Talking Pictures For the Schools

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23085, 9 July 1938, Page 16 (Supplement)

Talking Pictures For the Schools

TEACHING LANGUAGES How talking films could be used to a greater extent for teaching languages and phonetics was suggested by a speaker at a session of the National Conference on Commercial Education, held at Brighton last month. Dr. Harold E. Palmer said: "The tired teacher has been doing much of what the talking film could have done for him."

On the film skilled' performers could bo seen and heard demonstrating by word and action the intricacies of a language. At perhaps only a 10,000 th of the cost of a Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck film, there could be made a series of films showing the position and movement of the organs of speech. "What opportunities this presents," he continued. "Imagine a bit of film five or 10 seconds long showing a tinted stream of air as it flowed through the mouth and nose while the speaker articulated the vowels of 'un bon vin blane.' " Experts in phonetics all over tile workl were spending their lives among elaborate apparatus, measuring, recording, and writing volumes on abstractions. continued Mr. Palmer. All he suggested was that a little of their time might be spent in collaborating with artists and camera-men.