OTAGO SL\DAY SCHOOL UNION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2855, 2 December 1908, Page 88

OTAGO SL\DAY SCHOOL UNION.

CONFERENCE OF TEACHERS.

Last year the Presbyterian Sabbath School Association took advantage of the presence of a large number ol country bunday school workers in Dunedin during chow week to hold a united conference of town and country teachers. The Otago Sunday Sohool Union this year asked the Presbyterian Association to join with it in hot-ding a similar conference, and as it was not deemed advisable- to have two meetings at the_ same time a united one was arranged for in. Stuart Hall on Nov. 27. About 70 or 80 visitors sat down to the tea that was provided beforehand by the i ladies of both the associations represented. The Rev. W. Hay (president of the Otago Sunday School Union) presided at the eubsequent meeting, which was attended by over a hundred lady teachers and a sprinkling of men. The Chairman, on behalf of the Presby- : terian Association and the Otago Sunday ! School Union, extended a very hearty wel- ! come to all who had accepted their invitaj tion to be present. The work of Sunday sohool teachers was constantly presenting new difficulties and new problems to be solved, and if this conference enabled them to do their work more effectively it would j have served a very high purpose. He went i on to refer to the indebtedness of ministers i io Sunday ecbocl teachers and to the great | importance of their work. j jMr.D. R. White (principal of the Normal Training Collage) then addressed the meeting on the subject of the art of teaching. He referred to the very wide character of his subject, and stated that he had now been engaged in the work of training teachers for a quarter of a century, and therefore knew something of the diffieul-ri-e-s of his art. The arc of teaching was always progressing: Tn primary school teaching one section of their work consisted in looking baclr and studying the educational methods of the great nations and teachers of the pp.si; but they also required to be a^q'iainted with present method's and to know what was going on in other countries at the pr«ssnt time. Exactly the same thin? applied to 3unday school tf aching. 11 .i had learned from a receipt article that there were nearly eight million children to bo found in the Sunday schools of Great Britain, instructed by nearly three-quarters of a million of teachers. Could they tjather inspiration fiom thai fact and go forward and take a share in the great york? Oae of the greatest difficulties that confronted the teacher was that of securing and maintaining the interest of the children during the lesson. In order to be successful in this they roauired to have clearly before their minds the aim and purpose they had in giving their weekly loswn. That purpose was, he took it, in the first place, the formation of character and laying the foundation of a future serviceable life. Knowledge was the basis of virtue. The only source of their knowledge in these matters was clearly and indisputably the Bible itself. But the Bible had to be interpreted, and that was an exceedingly difficult task. Having fixed on the purpose before them, they must know what methods to adopt to reach their purpose. The methods of Sunday schools were largely influenced by the methods of primary schools, and those had arisen from a long series of experiments that had been handed down from other generations. One of the first principles they acted upon was that they must study the growth of the mind of the child. Knowledge took its rise in the senses, and instruction must therefore begin with things. Thus, with a faded flower and a bit of dry grass a.nd a Bible they might powerfully impress upon the minds of the children the truth that " the grass withereth and the iloweT fadeth, but the "Word of the Lord endureth for ever." It was most important that they should teach the children to memorise chapters and verses and psalm 6. The great Teacher Himself matte habitual and striking use of this method of connecting His teaching i with surrounding obj.icts. Not all teachers, however, could use it, and for those who | could not there was the pictorial method, in which the scone was presented in a PC- j lure to the class. Then there was the i ■graphic" method of writing something striking for the pupils to rea£. There was j also the motor method, ia which the children were asked to give expression to what they heard and saw, and the method of question and answer. He believed that the quest'oning of the future would devolv<- not so much upon the teacher as upon the pupil. Experiments in ihat direction weiV being made in America, where fo* i half an hour in the week pupils t-cok charge cf the Je-son and askod their fellows quev j tions. Let them give the children some- , thing to do and get them to co-operate j with thorn, and their teaching would bs j unfold more fruitful. Another method was j th« nirritfive rwtho-1. or tolling a story; j and >er another was the literary, or lingui*- i tio nieihod, which bad reference, to the ex- j planation of difficult word*. The'-e were, • bri«fly. the methods of the primary schools. Was, "it advisable- to introduce th«m into the Sunday schooh? He wont on to louch j on -onw of their advantages and disau- ■ vantage* and to d«al with tb? question of the grading of Sun ''ay school scholars. It : si ruck him that f.heir chief purpose w<.-; lues and not lesfong, and that vouni be , accomplished by traunng the feelings, which cou\l only he done by the exercise , of th-m. Mu^c'iias al<o mo-i significant } in the tranii>:» of virtu-?. In the end thoir leal woik v.ould clep-ml upon their chiiraur«r cn'J whether they wer- ammatcc! by a spirit of enlhu«u'.-m for their worrf. In eom-ia.sion, l,e co.igr.itulat^! them upon being- woik^r-, in -so gnat a fi2kl of ussful • human atthir.. ; Mr W C. Allnntt tn. n dive a number of j.irvt piacnc.il and lu-lpful hints on machine- He ,-< fprro'l to th« g'- C at rumher <A ■PMr/nal «'<te and f'^\ic & 5 , fetich as . the cia'li-" ro'l. b'aokt-oards, horioura lists, . c--"!oui<'d rha'k, illu«iratio:!-. maps, and forapboo'a-, that \\c\o now !*eing introduced into Sunday school work. He imprefcircd upon his hearers that as long as they uere teacliere tbey jnu»t be learncra; I

th*t they must seek to influence the ehaxae* ter and mind of the children ; that they must not forget the mental capacity of the children they were dealing with; that they must develop the power of describing andnarrating, and must get in as much knowledge as they could through the eye. Mr Allnutt went on to speak of the question of grading, and gave eoro© practical illustrations of how he would present Scripture lessons to children in the different grades. •- He was one, he said, of a very great army who were indebted to Sunday school teachers for helping them to brine up their families. During the evening two most enjoyable solos were contributed by Misses Bennett and Saidie Broad. At t3i c conclusion Mr D. Todd and Mr M'Donald. in complimentary speeches, moved and seconded a hearty vote of thanks to the speakers,, the singers, the ladies who had served th« tea, and the chairman.