The Lesson Simplicity and informality should characterize all letters, particularly this one. This is a letter to a friend and should, therefore, be intimate and personal. Guard against abrupt inquiries and secure sincerity and genuineness in the expression. It should be a real letter to a real child. LESSON 105-STORY TELLING The aim of this lesson is to call attention to the importance of silent reading the only kind of reading pupils employ after they leave school. It has value not only in gaining the thought embodied in literature, but has value in the study of geography, arithmetic, and indeed in every other subject. Investigations show that pupils who acquire facility in rapid silent reading are those who gain most from what they have read; that is, they are the best thought-getters. From the investigations made, it would seem that pupils in the seventh grade should be able to read a simple prose story at the rate of about 250 words per minute, and to reproduce fifty per cent of the ideas in a 400-word passage after a single reading. You will note that the stories to be read are simple in thought content, clearly set out in paragraphs, and have dramatic quality. They lend themselves well to this kind of test exercise. How to teach silent reading effectively becomes an important phase of instruction in English. LESSON 106-CLASS COMPOSITION Pupil's Preparation With the story "Who Loved Best" in mind, try to answer the questions given in Lesson 11. The Lesson The lesson should be an "open book'' lesson, that is, the pupils should have their books open to Lesson 11. The aim of the class composition is to train pupils in the methods of composing. Here teacher and pupils working together build up the paragraph units, sentence by sentence, consecutively. The composition consists of the interpreting and telling in a new construction a brief but interesting story. The method of procedure can best be taught in this way; the suggestions of the most efficient pupils will be of great service to those less efficient. Moreover, when the teacher chooses a given sentence from the many offered by pupils, standards of value are set and pupils come to have a perspective and a mode of treatment. The class composition, rightly used, will do more to teach pupils how to compose than can be taught them by any other method in similar time limits. LESSON 107-COMPOSITION The speaker should stand before the class while talking and should address the members of the class. This arrangement gives him a real audience and makes him realize that it is his duty to be interesting. LESSON 108-MAKING COMPOUND AND COMPLEX SENTENCES FROM SIMPLE SENTENCES Forming compound and complex sentences from simple sentences does more than teach these classes of sentences. Power gained in making such sentences will evince itself in improved compositions. LESSON 109-REVIEW OF CONSTRUCTIONS Pupil's Preparation Study carefully the model given at the beginning of the lesson. Read each sentence two or three times before you try to tell how the words are used. Is the sentence simple, compound, or complex? If compound or complex, separate the sentence into its clauses. Find the subject and predicate of each clause. Now think of the other words in the clause. LESSON 110-CURRENT EVENTS Pupil's Preparation Make an outline for your talk. The Lesson Current events day should be so interesting that pupils will look forward to it with pleasant anticipations. If it is not so in your school, find the reason for this lack of interest and devise ways of improving the lesson. This exercise should be a strong factor in the gains your pupils are making in talking interestingly and effectively. Read suggestions in Manual for Lesson 24. Each pupils writes on the topic treated by him in the previous lesson. the reading to the class by pupils of as many of the compositions as time allows. Train pupils to examine their compositions before handing them to you. LESSON 112-NOUNS WITHOUT SINGULAR FORM Pupu's Preparation Read the lesson thoughtfully. Copy in your notebook the words given in this lesson that have no singular form. Review Lesson 40. The Lesson Have pupils write sentences as required. The main thing in English is the ability to use the principles treated. If pupils can use these plural forms with unfailing correctness in their talking and writing, we may bę sure they know that they are plural forms. LESSON 113-MONTHLY REVIEW The review summarizes, gives a new view and refreshes the memory of technical facts studied during the month. Make it an important lesson in your school. See Manual suggestions for Lesson 16, page 18. CHAPTER EIGHT Note: For mid-year classes, the material for this Chapter may be made more timely by substituting Lesson 49 for Lesson 127. LESSON 114-LITERATURE Teacher's Aim To enjoy the selection with the pupils. To help them see the pictures the author has made. To help them appreciate, in some degree at least, the power of the author. To lead them to appreciate the beauty of the language. To inspire pupils with the desire to improve their own language. Pupil's Preparation Read the selection thoughtfully. Make a list of words you do not understand or cannot pronounce; consult the glossary or the dictionary, and then copy these words and their definitions in your notebook, under the heading, "For My Vocabulary." Try to answer the questions given under "Study of Story.'' Prepare to ask the class two questions about the story, not given in the book. The Lesson In studying the different selections, interest pupils in the author and his style of writing. Point out characteristic examples in the selection under consideration. In "The Fishing Excursion,'' pupils will note the beautiful pictures described. Make sure that they have images corresponding to these. Have the pupils read any other story by George Eliot. Enlarge upon the text questions. Make sure that pupils have content for all the words and phrases used in the story. Have them find especially apt uses of words. Why does the author use "trotting" in the first line? Ask pupils to use another word in place of it; then they will know why the author used this word. Ask pupils to explain: "framed,'' "brink," "amicable whispers,'' and "tackle"-all in the third paragraph; "dreamy silences, dipping sounds," and "happy whisperings''-in the next to the last paragraph. Have pupils account for the two short paragraphs, each less than a line in length, immediately following the fourth paragraph. Have the selection read aloud throughout by one or more pupils, that all may enjoy the beautiful descriptions. Simple and elegant diction in the literature that pupils read has a refining influence on their speech, just as the artistic sense is cultivated by living in the midst of artistic surroundings. LESSON 115-COMPOSITION Pupils are asked to give Maggie's version of the trip as she might have told it to her father or her mother. Notice that the audience is provided for Maggie. What things would she probably tell about? The answer to this question gives the topics. Having the topics, pupils have only to determine what to say about each that would interest father or mother. Your duties are numerous in conducting an oral exercise of this kind. You will of course contribute help wherever it is needed; you will see that all pupils talk, contributing something to the discussion; you will criticize judiciously, remembering that too much criticism defeats the ends of language teaching; you will single out a few points for correction—one or two-and follow them up, making them stick; you will make sure that pupils who are listeners profit by the talk as well as the speaker; you will see that the interest is kept up throughout; you will encourage friendly and helpful criticism among pupils, not general comment, but definite suggestions that will help the one criticized next time; you will make sure that a good critic points out features of excellence as well as of weaknesses; you will have a good time yourself and will try to guide the discussions so that pupils will have an equally delightful hour. LESSON 116-COMPOSITION Give half the lesson period to the composing and the remainder to the reading by pupils to the class of as many of the compositions as time allows. Notice that this account is part of a letter to a friend; it has, therefore, the intimate personal touch that belongs to a friendly letter. These accounts should show much variety. Train pupils to examine their compositions, according to directions in Lesson 4. LESSON 117-PERSONAL AND POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS: Pupil's Preparation Review Lesson 102. |