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degree of perfection on the blackboard, and thus set before their pupils a good ideal to which they can work. In some cases it is found that insufficient attention is paid to the correct method of holding the pen and pencil, and to the proper position of the body. A good rule to follow is " Never allow any careless work." In spelling and dictation the work is on the whole of a satisfactory nature. In dictation in the higher classes much more attention should be paid to punctuation. In previous reports oral spelling has been discouraged, and in this connection the following remarks are instructive and interesting : " Spelling is making the forms of words correctly, it is writing correctly, and should include capitals and punctuation. Oral spelling is not spelling per se, it is a description of the word. . . . We learn to do a thing by doing it; by doing it repeatedly; by doing it right every time; by doing it until it is well done. It follows, then, that we learn to make a word by making it; to make it accurately by making it accurately; to make it easily by making it many times. In order to know how a word looks we must see it, and the best means of seeing a form is to draw it, therefore drawing (or copying) words is the best means of receiving distinct mental impressions of written words. If I spell a word orally the names of the letters recall their forms and you combine them in your imagination. It is just as absurd to try to learn drawing by oral description as it is to try to learn how to spell a word from hearing it spelled orally. The proper function of oral spelling is to describe word-forms already on the mind : not to bring them into the mind by acts of the imagination. The most natural and economical way of learning to spell is to write words until we can write them automatically." English language : For many years past the importance of this subject in Native schools has been emphasized in the annual reports, and many suggestions and hints have been put forward from time to time. Still, while distinct improvement in the methods of dealing with this exceedingly difficult subject has been observed in many schools, there is a considerable number of schools in which the teachers either fail fo recognize the principles necessary to deal with the problem or apply mechanically and unintelligently the methods recommended and explained for their benefit, the consequence being that the English of their pupils seldom reaches a moderate standard of proficiency. On the other hand, there are many schools where the subject is well taught, and the results are surprisingly good. In these schools the schemes of work in languageteaching are evidence of the thought and preparation that have been brought to bear upon the problem and the methods of dealing with it, and the results bear testimony to the quality of the methods. The written compositions in the higher standards are frequently too short : this defect can be readily overcome by teachers setting essays on similar subjects, aiding the children at first by skeleton schemes embracing all the topics that are to be included in the essay. More attention is very necessary in these classes to the writing of all kinds of letters. The letters written at the examinations show the need of better training, and improvement in this respect should be effected with little effort. This subject generally was dealt witli fairly exhaustively in last year's report, and the attention of teachers is again directed to the remarks contained therein. In a previous report a reference was made to some notes of lessons in English which had been prepared by the late Director of Education in Tonga, and as it was considered that they would prove of assistance to teachers in systematizing their work, the hope was expressed that it would be possible to issue them to teachers. The notes will be issued to teachers in due course. In this connection, however, a word of caution as to their use may be necessary. The lessons are not being issued with a view to supplanting the teachers' own schemes of work in English, nor should they be slavishly followed in the drawing-up of a scheme in language-teaching. In one school a teacher advanced as an excuse for the absence of a scheme of work in English that he had expected to receive the notes of lessons which had been referred to in the annual report. The notes of lessons are more or less suggestive in material and method, and should, if intelligently used, prove of much assistance to those teachers whose methods of dealing with tht problem involved have been the subject of criticism in this and former reports. Arithmetic. —A satisfactory advance in the methods of teaching this subject is noted from year to year, and in quite a large number of schools the subject is well taught. There are too many schools, however, in which it is not sufficiently recognized that arithmetic is a much more effective instrument for developing and disciplining the intelligence of the pupils when the practical and utilitarian aspects of the subject rather than its abstract treatment are never lost sight of. " This abstract treatment of the subject is a snare and a delusion, and produces more vague, meaningless, and stupid work in arithmetic than the teaching of the letters does in reading. Pupils in the higher classes are frequently unable to reason in arithmetic because they attempt to reason upon words instead of things." The sjdlabus suggests that the heuristic method or the method of discovery should be largely employed. Too much is done for the pupils by their teachers—there is over-explanation. There is not one thing in the science of numbers, no definition, rule, or process, that cannot be discovered by the child under the proper leading of the skilful teacher who knows what he is teaching. ' The pupils can discover in this way every thought; the language, of course, must be given them. Definitions, rules, processes, and problems may be an excellent means of mental growth if each and all are discovered by the pupils for themselves and by themselves. They are generally, as learned and applied in the pattern fashion, a great means of concealing thought and increasing stupidity. The arithmetic of the future will contain not one rule, definition, or explanation of a process. Education is the generation of power. " Never do anything for a pupil that he can be led to do for himself ! How often these old truths have been repeated, and still one of the great evils, if not the greatest, is that we do too much for the pupils. Instead of leaving them to help and control themselves, instead of cultivating their powers of attention

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