Part 26 (2/2)
I prepare a number of little cards made from ordinary writing-paper. On each of these I write in large clear script some well-known word, one which has already been p.r.o.nounced many times by the children, and which represents an object actually present or well known to them. If the word refers to an object which is before them, I place this object under the eyes of the child, in order to facilitate his interpretation of the word. I will say, in this connection, the objects used in these writing games are for the most part toys of which we have a great many in the ”Children's Houses.” Among these toys, are the furnis.h.i.+ngs of a doll's house, b.a.l.l.s, dolls, trees, flocks of sheep, or various animals, tin soldiers, railways, and an infinite variety of simple figures.
If writing serves to correct, or better, to direct and perfect the mechanism of the articulate language of the child, reading serves to help the development of ideas, and relates them to the development of the language. Indeed, writing aids the physiological language and reading aids the social language.
We begin, then, as I have indicated, with the nomenclature, that is, with the reading of names of objects which are well known or present.
There is no question of beginning with words that are _easy or difficult_, for the _child already knows how to read any word_; that is, he knows how to read _the sounds which compose it_. I allow the little one to translate the written word slowly into sounds, and if the interpretation is exact, I limit myself to saying, ”Faster.” The child reads more quickly the second time, but still often without understanding. I then repeat, ”Faster, faster.” He reads faster each time, repeating the same acc.u.mulation of sounds, and finally the word bursts upon his consciousness. Then he looks upon it as if he recognised a friend, and a.s.sumes that air of satisfaction which so often radiates our little ones. This completes the exercise for reading. It is a lesson which goes very rapidly, since it is only presented to a child who is already prepared through writing. Truly, we have buried the tedious and stupid A B C primer side by side with the useless copy-books!
When the child has read the word, he places the explanatory card under the object whose name it bears, and the exercise is finished.
One of our most interesting discoveries was made in the effort to devise a game through which the children might, without effort, learn to read words. We spread out upon one of the large tables a great variety of toys. Each one of them had a corresponding card upon which the name of the toy was written. We folded these little cards and mixed them up in a basket, and the children who knew how to read were allowed to take turns in drawing these cards from the basket. Each child had to carry his card back to his desk, unfold it quietly, and read it mentally, not showing it to those about him. He then had to fold it up again, so that the secret which it contained should remain unknown. Taking the folded card in his hand, he went to the table. He had then to p.r.o.nounce clearly the name of a toy and present the card to the directress in order that she might verify the word he had spoken. The little card thus became current coin with which he might acquire the toy he had named. For, if he p.r.o.nounced the word clearly and indicated the correct object, the directress allowed him to take the toy, and to play with it as long as he wished.
When each child had had a turn, the directress called the first child and let him draw a card from another basket. This card he read as soon as he had drawn it. It contained the name of one of his companions who did not yet know how to read, and for that reason could not have a toy.
The child who had read the name then offered to his little friend the toy with which he had been playing. We taught the children to present these toys in a gracious and polite way, accompanying the act with a bow. In this way we did away with every idea of cla.s.s distinction, and inspired the sentiment of kindness toward those who did not possess the same blessings as ourselves. This reading game proceeded in a marvellous way. The contentment of these poor children in possessing even for a little while such beautiful toys can be easily imagined.
But what was my amazement, when the children, having learned to understand the written cards, _refused_ to take the toys! They explained that they did not wish to waste time in playing, and, with a species of insatiable desire, preferred to draw out and read the cards one after another!
I watched them, seeking to understand the secret of these souls, of whose greatness I had been so ignorant! As I stood in meditation among the eager children, the discovery that it was knowledge they loved, and not the silly _game_, filled me with wonder and made me think of the greatness of the human soul!
We therefore put away the toys, and set about making _hundreds_ of written slips, containing names of children, cities, and objects; and also of colours and qualities known through the sense exercises. We placed these slips in open boxes, which we left where the children could make free use of them. I expected that childish inconstancy would at least show itself in a tendency to pa.s.s from one box to another; but no, each child finished emptying the box under his hand before pa.s.sing to another, being verily _insatiable_ in the desire to read.
Coming into the school one day, I found that the directress had allowed the children to take the tables and chairs out upon the terrace, and was having school in the open air. A number of little ones were playing in the sun, while others were seated in a circle about the tables containing the sandpaper letters and the movable alphabet.
A little apart sat the directress, holding upon her lap a long narrow box full of written slips, and all along the edge of her box were little hands, fis.h.i.+ng for the beloved cards. ”You may not believe me,” said the directress, ”but it is more than an hour since we began this, and they are not satisfied yet!” We tried the experiment of bringing b.a.l.l.s, and dolls to the children, but without result; such futilities had no power beside the joys of _knowledge_.
Seeing these surprising results, I had already thought of testing the children with print, and had suggested that the directress _print_ the word under the written word upon a number of slips. But the children forestalled us! There was in the hall a calendar upon which many of the words were printed in clear type, while others were done in Gothic characters. In their mania for reading the children began to look at this calendar, and, to my inexpressible amazement, read not only the print, but the Gothic script.
There therefore remained nothing but the presentation of a book, and I did not feel that any of those available were suited to our method.
The mothers soon had proofs of the progress of their children; finding in the pockets of some of them little slips of paper upon which were written rough notes of marketing done; bread, salt, etc. Our children were making lists of the marketing they did for their mothers! Other mothers told us that their children no longer ran through the streets, but stopped to read the signs over the shops.
A four-year-old boy, educated in a private house by the same method, surprised us in the following way. The child's father was a Deputy, and received many letters. He knew that his son had for two months been taught by means of exercises apt to facilitate the learning of reading and writing, but he had paid slight attention to it, and, indeed, put little faith in the method. One day, as he sat reading, with the boy playing near, a servant entered, and placed upon the table a large number of letters that had just arrived. The little boy turned his attention to these, and holding up each letter read aloud the address.
To his father this seemed a veritable miracle.
As to the average time required for learning to read and write, experience would seem to show that, starting from the moment in which the child writes, the pa.s.sage from such an inferior stage of the graphic language to the superior state of reading averages a fortnight.
_Security_ in reading is, however, arrived at much more slowly than perfection in writing. In the greater majority of cases the child who writes beautifully, still reads rather poorly.
Not all children of the same age are at the same point in this matter of reading and writing. We not only do not force a child, but we do not even _invite_ him, or in any way attempt to coax him to do that which he does not wish to do. So it sometimes happens that certain children, _not having spontaneously presented themselves_ for these lessons, are left in peace, and do not know how to read or write.
If the old-time method, which tyrannized over the will of the child and destroyed his spontaneity, does not believe in making a knowledge of written language _obligatory_ before the age of six, much less do we!
I am not ready to decide, without a wider experience, whether the period when the spoken language is fully developed is, in every case, the proper time for beginning to develop the written language.
In any case, almost all of the normal children treated with our method begin to write at four years, and at five know how to read and write, at least as well as children who have finished the first elementary. They could enter the second elementary a year in advance of the time when they are admitted to first.
_Games for the Reading of Phrases._ As soon as my friends saw that the children could read print, they made me gifts of beautifully ill.u.s.trated books. Looking through these books of simple fairy lore, I felt sure that the children would not be able to understand them. The teachers, feeling entirely satisfied as to the ability of their pupils, tried to show me I was wrong, having different children read to me, and saying that they read much more perfectly than the children who had finished the second elementary.
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