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Show 426 REPORT OF THE SUPERZNTENDENT OF INDIAN SCHOOLS, LANGUAGE OF THE SECOND YE-. Alice M. Rosw, teaohm, Oolala. Lloaraino School, south. Dakota.-The 5rst work of the teacher of the Indian child is to ascertain the limit of his knowledge and degree of his ability of expression and teach him to translate his knowi-edge into the English language; the second is to help him to add to his general store and to teach him ease in self-expression. It is not enough that the pupil be ied thru the known to the unknown. There Is much unknomn that the primary teacher must let alone, and both teacher and pupil must have a clear idea of the part for which they should reach, or they will grasp nothing in particular. Every recitation should have something definite in it at which to aim. This aim must be clearly understood by botll teacher and pupil. The child learns by doing. It wiil be weil at this point to consider the means to he employed by the teacher in the schoolroom; that is, her sources of language material. In the beginning the lessons should be purely conversational. Let the teacher choose subjects with which the child is perfectly familiar. She must not forget the natural order of race development, but respect it. Use object lessons. These are excellent sources of language material. They are especially good to increase the child's vocabulary. A fourth means is the reading lesson. This is par-t icular i~a dapted to the study of capitals, punctuation, question and answer. Passing quickly over the first year's work with the hare outline .of what the child is supposed to learn here, we bring him to the teacher of the second grnde having a fair vocabulary of words of which he knows the meaning. He aiso has sonie knowledge of the use of capital letters and the period. The first \norI< of the teacher of the second grade is to enlarge and strengthen the first-grade work. What I wish to emphasine is that whatever is taught should be presented to the learner in a clear, logical way, which can be done oniy when the teacher has a definite aim in vlew and a definite plan for reaching It. The law of aim applies to teaching in ail of the grades. Thruout the whole year the interest of the child must be engaged, and facts so correlated, the new with the old, that each will help to a clearer understanding of the other. I believe that a second-grade language class which has been led thru the first and second grades according to the foregoing pian wili enter the third , grade weil equipped. This class wiil have in store a large vocabulary of Eng-lish words which it is able to use in an intelligent may. It wili have such knoxvledge of the forms and construction of simple composition that few mis-takes wili be made. It will reproduce in its own language the leading thoughts in a paragraph or lesson. It wili aiso have some proficiency in letter writing and original conlpasition of a simple nature. We have reached, then, what we set out to accomnlish-a greater knowledge of the English language and ease in self-expression. We hare strengthened the ~norai nature. me have developed the mental faculties; henre built up good character-tile real goal of every true teacher's instruction. WHAT CAN BE DOSE TO HARYOAIZE THE LITERABY AND INDUSTBIAI. U'OBK OF DAY AND ROABDINGI SCH0OI.S. Chwles H. Parli, toaclcer, dag school No. &-The day schools shouid acquaint themselves with the scope of the boarding school plan-what it is intended to accomplish, its facilities for Nark, and the time allotted to the completion of it. The boarding school should become fanllllar with the wol'k of the thirty day schools. After informing ourselves of the extent and nature of the objects to be ob-tained, let us get together and prepare for both systems in a single course of stu* which shall be a revised and extended combination of the two now in use. TO understand its relative operation it is oniy necessary to remember that the worlc done by day schools under it \rouid belong to its primary departmeut. Industrial worl; of the simplest kind, such as caw and use of tools, care of fences and grounds, preparation and improvement of garden soil, cultivation and harvesting of garden crops, shouid follow, with a vlew to conditions of climate and the locality in which the pupil wiil make his future home. The work of the boarding school should he an extension and completion of that begun in the day schools. |
