Part 1 (2/2)

A TALK ON LANGUAGE.

The teacher is recommended, before a.s.signing any lesson, to occupy the time of at least two or three recitations, in talking with his pupils about language, always remembering that, in order to secure the interest of his cla.s.s, he must allow his pupils to take an active part in the exercise. The teacher should guide the thought of his cla.s.s; but, if he attempt to do _all the talking_, he will find, when he concludes, that he has been left to do _all the thinking_.

We give below a few hints in conducting this talk on language, but the teacher is not expected to confine himself to them. He will, of course, be compelled, in some instances, to resort to various devices in order to obtain from the pupils answers equivalent to those here suggested.

LESSON 1.

+Teacher+.--I will p.r.o.nounce these three sounds very slowly and distinctly, thus: _b-u-d_. Notice, it is the _power_, or _sound_, of the letter, and not its name, that I give. What did you hear?

+Pupil+.--I heard three sounds.

+T.--+Give them. I will write on the board, so that you can see them, three letters--_b-u-d_. Are these letters, taken separately, signs to you of anything?

+P.--+Yes, they are signs to me of the three sounds that I have just heard.

+T.--+What then do these letters, taken separately, picture to your eye?

+P.--+They picture the sounds that came to my ear.

+T+.--Letters then are the signs of what?

+P.--Letters are the signs of sounds+.

+T+.--I will p.r.o.nounce the same three sounds more rapidly, uniting them more closely--_bud_. These sounds, so united, form a spoken word. Of what do you think when you hear the word _bud_?

+P+.--I think of a little round thing that grows to be a leafy branch or a flower.

+T+.--Did you see the thing when you were thinking of it?

+P+.--No.

+T+.--Then you must have had a picture of it in your mind. We call this +mental picture+ an +idea+. What called up this idea?

+P+.--It was called up by the word _bud_, which I heard.

+T+.--A _spoken word_ then is the sign of what?

+P.--A spoken word is the sign of an idea+.

+T+.--I will call up the same idea in another way. I will _write_ three _letters_ and unite them thus: _bud_. What do you see?

+P+.--I see the word _bud_.

+T+.--If we call the other word _bud_ a _spoken_ word, what shall we call this?

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