should be required to write a sentence for it. Oral spelling is not a test; it is a means of further drill and an aid toward retention. Only when the child, intent on a sentence, writes the dictated word correctly from force of habit, is he giving evidence of his mastery of the word. , Spelling Record in Books. — The tests in spelling should be written in notebooks rather than on loose sheets of paper. A notebook record of such work is cumulative; it shows teacher and pupil, at a glance, the curve of progress. A convenient arrangement, shown in the accompanying diagram, divides the page into two columns, the wider one for the sentences con- taining the words dictated, and the narrower for the insertion of correct forms for all misspelled words. Each teacher must decide on the best means of correct- Date Rating Jan. 5, 1913 95% Sentences Correct I. The friends were separate containing form very sad when words dictated of the time came by the words for them to teacher misspelled seperate. 2. ing spelling, whether by neighbors, by children them- selves, by monitors or by herself. But in writing the misspelled word correctly the child should be required 180 THE TEACHING OF SPELLING to mark in some way that phonic element which is a source of trouble to him. Record of Misspelled Words.^ — Teachers will do well to devise some means by which a record can be kept which would show the number of children who mis- spelled each word and the prevailing errors made in these words. Such a record would be an excellent index of the amount of drill that should be given on various words in the following terms and the phonic elements that should be emphasized in teaching them.. In upper grades the teacher can easily be relieved, by a reliable pupil, of most of the mechanical work en- tailed by such a record. Examination of these rec- ords, kept for only one term, leads to the conclu- sion that the following data sum up the spelling diffi- culties of pupils in upper grades of the elementary school : 1. Violation of the Monosyllabic Rule. Words ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel double the final consonant if the suffix begins with a vowel; e. g., dropping^ swimming^ swimmer, planning vs. looking, locking, etc. 2. Violation of the Polysyllabic Rule. Same rule as the above in polysyllabic words when the accent is on the last syllable; e. g., htginning, benefitw^. 3. Words ending in final e, drop the e when the sufifix begins with a vowel; final e is retained if the suffix begins with a consonant; e. g., coming, riding, management, etc. 4. Exceptions to preceding rule; e. g., judgment, truly, argument, acknowledgment, wholly, etc. 181 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 5. Use of ie and ei; e. g., rec^fve, bekVve, seizt, mis- chief, etc. 6. Plurals of words ending in y; e. g., all3;^ dXlies; allej;^ allej;^; enemv^ enemzV^; vallej;^ vallej;^^ etc. 7. Plurals of words ending in /; e. g., lea/^ \t2ives. 8. Words compounded on all, drop one /; e. g., al- ways, a/together, etc. 9. Difficulties of silent letters; sovereign, answer, debt, column, autumn, solemn, cupboard, doubt, dough, island, neighbor, etc. 10. Difficulties due to mistaken consonants; e. g., conceal, clothes, grocer, medicine, anchor, etc. 11. Difficulties due to mistaken vowels, especially in final syllables; e. g., htggar, sugar^ grammar^ editor^ etc. 12. Difficulties due to tendency to insert letters; e. g., immage for image, well fare for welfare, wood- den for wooden, tresspass for trespass, and truely for truly. 13. Difficulties due to omission of letters; e. g., safty for safety, ninty for ninety, asend for ascend, goverment for government, disapoint for disappoint, temtation for temptation, etc. 14. Miscellaneous Difficulties; e. g., separate, awk- ward, guarantee, repetition, proceed, procedure, pre- cede, supersede, benefit, description, occurrence, occur, occasion, etc. This list will undoubtedly be modified in each school and in each class in the light of further experience but it gives the supervisor and teachers a working basis 182 THE TEACHING OF SPELLING of real difficulties that must be met in the spelling les- sons of every grade. Enriching the Spelling List. — There should be in- cluded in the spelling list useful homonyms, abbrevi- ations, rules of spelling, and proper names. These are part of the expressional stock necessary in all correspondence. Proper names and abbreviations can be taught in the same method that is used for the regular spelling words. Homonyms must always be presented in contrasting sentences, such as, ''There they stand holding their hats in their hands," for the association which gives them permanence is the con- trast. In presenting them we should lead children to infer from the text (a) the elements of similarity, and (b) the elements of difference. This should be followed by a drill that seeks to make their proper use habitual. Rules of spelling are best taught in- ductively in study lessons, as was outlined in the topic "Study Lessons in Spelling" in this chapter. Supervising Auxiliary Lists. — Spelling lists cannot be enriched as was suggested unless supervising of- ficers take the initiative in the matter of allotting proper names, abbreviations, homonyms, and rules of spelling to the various grades. In most schools vis- ited by the author teachers are held responsible for "useful rules of spelling" or "necessary proper names." It is evident that this general assignment to all teachers means either total neglect of these lists or an attempt to teach all in each grade. The super- visor must collect all useful homonyms, rules of spell- ing, proper names and abbreviations and then, in con- 183 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH ference with teachers, decide on a gradation of these lists and an apportionment of each Hst among the various grades. Each teacher having a certain num- ber of the facts to teach can give them the attention and the drill that will make them part of the perma- nent expressional stock of each child. SUGGESTED READING Arnold, F. Special Methods of Instruction, pp. 115- 130. Ayres, Leonard P. Spelling Vocabularies of Per- sonal and Business Letters. Division of Educa- tion, Russell Sage Foundation, 191 3. Buckingham, B. R. Spelling Ability: Its Measure- ment and Distribution. Teachers' College, Co- lumbia University, Contributions to Education, No. 59. Carpenter, Baker and Scott. Teaching of Eng- lish, pp. 152-155. Longmans, Green & Co. CoRNMANN. Spelling in the Elementary School. GoLDWAssER, I. E. Method and Methods in the Teaching of English, chap. XII. D. C. Heath & Co. O'Shea, M. V. Linguistic Development and Educa- tion, chap. VIII. The Macmillan Co. Rice, J. M. Futility of the Spelling Grind. Forum, Vol. 2^. SuzzALLO, Henry. The Teaching of Spelling. Houghton-Mifflin Co. 184 /7 CHAPTER X THE MEANING AND USE OF NEW WORDS THE ENRICHMENT OF VOCABULARY Shall There Be Formal Instruction in the Meaning and Use of New Words? — Many teachers of elementary grades have characterized formal lessons on the mean- , ing of unfamiliar words and expressions as sheer waste of time and effort. It is their opinion that growth of vocabulary must be informal and inciden- tal in the course of reading and social intercourse. In support of their conclusions they cite their own experiences : children remember the meaning of very few of the new words taught; their sentences are al- ways artificial; the ''meaning and use" list is usually unrelated to other subjects; the need for the meaning of these new words is not felt in their own lives ; those children who have a language sense and who read have a vocabulary that is rich and varied, and those who lack this sense do not develop it in formal lessons in "meaning and use/' A cursory investigation will un- doubtedly bear out these contentions but an analysis of these indictments reveals them to be the results of poor methods of instruction. If the ''meaning and use"' list is properly selected, if each word arises in a need felt by the class, if natural drills are provided, the serious 185 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH limitations of the current ^'meaning and use" lesson will disappear, for they are limitations that are not inherent in this form of language exercise. It is the aim of this chapter to evolve a method that pos- sesses these corrective influences. Selection of the "Meaning and Use" List. — The proper selection of the new words whose meanings are to be taught often determines the final efficiency of the lessons. We must omit, therefore, (a) most technical words; (b) common words used in an un- usual sense, as, '^This was a happy conceit of the au- thor"; (c) such words as can be really understood only by a mature mind ; (d) subtle distinctions in syno- nyms. At the beginning of the term the teacher should not have a single word in the list. In the course of the day's work words will arise which the children do not know and upon which the meaning of the text depends. When such a situation arises in the teaching of any subject, whether it be arith- metic or reading, the teacher has an opportunity to add to the ''meaning and use" list. But not all new words become part of the formal lesson. As a new word arises the teacher must decide whether it is rea- sonable to expect children of her grade to have it in their expressional vocabularies. If she decides In the negative, the meaning of the word should be told to the class and the lesson should continue without further attention to it. Should the decision be af- firmative, the word is written on a large cardboard or on an unused part of the blackboard after the meaning is given. The children thus see the source i86 THE MEANING AND USE OF NEW WORDS of these words and ample motive for a formal lesson is given. It is essential that most of the new words be eliminated and that attention be con- fined to those that are of greatest worth for the chil- dren. Methods of Teaching Meaning of New "Words. — There is no fixed method of teaching the meaning of new words. Each type of word necessitates a different mode of treatment. Chief among the many methods we have the following: 1. Deductive or Direct Telling. — When it is neces- sary that technical words be taught or when words have a meaning that cannot readily be inferred from the text, the method of direct telling must be used. In modern methodology the inductive or develop- ment method has become a fetish. We must realize that there are teaching situations in which deductive teaching may be used without apology. Words like mythology, sprite, aqueduct must often be taught in this deductive method to young children. Then, too, when new words arise in a literature or a history lesson it shows lack of judgment of relative values to halt the lesson in question in order to develop the new word by inductive treatment. In all such cases the meaning of the word should be given and the forward movement of the lesson should not be sacri- ficed. 2. Objective Method. — When clear imaging must be attained with children whose apperceptive stock lacks that experience which will enable them to con- struct the mental picture from verbal expression, a 187 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH picture or the object itself is of greatest service. The child who has never seen a wigwam, a toma- hawk, a mariner's compass, etc., must be taught what these terms represent by means of some graphic appeal. 3. Inductive or Context Method. — When the new word is one whose meaning is always made clear by the context, the inductive method is to be preferred. If the word chagrin is to be taught, the teacher uses it in a number of sentences, each of which tends to bring out its meaning. The teacher then asks the class to substitute appropriate synonymous expres- sions for chagrin, and the meaning is thus elic- ited. Although it is a method which costs dearly in time, it nevertheless has its compensating advantages — maximum self-activity is aroused, each child is put in the position of discoverer rather than recipient, the impressions are more lasting, the meaning is clearer, and the child learns a method which he can use in post-school days. 4. Dramatization. — ^A method very similar to the objective method but one which is characterized by its exclusive motor appeal is dramatization. When the pupils' vocabularies are so meager that they can obtain meaning from neither the context nor the teach- er's explanation, the word should be acted out if it lends itself to such treatment. This is the device used almost exclusively with foreigners who know no English, Expressions like with arms akimbo, he strutted about, a frowning face, etc., when drama- tized, convey meaning clearly and with economy of 188 THE MEANING AND USE OF NEW WORDS time to children whose language possessions are very limited. 5. Using the Dictionary. — Most words are so poorly defined in the abridged editions of the dic- tionaries used by schools that the child finds a syno- nym as new to him as the word which he looked up. But despite this handicap the habit of using the dic- tionary should be inculcated in children as soon as their capabilities will allow. The gradation and the scope of the lessons necessary to give children this mastery of the dictionary were outlined in the dis- cussion on the teaching of spelling.* It must be em- phasized and reemphasized that the legitimate time for the use of the dictionary is the formal "meaning and use" period, in home work, or in seat work. It should rarely be used during any lesson in geography, history, nature study, arithmetic, or reading. 6. Etymological Analysis. — In the second half of the school course children must begin to study the most common prefixes, suffixes and roots used in the English language. Carefully compiled lists for school use give about thirty prefixes, twenty suffixes, and about thirty-five roots. If these were divided among the grades, beginning with the fifth year, each grade would average about five prefixes, three suffixes, and five roots per term. It is obvious, therefore, that with a little drill children can be taught those neces- sary language elements which would enable them to evolve the meaning of such words as depose, super- sedCj descent, circumspect, transparent, transmit, su- '^See pp. 172, 175. 189 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH perstructurCj etc., by a process of etymological analy- sis. Lessons in etymology should be thoroughly in- ductive. If a prefix is to be taught, a number of words beginning with it should be placed on the board. Children should then be required to give or find the meaning of each word. The class must then be led to perceive that all these words have similar be- ginnings. Through a series of questions we must elicit that these words also have a similar element in their meanings. It then becomes evident that the common prefix produces the common thought in each word and the function of the prefix is discovered by each child. The lesson concludes with an application of this knowl- edge to new words having the same prefix. Spelling books and elementary English books are replete with exercises and drills which seek to apply these etymo- logical elements and make their meaning a permanent possession of the children. How Make the Use of New Words Habitual. — The vital aim in the "meaning and use" lesson is evidently to make each new word learned a part of the child's active expressional vocabulary. To achieve this end we must teach the use of new words by a method which duplicates the method of learning new words outside the classroom. It is for this reason that no "meaning and use" list should be organized in advance. The teacher should wait until the class sees the need for the meaning of certain words. After the meaning is taught by one of the methods explained, the teacher must use the word in a number of sentences to show the children its value. Volunteers are now called 190 THE MEANING AND USE OF NEW WORDS upon. It Is not wise to force children to use the word too early in the lesson. After a number of voluntary answers have been accepted the teacher may insist on having the word used by any child desig- nated. If a pupil cannot think of an original sen- tence in which the word in question applies, the child may be allowed either to paraphrase or modify a sentence already given or to formulate a sentence around an incident suggested by the teacher. Thus, if, for the word venture, one child offered the sentence "Washington did not venture to fight the English army on Long Island," another child who cannot give an original sentence should be allowed to give, "In the re- treat through Manhattan Island Washington did not venture to fight the enemy" ; or the teacher might sug- gest, "Columbus — earth round — unknown seas," and the child might reasonably be expected to say, "Co- lumbus ventured across unknown seas." Every means must be taken to lead the child to feel the value of the word and then to desire to use it. But this mere formal use will not make the word part of the child's expressional vocabulary. There must be spontaneous use in answer to a definite need. The "meaning and use" chart must, therefore, be constantly before the class. On every occasion, in every explanation, and in every command the teacher must use as many of these words as she can. Chil- dren should be encouraged to use them in all recita- tions and in answer to every question; if necessary, rewards In the form of praise and even marks should be used to stimulate an interest and a desire to use 191 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH these words in all communications. When children write their compositions they should have the chart be- fore them and should attempt to use as many in the list as possible. This insistence on the use of the word will make it imperative that the same chart be kept many days and that few words be taught. It is probable that in this procedure only half or even a third of the number of words usually taught will be taken up, but we may rest unconcerned, for every means has been taken to make these words part of the natural and spontaneous expressional vocabulary. Definitions. — Much time and useful energy are dis- sipated in teaching definitions in all subjects. The notion persists that ability to formulate or repro- duce set definitions measures proficiency in a branch of knowledge. This standard fails absolutely when applied to life. Few people can define that which is part of their lives. The electrician, unable to de- fine electricity, proceeds with his work intelligently and achieves the end he seeks ; the judge, unable, per- haps, to define justice satisfactorily, nevertheless metes it out daily; the teacher of ethics, unable to define morality, nevertheless inspires in his pupils a love for right conduct. In school, especially in gram- mar and ^'meaning and use" lessons, the definition is elevated to a place that almost glorifies it. We must insist that formal definitions be relegated in teach- ing to the same plane of relative unimportance that they occupy in practical life, for function, not defini- tion, determines use and therefore importance in life. In recitation of "meaning and use" lessons teachers 192 THE MEANING AND USE OF NEW WORDS should require pupils to give a sentence for the given word before stating the definition. If the sentence is both original and correct, the child knows the func- tion of the word; its definition will add little to its comprehension. Let the reader select from the page a few words that are constantly used by him and then attempt to formulate satisfactory definitions, and he will realize the relative worth of function and definition. If, therefore, a notebook record must be made of these words, the page should be divided into three columns, the word should be written in the first, the sentence in the second, and the definition, if deemed necessary, in the third. The notebook ar- rangement would take the following form: ^Vord I. observation 2. Original Sentence I. The astronomer makes his ob- servations of the heavens with a tele- scope. Definition I. A careful not- ing. 2. Sentences that are isolated and so worded that they do not indicate the meaning of the word should be discouraged from the very beginning. Sentences must be taken from the reading, the geography, and the his- tory that are taught as well as from the round of ex- periences that form the child's life. 'The man is courageous'' has no relation to any of the subjects 193 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH taught in the grade and does not indicate the char- acteristics possessed by a courageous person. The Supplementary Means of Increasing Vocabulary. — The formal ''meaning and use" drills are not the only means of increasing the child's vocabulary. Al- though the other agents are often less direct, they are nevertheless not less effective in many cases. Among these, v^e must include the following : I. Study of Synonyms. — A formal drill on a list of synonyms, e. g., discover and invent, bring and fetch, content and satisfied, etc., usually resolves itself into subtle analysis but does little to add vital ele- ments to the child's vocabulary. Unless these pairs of synonyms arise naturally in the child's experience, they had better be neglected. Much can be done through drills on synonymous expressions. The teacher selects an expression used too frequently by the children and subjects that to a process of varia- tions. For some reason which the teacher could not explain a class was using the expression "mad with," as in ''He was mad with joy, excitement, anger," etc. This was put on the board and by questions and sug- gestions the teacher elicited that the general idea of the sentence "He was mad with joy" could be expressed by "He was overjoyed," "He was beside himself with joy," "His joy knew no bounds," etc. Thus the expression that had become stereotyped through overuse gave way to more varied sentence structure. Such a drill takes stock of each child's verbal pos- sessions and brings words known but not used into active expression. The variation method suggested 194 THE MEANING AND USE OF NEW WORDS in the study of composition is the most elaborated form of these drills on synonymous expressions. 2. The Library and Reading Circles. — Every effort must be made to interest children in the library so that they will be eager to avail themselves of every privilege that it offers. Very often much can be done through the organization of reading circles that meet regularly for discussion of books read since the last meeting. The child that contracts the reading habit soon gives evidence of new language possessions. He knows more words in the reading lesson, his sentences are better in form and in content, and his general knowledge grows beyond the confining limits of per- sonal experience. 3. Oral Composition in Reading Lessons. — The se- lection that is read in class should be subdivided into its logical parts. After the first division is read it should be subjected to a series of questions which call for a reproduction and a discussion on the text. Chil- dren should be encouraged to appropriate words and expressions of the author. If the child, in formulat- ing his answer, should look at the page and elect to in- corporate almost an entire sentence, he should be en- couraged, for he sees the value and experiences the need of this phraseology. He has taken the first step toward adding a good expression to his meager vo- cabulary. 4. Etymology and the Habit of Using the Diction- ary. — In the discussion of the various methods of teaching the meaning of new words, we noted that a knowledge of the common etymological elements and 195 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH a habit of using the dictionary are of vital importance to the child because they give permanent means of enlarging vocabulary. 5. The Subjects in the Curriculum. — Every sub- ject that is taught adds to the child's stock of expres- sions. In grammar modify and dependent are only two of many useful words that are learned. In like man- ner arithmetic, geography, history, and nature study make their permanent contributions to vocabulary. 6. Memorization and Recitation. — When children memorize what they understand and appreciate and then recite, not to prove to the teacher that a given text was memorized in obedience to a command, but because of a rational motive, they are incorporating many necessary words and expressions in their own vocabularies. The details of the method that must govern these memorization lessons will be discussed in the chapter on "Memory Gems." 7. Participation in Social Intercourse. — Vocabu- laries grow, usually, in response to conscious needs. When, therefore, the social life of the child necessi- tates ready and frequent speech, the mind acquires an ever-increasing stock of words to meet this need. Chil- dren who belong to social clubs and participate in the discussion of the business before the group, or who take active part in the administration of the pupils' self-government scheme in the school, usually give evidence of growing vocabularies. Children should, therefore, be encouraged to affiliate themselves with some group and to become active participants in its social affairs. 196 CHAPTER XI DICTATION: TEACHING THE FORMAL ASPECT OF COMPOSITION There is lack of unanimity of opinion among teach- ers as to the function of the dictation lesson. To many it is merely an opportunity to test pupils' knowl- edge of the formal phase of language. It is evident that dictation for such a purpose is of little impor- tance, unless we add a preceding function — to teach the laws governing the purely formal elements of writ- ten speech. We must posit, definitely, the aims of dic- tation before we proceed with the method of class in- struction. Objects of Dictation Lessons. — We will now consider the several objects of dictation lessons, (i) They teach the technicalities of zvritten composition. All written composition has two aspects, we noted: the expressional and the formal aspect. Ideas cannot group themselves logically, clear and forceful sen- tences cannot form, when the mind is troubled with matters of punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and penmanship. It is the function of the dictation lesson to teach these technical elements and thus set free the mind to give itself exclusively to the expressional elements in written composition. 197 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH Among the other aims of the dictation lesson we may mention the following: (2) It teaches spelling in a natural form. In the spelling lesson the child learns those words that present some difficulty to a majority of his class; but in the dictation lesson there is revealed to the child his own shortcomings. (3) It makes the ear sensitive to spoken language and thus trains for better auditory perception of the spoken tongue. (4) Rapid as well as neat penman- ship is developed. There is great danger in penman- ship teaching, that neatness and accuracy of form will be acquired at the cost of speed. Teachers used to put a premium on the slow, painful drawing of letters, failing to realize that speed as well as legi- bility must be attained. In the dictation lesson the penmanship must necessarily be more rapid. (5) In a correct method, concentration is developed in the process of dictation. (6) Habits of self-criticism and self-correction are acquired by the children, for every dictation lesson ends with a correction by the chil- dren of their products. The Choice of the Selection to Be Dictated. — The ends to be attained in a dictation lesson are often defeated by poor selection of the text that is dictated. It is necessary, first, that each selection should illustrate only one point in the technicalities of language. Thus, one paragraph is chosen because it shows how to write social titles; another because it illustrates the use of commas in a series, or the use of quotation marks; still another because some rule of capitaliza- tion is applied. That selection which can be used to 198 DICTATION teach any one of a half-dozen facts of language usually teaches nothing. A second requisite insists that the successive texts to he dictated he graded and so organized that they repeat a law until its application hecomes hahitual. An examination of the dictation exercises to-day dis- closes the fact that teachers in every class are trying to teach all the rules of spelling, punctuation, and capitalization in one term. Not until these rules are graded and allotted in limited numbers to each grade will their use become habit. When each teacher knows that she is responsible for only three definite rules of punctuation, four in capitalization, and two in spelling, she can so grade her dictation selections that the repetition will make them permanent posses- sions of the children. Third, it is necessary that the selection be suitahle in theme and language. Why dictate anything as insipid as "Joh^^ bought paper, pens, ink, blotters, and blank books. Coming home he traveled by car, train, bus, and bicycle. On his way he saw Mary, Jatnes, WiUiam, and Henry." The language of the text ought to be above the children's literary level, al- though on their plane of comprehension. In current articles on dictation found in pedagogical journals, fervid pleas are made for selections that inculcate lessons of ethics and patriotism. This is evidently sentimentalism gone astray. No practical teacher reserves part of the lesson on the use of the semi- colon for an appeal to an ideal of conduct. Ethics and patriotism must be taught in content lessons, 199 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH in history, in literature — subjects with human back- grounds and vibrant with the emotions and impulses of Hfe. Procedure in the Dictation Lesson. — A complete dic- tation lesson requires a minimum of two periods and has three distinct parts. The first period is occupied with the problem of teaching the new formal ele- ment of language; the second period covers the sec- ond part of the lesson in which the fact taught is tested, and the third part deals with the correction of the children's results. We must follow the pro- cedure through these successive parts. I. The Teaching Period. — Let us assume that the aim is to give a first lesson on the use of quotation marks. The teacher dictates pairs of sentences which follow the type form of, Lawrence said that his sailors should not give up the ship, and, Lawrence said to his sailors, ''Dont give up the ship." Children are called upon to write these on the board, putting one under the other. Through questions the teacher then elicits, first, the difference in thought in each pair of sentences, viz., the narration of an incident as op- posed to the repetition of the words of another, and second, the need of indicating this difference by some form of punctuation. The teacher then shows chil- dren the correct form of direct quotations and leads them to conclude that in using the words of another we must have (a) comma, (b) quotation marks, and (c) capitalization. Sentences which have been writ- ten incorrectly on the blackboard are now corrected in the light of the rule of punctuation that was evolved. 200 DICTATION More sentences may be written and incorrect punc- tuation may be corrected until the end of the first period. This ends the teaching part of the dictation lesson. 2. Testing for Mastery of Language Fact Taught. — In the following period a selection that illustrates the use of the rule for direct quotations is dictated to the class. In all classes below the seventh year it is advisable to show the children the selection the day preceding the dictation. True, this is not the mode of dictation in after life, but the child in the fourth or fifth school year is not ready for the direct dictation of the commercial world. It is unwise to force the child to commit errors, even though they are all corrected, for the mind may carry away wrong forms. We must constantly guard against the com- mission of errors by forestalling them. Hence in the early classes children are shown the selection and at- tention is directed to certain spellings, punctuations, capitalizations, and arrangements. On the following day the selection is dictated. For the lesson taught above an appropriate text would be the following : The Death of Wolfe at Quebec Wolfe, weary and sick, kept constant watch during the battle. Suddenly, he fell, fatally wounded. He realized that his end was near. As he lay waiting for the last moment, he heard, "They fly." He weakly asked, "Who fly?" His bodyguard replied, "The enemy, sir." His face seemed to brighten as he mumbled, "Then thank God, I die in peace." The Angel of Death then claimed him for his own. 201 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH The selection is first read as a whole to the class and then is dictated by pausing regularly at the end of each logical or grammatical subdivision in each sentence. No greater error can be committed in dic- tation than to make pauses after each eighth or tenth word. Such a procedure, although commonly seen in classrooms, reduces the selection to an arbitrary suc- cession of words and phrases and makes rational punctuation impossible. A second important caution is never to repeat after the signal has been given for the class to write. The teacher should therefore insist upon absolute atten- tion while the children listen to the dictation of the first logical part. The signal is then given and all children pick up pens and write. No hand is allowed to be raised and no questions should be permitted. When a reasonable period has elapsed a signal is given for work to stop, the class comes to attention and the next portion is dictated. Under no circumstance should the teacher dictate while some children are writing, or repeat after the class has begun to write. The violation of this simple dictum courts inattention or confuses those who are trying to write. Ability to concentrate, it was shown, is one of the important ends of dictation exercises. When the entire selection has been dictated it may be reread as a whole, but this is not always necessary or advisable. Only when the sentences are long and the punctuation rather difficult for the children is this final rereading neces- sary. 3. The Correction of the Children's Work. — The 202 DICTATION children should now be required to put all pens and ink away. The perfect copy is shown and each pupil corrects his own product with ruler and pencil. Every error is underlined and the correction is written above it. As in the correction of composition, it is not necessary to have every type of error marked by proofreaders' marks; a mere underline is sufficient to call attention to an error that needs correction. To discourage efforts at spurious corrections and to en- courage exclusive attention to correct form, a differ- ent writing medium is advocated for the correction period. If dictations, written in ink, are corrected in ink, children spend their best energies in devising ingenious ways of changing 3, t to p, 3, small s to a. capital S, etc., thus losing the benefit inherent in all honest self -correction. Every incentive for thorough correction should be given. Children should exchange papers with their neighbors, who will help them to discover errors that were passed over. It should be explained that errors neatly corrected will be counted only half a mark, but errors overlooked will count doubly against a pupil. By these means — of course, petty devices — children are made to feel that careful correction is worth their best endeavors. The rewriting of the dictation in absolutely cor- rect form is a disputed procedure. The arguments offered by the disputants are precisely those listed in the debate for the rewriting of compositions and need not be repeated here. Most supervisors agree that if errors are carefully and intelligently corrected, the child will learn more from additional dictation les- 203 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH sons than from mere rewriting of selections already dictated. Further Test and Drill. — It is evident that no new fact need be taught for weeks. Each succeeding dic- tation lesson may consist of further test and correc- tion, until the law of punctuation is applied by the children automatically. In teaching the correct use of quotation marks it is necessary to grade the topic by successive steps of difficulty. The child who can write the selection, *'The Death of Wolfe at Quebec," may not be able to punctuate a sentence of the type, ''Then I die in peace," he said, ''for I have captured Quebec." The "broken quotation" must then be in a separate lesson. But thus far we have not con- sidered long quotations extending over two or three paragraphs ; here the punctuation and the arrangement are different and must be taught at a later time. In lessons on the comma, the semicolon, capitalization, the need for gradation is even more urgent because the topics are wider in scope. The procedure for dictation lessons has thus far neglected the drill in unprepared dictation necessary in commercial life. Beginning with the sixth year occasional periods should be set aside for the dictation of text not seen by the class before the lesson and dic- tated without the nicety of logical pauses and succes- sive signals for attention and writing. With the ad- vancing grades this unprepared dictation should be given with greater frequency until the children be- come accustomed to the form of dictation heard in the business world. 204 DICTATION SUGGESTED READING Arnold^ E. Special Methods of Instruction, pp. 131- 136. S. Mandel, 2y St. Nicholas Place, N. Y. Cronson^ B. Graded Dictation and Spelling Lessons. The Macmillan Co. GoLDWASSER, I. E. Method and Methods in the Teaching of English, chap. XIII. D. C. Heath &Co. RiCHMAN, Julia. Graded Works in Dictation for All Grades. School Work, Vol. Ill, Nos. i and 2. Van Wagenen, Kate. Dictation Day by Day. The Macmillan Co. CHAPTER XII MEMORY GEMS: MEMORIZATION AND RECITATION Value of Memory Gems. — Memorization and recita- tion of standard prose and poetical selections have always been an essential part of every child's lin- guistic education. They are the means that are used in all stages of the child's development, from the "School of the Mother's Knee" . through the high- school course. Their values are many and far-reach- ing, and can be summed up as follows: 1. Memorizing the gems of literature is a means of enriching the child's limited expressional stock. New words, strong phrases, traditional allusions, and classical expressions are acquired through a context that helps to give them both richer meaning and greater retention. 2. The mere knowledge of the literary gems that are memorized is an acquisition that is worth while for its own sake. We must acquaint the child in an informal way with his literary heritage. 3. Memorization of literary gems gives children a permanent possession of sentiments deep in ethical significance and rich in poetic charm, which grow in meaning and beauty with the ever-widening experi- 206 MEMORY GEMS: MEMORY AND RECITATION ence of life. "The Chambered Nautiltis" which at- tracted us in youth by its rich imagery is now a sym- bol of the moral urge that is prompted by a growing soul. "As the swift seasons roll" the poem glows richer and more beautiful in its symbolism. 4. But aside from the content aspect of these lit- erary possessions, the child is becoming familiar with language structure that serves as a model for his own modes of expression. The child may not consciously set himself to imitate the selections he memorizes, but they nevertheless have a deep and subtle influence on his linguistic development. 5. The recitation of the memorized literary gems affords the teacher an excellent means of training his pupils in correct enunciation, clear articulation, cor- rect voice control and modulation. 6. Another important gain that follows in the wake of dramatized recitation of memorized selec- tions is increased confidence and more graceful self- expression. These values give the memory gem les- son a definite and undisputed place in every curricu- lum of English. The Selection of the Memory Gem. — The standard of selection must be determined to a great extent by the child's conception of delightful literature. What is artistic and literary to us may awake no response from the child. Not the mature conception of the teacher, but the growing, aspiring conception of the child should determine what will be selected from our vast literary storehouse. The poem, "I Live for Those Who Love Me," expresses the basic tenet of Christi- 207 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH anity. But to require children in the third year of the elementary school course to mouth it and to pledge themselves to ''live for the cause that needs assistance" and ''for the wrongs that lack resistance," is a procedure that borders on the ludicrous. Gray's "Elegy in a Country Church Yard" highly merits its place of honor in most carefully selected anthologies, but its recognized literary merit does not necessarily make it appropriate for an elementary school child. A forced study of v^hat is above the child's artistic power of appreciation may undermine the child's in- terest in all literary form. But, it has been asked, will not this standard lead to the memorization of the commonplace in our language ? There is no cause for alarm because it is not proposed to invite imma- ture and unread children to select the content of their literary course. The standard formulated merely sug- gests that mature and widely read teachers and su- pervisors select from the rich literary sources those gems whose emotional and artistic appeals are so uni- versal that even the developing child can respond to them, can feel their thrill and grow under their in- fluence. Motivating the Memory Gems. — The memorization of a literary gem should proceed from the children's desire to count it among their possessions. The dis- cussion of the values of memorizing literary selections sums up the teacher's reasons for making this type of language exercise a vital part of the English course. But they do not necessarily evoke in the child a de- sire to memorize any selection. The problem that 208 MEMORY GEMS: MEMORY AND RECITATION confronts the teacher in teaching the memory gem is how to motivate it for the children. The problem of motivation may be solved by using the selection as the text for an intensive, apprecia- tive reading lesson. Through the entire period the teacher must aim to bring within the children's sphere of appreciation all the elements that make the literary gem beautiful and rich in poetic imagery. At the end of the lesson the teacher must try to ascertain whether the selection was a source of pleasure to the pupils. If they caught the message and feel its spirit, the memorization can be based on real motive; if, for some reason, the selection proved uninspiring, it should not be forced upon them. Let us assume that the class responded to the ap- peal of the literary gem. Children are called upon to dramatize it. The most enthusiastic volunteers are called upon. They eagerly come before the class, and with eyes on the page proceed with the drama- tization. When it becomes apparent that the dramati- zation is a failure, the teacher asks the children to account for the result and elicits that unless the selec- tion is known "by heart" its proper rendition is im- possible. Here, then, is the motive for the memoriza- tion. The desire to recite the selection to the assem- bled school, an eagerness to possess what is beautiful and inspiring, and the preparation for a recitation con- test may serve as added motives which reduce the tedi- um involved in memorization exercises. Procedure in Memorizing Literary Gems.. — i. Sym- pathetic Comprehension of the Selection. — It was sug- 209 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH gested that the literary selection that is to be mem- orized should first be used as a text for an intensive reading lesson. In this appreciative reading the chil- dren feel the message of the selection, become fa- miliar with the development of the central theme, and learn the meaning of new words, phrases, and al- lusions. With this basis of literary appreciation, the teacher is assured of a sympathetic comprehension by the class and a motive for memorization. 2. Tracing the Sequence of Ideas. — The second step preparatory to the memory appeal is to lead the children to trace the sequence of ideas in the selection studied. Let us assume that Kingsley's "Three Fish- ers" is to be memorized. The Three Fishers Three fishers went sailing away to the West, Away to the West as the sun went down; Each thought of the woman who loved him the best, And the children stood watching them out of town; For men must work, and women must weep, And there's little to earn, and many to keep, Though the harbour bar be moaning. Three wives sat up in the lighthouse tower. And they trimmed the lamps as the sun went down; They looked at the squall, and they looked at the shower, And the night-rack came rolling up ragged and brown. But men must work, and women must weep, Though storms be sudden, and waters deep. And the harbour bar be moaning. Three corpses lay out on the shining sands In the morning gleam as the tide went down, 210 MEMORY GEMS: MEMORY AND RECITATION And the women are weeping and wringing their hands For those who will never come home to the town; For men must work, and women must weep, And the sooner it's over, the sooner to sleep; And good-bye to the bar and its moaning. The successive thoughts of the first stanza analyzed by a sixth-year pupil were listed as follows : Three fishermen sail away; they sail to the west as the sun goes down; each thinks of his wife; their children watch them; men must work, women must be sad when little is earned and many must be supported; poor fishermen must go even if it looks dangerous. These ideas are now committed to memory with little effort because the entire thought is evolved most nat- urally and logically. The values of memorizing the sequence of ideas in their natural order are many. First, it simplifies the memorization of the poet's words; each thought prompts its appropriate expression, and with little effort a verbatim reproduction is achieved. Second, it tends to make recall rational rather than verbal. Study the strained face of the child who recites a memorized selection; the steady stare and the nerv- ous anxiety give evidence of the fact that the child is focalizing all conscious effort on the next line or the next word. The recitation is a verbal reproduc- tion, not a reconstruction, thought by thought, of a real situation. When these children err, they say what is absolutely devoid of meaning. But when the child learns first the sequence of the ideas and then the poet's phraseology, he recites a series of thoughts, 211 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH he thinks constantly of the next idea, and when he errs he substitutes his own clumsy wording which expresses the idea in mind in a less elegant form. A third value of such a procedure is that it trains children in systematic and sustained thinking. 3. Thought Questions Anszvered in the Words of the Author. — When the children have acquired the "thought- skeleton/' each idea should be subjected to a thought question, which should be answered by the children in the words of the text to be memorized. As illustrative of this phase of the lesson, we may submit the following reproduction of questions and answers, the part of the answer in italics recited with emphasis by the children: Teacher: How many fishers left for the trip? Pupil: Three; three fishers went sailing away to the west. Teacher: In what direction did they sail? Pupil: Toward the west; three fishers went sail- ing away to the west. Teacher: What time of day was it? Pupil : Twilight ; away to the west as the sun went down. Teacher : Who was in the thoughts of these men ? Pupil : Their wives ; each thought of the zvoman who loved him the best. Teacher : What did these women feel toward these men? Pupil: They loved them; each thought of the woman who loved him the best. Teacher: Who were interested spectators? 212 MEMORY GEMS: MEMORY AND RECITATION Pupil: Their children; and the children stood zvatching them out of town, etc. After these specific questions are asked, a series of general problems are formulated which necessitate the reading of that portion of the selection which is to be memorized. The teacher now requests : ''Read the line that gives the saddest picture; the happiest pic- ture. Read the line that tells most about the danger- ous character of the work of these men. What line is most beautiful; least beautiful? Read these. What line gives a hint of the end of the trip? Read the line that is hardest to remember; easiest to remem- ber. What line tells most about the homes of these men?" These are only a few of many questions that can be formulated to serve as a pretext for making children read and reread the stanza that is to be committed to memory. Let the teacher now call for volunteers and note how large a part of her class is ready to recite the stanza that was studied. Retention Through Thought Rather than Through Memory Appeal. — Throughout this lesson the aim was to avoid an appeal to verbal memory. In ''memory- gem" lessons one hears the teacher's commands, "Re- cite the first sentence. Say it five times. Recite the sec- ond sentence. Say it five times. Recite the first and the second sentences three times, etc." At times the sentence is not made the unit of reiteration, for the teacher requires the children to repeat the first line, the second line, the first two lines, the third line, the first three lines, etc. What wonder that most children feel that the term gem is a misnomer in these lessons, for 213 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH the adjective memory overshadows its noun. The procedure that was suggested aims to produce per- manent retention through thought rather than through mechanical repetition, through a method that stimu- lates self -activity rather than one that dulls the mind by its monotony, through devices that set problems before the class rather than incessant drill. Aids to Memorization. — But not all children can memorize by a method that makes an exclusive thought appeal. Minds that are unimpressionable must have auxiliary appeals that are more mechani- cal in their nature. Among these aids to memoriza- tion are: (i) Verbal repetition; (2) singing the music that may have been composed for the selection; (3) pointing out the rhymes supplies additional auditory associations; (4) emphasizing the rhythm or the lilt is, at times, almost as effective as the music ac- companying a poem; (5) multiple sense appeal, in which an effort is made to have the selection heard, seen, acted, and written by way of providing for audi- tory-, visual-, and motor-minded children. The Recitation. — Few lessons are as uninsplratlonal and devoid of social spirit as the recitations of mem- orized selections that one hears in a round of visits to schools. Child after child is called upon to recite in rapid succession to prove to the teacher that he has perfect mastery of the correct sequence of words. The auditors listen listlessly and hold themselves in readiness to correct the child who recites, or to con- tinue, should the poor victim become confused and unable to proceed to the end. These recitations must 214 MEMORY GEMS: MEMORY AND RECITATION be enlivened by a rational purpose and a social spirit. Every opportunity for dramatization should be util- ized by the teacher. The child who recites should be made to feel that his classmates are anxious to hear his rendition, to see his dramatization, and to compare his interpretation with theirs. The teacher must not exaggerate her position; she must strive to make the child feel that she is only one member of the child's audience. When a pupil's recitation is ended, his classmates should be called upon to comment on the clearness of speech, the accuracy of pronunciation, the naturalness of the rendition, and the grace of the dramatization. The teacher should be as insistent on eliciting favorable criticism as unfavorable, when it is merited. After every child has recited, the pupils should decide the relative merits of their classmates' recitations and should elect that child or those chil- dren who will represent them in the '^assembly exer- cises" or who will be sent to other classrooms when classes exchange recitations. The oral recitation should never descend to the dispirited level of a test. If the teacher is anxious to secure a mark for each pupil in these exercises, she should ask the children to write out the selection and then rate them according to a uniform scale. SUGGESTED READING GoLDWAssER^ I. E. Method and Methods in the Teaching of English, chap. XL D. C. Heath & Co. 215 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH Haliburton and Smith. Teaching Poetry in the Grades. Houghton-Mifflin Co. Hosic, James F. Elementary Course in Enghsh. All chapters for suggestions for material. University of Chicago Press. Klapper, Paul. Teaching Children to Read, chap. VII. Bibliography at the end of this chapter con- tains suggestions for material. CHAPTER XIII THE VALUES OF FORMAL GRAMMAR The Disputed Place of Grammar in the Modern Curricu- lum Progressive teachers of English hold divergent and almost irreconcilable views on the place, the func- tions, and the ultimate worth of grammar as a sub- ject in the elementary school curriculum. The camp is divided into three factions. The first justifies the traditional emphasis on formal grammar with its ter- minology, classifications, rules of syntax and analysis — all to be taught in separate periods with as much correlation as can naturally be introduced. The sec- ond group insists that formal grammar must be elim- inated and the necessary laws of language be taught through the correction of errors that children make in their written and oral speech. The third view on the teaching of grammar is a compromise: it admits the futility of formal grammar that is taught as the scientific analysis of speech, but it has faith in the teaching of those facts of grammar that can be re- lated to the child's needs. This last school would teach grammar as part of the course in composition; would have every lesson in grammar arise in errors committed by members of the class; would eliminate all those elements of formal grammar that cannot be 217 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH applied directly by the child in the process of improv- ing speech; and would teach grammar incidentally, not in set periods. The reaction to formal grammar is not a temporary attitude accompanying changing con- ceptions in teaching; it is a vigorous protest against abuses that have characterized most of the teaching of grammar. Grrajnmar a Discredited Subject The indictments brought against current procedures in the teaching of grammar are many and grave. 1. The old boast, "Grammar teaches how to write and speak a language correctly," has been disproven, not only by practical results observed in actual teach- ing but by a deeper analysis of the relation that ex- ists between speech and grammar. Every teacher can bring evidence to prove that proficiency in grammar is no guarantee of equal or approximate proficiency in composition, and vice versa. A child, whose compo- sitions leave little to be desired, may score a failure in grammar, while his neighbor, well versed in the in- tricacies of verbal forms and the rules of agreement in grammar, may write English that is devoid of all application of this technical knowledge. Exercises in grammar are essentially analytic; exercises in com- 1 position are creative and essentially synthetic; there- I fore, ability in one of these forms of language study I is not necessarily carried over to the other. 2. In most classrooms, there is little or no rela- tion between the courses in grammar and in compo- sition for a given term. In schools organized on a departmental schedule in the last two or three years 218 THE VALUES OF FORMAL GRAMMAR it is usual to assign the teaching of grammar to one teacher and the teaching of composition to another. These teachers proceed independently, the one teach- ing children the nominative absolute, the other strug- gling with the class in the hope of breaking the habit of using dependent clauses for complete sentences. It is advisable to assign to one teacher all the subjects that are grouped under the head of English, so that every natural correlation will be introduced and thus the work will be given a unity of aim which it will otherwise lack. 3. Grammar as outlined in many courses of study and in textbooks written for elementary schools abounds in sterile verbal subtleties. Thus, the child is taught to keep gerund and gerundive apart. The word. sailing in the sentence, ''Sailing a boat is great sport," must be distinguished from the word sailing in, "The sailing of the ship was scheduled for midnight." True, the one word has an element of action in it, while the other has not; the one word cannot be in- troduced by the article the, while the other can; but when all these distinctions are noted and the proper names applied, in what vital way has the child's speech been affected? The dative object and the direct object are now taught in many schools. This terminology is absolutely essential in language like German and Latin, but in English it serves only to multiply un- necessary classification. What is gained by calling hat the direct object and me the dative object in the sentence, "Jo^^^ §^ve me the hat"? The old form, "objective case," answers the purpose because in Eng- 219 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH lish there is no difference in the form of words in the accusative or in the dative case. Such an unwarranted increase in terminology reduces grammar to a sterile study of formalism in language. 4. The prevailing method of teaching grammar is another cause of the discredit which has been cast upon the subject. In the teacher's endeavors to have children master an ever-increasing terminology and ever-growing classification, memory drills are greatly emphasized. Recitations are given over exclusively to reciting set classifications, stereotyped definitions, formal rules and memorized lists. Grammar is still a memory subject rather than a rational study, for the din of monotonous repetitions of /^ my or minej me, we, our or ours, us, or of / love, you love, he or she loves, we love, you love, they love, etc., is still to be heard in most schools. It seems that we have not yet learned that mastery of elements, isolated in an arbi- trary list, is no guarantee of ability to use these very forms in natural context. 5. Another very serious criticism that must be urged against current courses in grammar is the undue variety of terminology. The market is flooded with a variety of books that find their way into the school. Most of these books repeat the same limitations and abuses, but each one of them justifies its appearance by a new system of names for the various elements in grammar. No attempt is made to reach any degree of uniformity in the terminology; each book insists on its own system, and each author is a law unto him- self. What is the inevitable result ? Different schools 220 THE VALUES OF FORMAL GRAMMAR use different books, and even the various classes in one school frequently do not use the same series of books. The pupils become hopelessly confused by the array of imposing terms. As the children pass from one school to another and from one class to another, they find the new teacher using a terminology un- known to them. What wonder that children leave school ignorant of the basic terms in grammar! An illustration of the extent of this variety of ter- minology will at once show the gravity of the situa- tion. A recent writer collected in a comparative table the terms used by our leading textbooks for common grammatical elements. The results as tabulated are given below in slightly modified form. The writer listed ten books that are in use in schools to-day. For purposes of comparison he selected five fundamental uses of nouns and adjectives in the predicate, viz., (a) good, in the sentence, ''He is good"; (b) John, in ''This is John"; (c) him, in "I know him"; (d) red, in "We painted our barn red"; (e) me, in "He gave me the book." The Roman numbers in the table rep- resent these fiYt elements in the order named; under each is listed the various terms applied by textbooks used in classes to-day. The disagreement in the no- menclature that exists for predicate constructions is typical of the general confusion found in grammatical terminology. What is the immediate problem that confronts us in the teaching of grammar? Out of this chaos there must be evolved a simplified and uniform nomencla- ture that will be used at least in an entire city school 221 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 03 O o m X P^ pa O < > o I— I o w CO m > •4J +s ■4J -p +J +3 4J O O o o a -p o c C ID -p ■p> -p -p -p -p -p -p c o o 0, o c a. o c c H dJ CD 0, a. V !-j (-1 w _(- l-i u p • ^ '^ ''3 ^ "J! 'd »£ P 'd '£ '-S c a C C d c d j: c l-H 1— I 1— 1 1-4 1— l-H 1— h- +J -ij -p -P G d ft d C (U 0) i 1 a H 6 6 > tj 'B o -p t a o O 'B ft - d 0) 5 -" o q -p X 'B -p < 1 d H-l aj Q^ D S^ o 'C (L ^ 0, a. « 4- -p 1^ > -t^ -p -p 1 -p >. '-P '■p w g o o • t-l c o c 'ft c o _aj 0) tS (U (D 1 ■i. a. 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