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Show I ADDRESSES AT OHABLESTON, S. C. 465 The value of the domestio work.-Nor has the domestic work lost its value and inter-est for these children. Wash day is greeted with the enthusiasm of the first year, and much pride is taken in doing alone the "hard" housekeeping duties. The gardening has become quite scientific; now we can water with a rake and have raised and sold vegetables enough to buy tools.' Thus the child gets a fair start in accuracy, responsibility, ambition and ideas; and the primary comes fresh and full of intereat to meet the demands of growth. Our child knows nothing of the geometrical side of the gifta; he has not known the tablets, sticks, and ringa, but he has watched the work of the sun, wind, and rain in his garden.' He knows where the grasshopper and cricket live, he has seen the birds build,and brood in the bird house of his own making, and he listens ea erly for the mornlng song, "Sweetys' here, sweet s' here." He has, in short, someafthe knowl-edge of the "The Barefoot Boy," ani he goes at work with swill and independence. It is the fair, true start that gives the child of any race the surest chance of reaching the goal. Thh goal being self-support and independence. THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH IN INDIAK SCHOOLS [Miss MYRTILLAJ EWELL SHGRMAXE, empton, Va.] Lan age a but the expression of one's thoughts, and the teaching of English s h o u l ~ ohte a teaching of words for the sake of words themselves, but of words as the medium of interchange of thought. First of all we should ive our pupils something to think about. The plan that the~nglishteachershoulfalwaf~osll ow should lead her continuously to ask: "What new experience can I put into the lives of my pupils, what new thought can I awaken in their minds, and how shall I lead them to exprem it?" Language or rammar is not a separate study by itself, but is, or should be, a art of every otherglesson. The importance of correlation, makin one study expkin and illustrate another, can not be overestimated. If, for exampfe, there are on hand an En lish exercise on the use of capitals, and a geography lesson on the mountains of the%estem Stater, instead of dictating a set of sentences from some grammar, let the teacher make a set embodying the facts she wishes the class to remember from their geography lesson. She wlll thus give double time and strength to the latter subject without robbing the English work. Let a. composition be also written on the Pacific highlands; the time and thought expended in mastering the facts for recita-tion will be so much added to the preparat~onof the English lesson. An English lesson is not necesmnly a written exercise. In the history of the ntce it is the spoken word that leads the way. The same is trueof the individual. How important, then, the trainingof the child in right hahitsof speech. Every recitation should be an English lesson, no matter what the subject may he. In the cme of the Indian pupil this is especially needful, for, o ~ i n tgo his natural reticence and the fact that he is tr in to recite in a foreign language, he needs all the mtice possible. First of all, Xk stauld be encouraged to express himself freely. T R t~ea cher should see that he fully understands what he is trying to recite. If an error of a eeeh is made she should correct it, but not in a way to make him self-consciaus an$ fearful ever after of makin a mistake. If he needs a word or an e ression she should supply it. Oral war% of this kind should be so frequent thatxe pupil will forget to be sh and reserved as it becomes easy and natural for him to express himself. Not untiythe child can express his thoughts orally should he be required to write it, and not even then should he make the attempt until certain mechanical difficulties are removed. The teacher should make a list of words whose s elling is liable to give him trouble, and have them mastered before writing. She sgould also call his attention to the words requiring the use of capitals, and has, of course, in the oral exercise, corrected his errors of speech. From the first there should be a daily drill in utting on aper or slate what the child has learned in his other studies. He shoul$do this so frequently that talking on pa er will be to him as natural a mode of expression as speaking with the lips. "No lay without a line" would be rs good motto for all teaehen. The,student should be taught not only to think, but to think logically. Questions on a given subject should be so arranged as to draw out a connected series of answers, which, when written, will form a lo ical, order1 composition., ,A little later the pupil should be taught to make s imje outlines fYor his eampos~t~oann d to follow them as he writes. 'Vegetables can be raised in every school and sold to inculcate ideas of making and eaving money. *Children are taught practical gardening, extending operations to the yard. 6266-00-30 |
