tions, answers should, whenever possible, be proved. A mistake may then be disastrous, and if not corrected at once it is irrevocable. 12. There is perhaps no subject in which one child's pro Varying progress gress differs so much from another's as in Arithmetic. It follows that a frequent reclassification in this subject is necessary. 177 ENGLISH COMPOSITION EVERY ONE, except the absolutely illiterate, is called upon, at some time or other, to communicate in writing with relatives, Utility of friends, employers, or business connections. The Composi- power of saying, clearly and concisely, what one has tion to say is therefore of universal utility, and no further argument need be given for the teaching of Composition in schools of all grades. often insufficient There is probably no school which does not profess to teach it, but too often nothing is done in the lower classes or Teaching forms, and little in the higher, the labour of the teacher being limited to the setting and correcting, and the labour of the pupils to the composing, of essays or themes. The essay, like the 'sum' in arithmetic, is a valuable exercise when it compels children to apply instruction already received; but till the instruction has been given the teacher should no more expect an essay to be written than he expects the 'sum' to be worked. Granting that the instruction has been given, an essay assumes the possession of ideas, of words to express them, and of the ability to write and spell ; hence, it is an exercise beyond the capacity of the lower classes, in which the lessons are necessarily preparatory and the exercises mostly oral. These lessons have a double aim, the enlargement of vocabulary and the construction of sentences. It is possible to have words without ideas, but not ideas without words. N The vocabulary of a child is therefore enlarged not so much by giving him direct instruction on the meanings of new words Vocabu- as by making him have definite conceptions of the lary new words needed to express the new ideas conveyed to him in talks on common things, in object lessons, in reading, &c. It must not, however, be forgotten that, while ideas bring words, words properly explained also bring ideas. The word roundness for instance, connotes a general property, but the words ring, circle, disc, ball, globe, sphere, cylinder add breadth and distinctness to the general notion. It follows that systematic lessons on words have their place in the teaching of Composition. We have already seen that the dictionary meaning of a word may create quite a wrong impression. This shows the necessity of presenting every new word in a sentence, Words should be and shows also the peculiar value of the readingtaught in book as a means of enlarging the vocabulary. Not only is every word presented in its appropriate setting there, but the meaning of a strange word may often be inferred from the context. Early in Pilgrim's Progress' we meet the following passage : sentences Just as they had ended this talk they drew near to a very miry slough that was in the midst of the plain, and they, being heedless, did both fall suddenly into the bog. . . Here, therefore, they wallowed for a time, being grievously bedaubed with the dirt, and Christian, because of the burden that was on his back, began to sink in the mire. A child reading this passage would almost certainly not understand the word slough (which the conserving genius of Bunyan has alone prevented from becoming obsolete), and he might not understand the word miry, but reading to the end he could not fail to discover with certainty the meaning of both. There is, of course, a danger that the inference may be false. The ignorance of the poorer novelists and journalists of the mean 1 See p. 110. ings of some of the words which they favour (fain and ik, for instance) probably springs from this cause. Children should see as well as hear every new word that they learn, and after it has been presented to them in sentences they should be required to make sentences of their own introducing it. and written Paraphrase Paraphrasing is an exercise often adopted in the higher classes for widening the vocabulary, though its utility in this respect may be easily overrated. It is open to the serious objection that it compels one to express a thought in inferior language, since all the best words have already been claimed by the author. Converting his gold into baser metal, it reverses the effect of the philosopher's stone. Paraphrasing is of real value only as a test of general intelligence and of the extent to which the author's meaning is comprehended. Matthew Arnold, in his Report on English Elementary Schools for the year 1874, states that Campbell's line, As monumental bronze unchanged his look, was paraphrased by one candidate, 'His demeanour was as unchangeable as ornamental ironwork,' and by another, 'Hist countenance was fixed as though it had been a memorial of copper and zinc.' Arnold adds:-'To paraphrase passably a few lines. . . is as good a proof of general intelligence as any that could be required or given. To paraphrase them eminently well may be a proof of a special faculty and not necessarily indicative of a general intelligence of an eminent order. But to paraphrase them passably is at least a good negative proof, a proof that one's mind is not so poorly furnished and so dull of movement that one must be pronounced wanting in general intelligence.' Training in the construction of sentences should, during the earliest stage, be both oral and incidental. Without saying Training anything about Subject or Predicate or Parts of Speech, the teacher should insist upon the little ones using comin the plete sentences in their familiar talks with him, and construc- in their answers to his questions. tion of sentences In the second stage the instruction begins to gain form. Exercises are set on the construction of sentences containing given elements, e.g. : a. Make sentences introducing given words (which should be Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, and Adverbs). b. Make sentences introducing given pairs of words (Nouns and Verbs, Adjectives and Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives). c. Make sentences introducing three words (Adjectives, Nouns, and Verbs; Nouns, Verbs, and Adverbs). d. Make sentences introducing four words (Adjectives, Nouns, Verbs, and Adverbs). If the children have learned something of analysis they should be required to work such exercises as the following: a. Place Predicates after the following Subjects. b. Place Subjects before the following Predicates. c. Supply the omitted Objects in the following sentences. d. Place Subjects before and Objects after the following Predicates. e. Add Adjuncts to each Subject. f. Add Adjuncts to each Object. g. Add Adjuncts to each Subject and Object. h. Add Adjuncts to each Predicate. When a certain facility in the construction cf simple sentences has been acquired, the combination of two or more sentences into one should be taught. The way is then prepared for continuous and written Composition. The simplest essay or theme calls for reading, Easy experience, and reflection, and as these cannot be narrative expected from young children the earliest exercises in continuous Composition should be the reproduction of a short narrative with an obvious point. The incidents being As my views are fully embodied in Longmans' School Composition, only a brief outline of the method suggested is given here. |