BY THE WAY

Southland Times, Issue 20538, 14 July 1928, Page 1 (Supplement)

BY THE WAY

STARTING AT SCHOOL

(By

Rowan.)

Parents evidently suffer from fashion’s 1 dictates as definitely as clothes. The suffering, of course, may apply to the parent or the child; but in nine cases out of ten it is to the latter one’s sympathy .must be extended, either through neglect or too much attention. It is a nice question whether the pangs of a conscientious parent who feels that she is neglecting her child would be greater than those arising from a consciousness of inadequacy. I propose, in the light of lately acquired knowledge, to put it to a test. Many parents err through ignorance, misplaced enthusiasm and the first stirrings of ambition. To the last I would only say that too much emphasis may easily defeat the very thing they desire to nourish. Foundation signifies much more in ultimate | achievement than the in tensest parental day-dreams. It is to those who either through ignorance or enthusiasm, often both, are hindering their children’s scholastic progress, especially in those significant first stages, that I would talk very earnestly. My investigations were prompted by two remarks, occurring irrespective of each other, within the last fortnight. The first was by a parent of my acquaintance whose interest in his children I have always considered irreproachable, complaining of the incomprehensible jargon being taught his daughter at school in place of the good, oldfashioned alphabet. The second was by a teacher, harassed more or less after a strenuous day’s work, who spoke rather bitterly of those parents who, anxious to "push” their children as much as possible, taught them so much before their schooldays which had to be undone. Both remarks were interesting, and at the time both seemed justifiable. I remember that my own education began with the’ recitation of the alphabet, developing into the rudiments of a-t at. b-a-t bat, c-a-t cat and so on until the stage of intriguing readers whose anaemic stories I could recite from cover to cover. In those days we resembled nothing so much as young parrots; yet that was our foundation, and later our training was very thorough. I am not ashamed of the foundation on which I have constructed my especial house of knowledge. My interest aroused, then, I put my inquiries to an infant mistress singularly adapted for her work. A knowledge of the letters of the alphabet, she said, is continually proving a serious hindrance to the child beginning school, and because it is harder to undo than to create new knowledge, much time is lost in the process. At present the most widely accepted method is a dual approach to reading through the old “look and say” and the newer phonic principles, the former in seeing a word and associating it with a picture or corresponding object, the latter giving them power over new words, which forms the base of future phonetics. "The problem before the teacher of reading is to take the oral language with which the child is familiar, and by the most economical method add to his mental equipment . printed words and phrases.” This’ advice, given to all infant teachers at some stage in their training, leads to the observance of two different lines of approach: first, the development of thought, based upon the child’s individual imagination relative to his environment and association of ideas; second, the mastery of the mechanics of reading, necessitating the study of sound, that is, phonetic teaching. The importance of the latter can be gauged from the fact that approximately 86 per cent, of the words of the English language spoken by the child during his first few years at school are phonetic. On this phonic teaching, then, is based his word control, so that with its mastery he acquires an independence from the teacher in discovering words which develops his powers of investigation to a limitless degree. The remaining 14 per cent, of the words in the child’s vocabulary being unphonetic, he must be taught by sight processes involving the “look and say” method. This is based upon his interests and the vocabulary of the home, and the phonic exercises which accompany them take up one at a time, in accordance with a carefully arranged scheme, the various .phonic difficulties in the language. The combination of the two methods, which, unassociated, are incomplete, assist the child in the easiest and most comprehensible wav to acquire the power of word-getting, word-mas-tery, and of reading. The teacher is no longer a dictator, but rather a colleague supervising the child’s progress and development. Instead of being told what is right, the child is taught to reason it out for himself. To my mind that is the supreme advantage of the method. The first stage involves the story of the letters. Nine of the vowels and one consonant are dealt with, each outlined on raised card-board so that the child can touch it, and in time follow its outline. The wise teacher rouses the child’s interest by appealing to his image power. For instance, here is an example given by a teacher wishing to develop the sound of the letter t: One day Johnny’s father brought home a present for him. The present was in a little box with paper and string around it. When Johnny’s father handed the box to him, he said: “Now Johnny, this present is not like your ball or kite; it can say something. When you find it, hold it to your ear.” Then Johnny carefully untied the string of the box, and very carefully took off the paper. When he opened the box, what do you think? Yes, there lay a pretty little watch. Johnny held it to his ear. W'hat did the watch say to him? Here is a picture of what the watch said. (At this point the teacher holds up a card with the letter t printed upon it). It said t-t-t-t. (The sound, not the alphabet name). Similarly h is a little dog panting after running (h-h-h-h), f is the spitting sound made by a cat who sees a dog, arching up its back as it says it (f-f-f-f), s is the sound of the kettle boiling over, and so on. When the word-building stage is reached, the child not only learns to work out a word, .but in as many cases as possible has that word associated with familiar objects. He is, perhaps, sitting on a mat. He is asked where he is sitting. Then he has to break up the word into its three sounds, then to point out the pictures of the sounds on a chart, or with his pencil. After that word matching plays an important part in the development of his faculties. This, in its early stages, consists of putting the word against the picture it represents, and develops into matching phrases, sentences and the best-loved nursery rhymes. Thus the "look and say” is simultaneous with the phonic teaching, helping to bridge the gap before the child can make use of his phonics in reading. Later comes the combination of consonants, then of vowels, and here again an effprt is made to capture and hold the child’s inherent imagery. The vowels, for instance, are the policeman letters, which have to be watched very carefully in case you are caught by them. When two policeman letters go out together, the first one says its long name (ai, ea, oe, etc) ; but when policeman e stands at the end of a word, it tells the other policeman letter to say its long name (e.g. mate). Thus by anpealing to the child’s intelligence through what he brings to school in

the first days—the play, instinct, an oral vocabularly, the power of mimicry, and an eagerness to do the things that he is able to do—and by introducing the fundamental sound values of the language in the form of games, drills and dramatizations, there is being given to him a solid foundation which places him at an enormous advantage besides the child of not so many years ago. What he will make of it has not yet been proved, and it remains to be seen whether he will defeat the ever-present danger of being “spoon-fed.” Meanwhile, it rests with his parents whether they assist his teachers towards that end which it is the fond hope of every mother, at least, that her child shall achieve.