AID TO TEACHERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 April 1946, Page 4

AID TO TEACHERS

. APPARATUS & EXPLANATIONS t> A MODERN DISPLAY t . —— Teachers attending the refresher couse at the Grey Main School have been provided with an opportunity to study at first hand the latest books, posters and teaching apparatus advocated by the Education Department. Rooms have been allocated to different subjects of the curriculum and yesterday afternoon, when an Evening Star representative visited the school, he found that teachers had reverted to their ’training college days. They were poring over the displays and taking notes for future reference.

An outstanding collection of books suitable for school reference libraries ranged from pictorial primerstage texts to advanced works on home crafts and geomorphology. The extent to which visual instruction is used in schools to-day was typified by the exceptionally good illustrations in all classes of books. A particularly interesting section was that devoted to hygiene. Boldlycoloured posters gave a’’ series of health “do’s” and “don’ts” and samples of what constituted a good lunch and a poor lunch were on display. Models of teeth showed the processes of decay and the effects of lack of care for the mouth and also illustrated the manner in which teeth were filled to arrest the spread of decay. The handcraft section showed some excellent examples of single and double thread hand-weaving. Among the completed articles displayed were purses, scarves, berets, slippers, jersey and mittens. In the same section were samples of rugmaking by Turkish knotting and explanatory notes for the information of those studying the process used. The clay modelling display included ash-trays, jars of various sizes and shapes and puppets with papier mache heads built up from clay moulds. The process of beadmaking, from modelling and sizing to painting and varnishing was also featured.

Some excellent wok was on show in the book-binding section. The usual methods of binding with bookcloth were demonstrated and artistic finishing touches by the use of potato stamps, paste and colour patterns, and marbling processes were shown in detail. In every department the material and all relevant infomation were available to the inquiring teacher. Judging by the enthusiasm and the copious notes of those inspecting the display yesterday a number of schools will be, branching out in more modern and interesting work when teachers return to their normal tasks.