SIMULTANEOUS READING AND WRITING OF WORDS
The child, through sensory education, has acquired some notions of color, shape, surface (smooth and rough), smell, taste, etc. At the same time, he has learned to count (one, two, three, four points). Uniting all possible notions concerning a single object, we arrive at his first concrete idea of the object itself: the object lesson. To the idea thus acquired, we give the word which represents the object. Just as the concrete idea results from the assembling of acquired notions, so the word results from the union of known sounds, and perceived symbols.
Reading lesson: On the teacher's table is the large stand for the movable alphabet in black printed letters. The teacher arranges on it the vowels and a few consonants. Each child, in his own place, has the small movable alphabet in the pasteboard boxes. The children take from the box the same letters they see on the large stand, and arrange them in the same order. The teacher takes up some object which has a simple word for a name, e.g., pane ("bread"). She calls the attention of the child to the object, reviewing an objective lesson already learned, thus arousing the child's interest in the object. "Shall we write the word pane?" "Hear how I say it!" "See how I say it!" The teacher pronounces separately and distinctly the sounds of the letters which make up the word, exaggerating the movements of the vocal organs so that they are plainly visible to the children. As the pupils repeat the word they continue their education in speaking.
A child now comes to the teacher's desk to choose the letters corresponding to the sounds and tries to arrange them in the order in which they appear in the word. The children do the same with the small letters at their seats. Every mistake gives rise to a correction useful to the whole class. The teacher repeats the word in front of each one who has made a mistake, trying to get the child to correct himself. When all the children have arranged their letters properly, the teacher shows a card (visiting-card size) on which is printed (in print-type letters about a centimeter high) the word "pane." All the children are made to read it. Then some child is asked to put the card where he finds the word written before him; next, on the object the word stands for. The process is repeated with two or three other objects, with their respective names: pane (bread), lume (lamp), cece (peas). Then the teacher gathers up the cards from the various objects, shuffles them and calls on some child: "Which object do you like best?" "Lume!" "Find me the card with the word lume!" When the card has been selected, all the children are asked to read it: "Is Mary right in saying that this is the word lume?" "Put the card back where it belongs!" (i.e., on its object). In the subsequent lessons, the old cards, with the objects they stand for removed, should be mixed with the new ones. From the entire pack the children are to select the new cards and place them on their objects. A primary reading book ought to present these words next to a picture of the object for which they stand.
In this way the children are brought to unite the individual symbol into words. When they have been taught to make the syllable, the reading lesson may be continued without the use of objects, though it is still preferable to use words which will, if possible, have a concrete meaning for the children.
Writing: The children are already able to use the cursive (writing) alphabet which corresponds to the small letter (print-type) that is neither "touched" nor written, but is merely read. They must now write in hand writing, and place close together, the little letters which they have assembled in the movable alphabet to compose words. As each word is read or written for every object lesson, for every action, printed cards are being assembled which will later be used to make clauses and sentences with movable words that may be moved about just as the individual letters were moved about in making the words themselves. Later on, the simple clauses or sentences should refer to actions performed by the children. The first step should be to bring two or more words together: e.g., red-wool, sweet-candy, four-footed dog, etc. Then we may go on to the sentence itself: The wool is red; The soup is hot; The dog has four feet; Mary eats the candy, etc. The children first compose the sentences with their cards; then they copy them in their writing books. To facilitate the choice of the cards, they are arranged in special boxes: for instance, one box is labeled noun: or its compartments are distinguished thus: food, clothing, animals, people, etc. There should be a box for adjectives with compartments for colors, shapes, qualities, etc. There should be another for particles with compartments for articles, conjunctions, prepositions, etc. A box should be reserved for actions with the label verbs above; and then in a compartment should be reserved for the infinitive, present, past and future respectively. The children gradually learn by practice to take their cards from the boxes and put them back in their proper places. They soon learn to know their "word boxes" and they readily find the cards they want among the colors, shapes, qualities, etc., or among animals, foods, etc. Ultimately the teacher will find occasion to explain the meaning of the big words at the top of the drawers, noun, adjective, verb, etc., and this will be the first step into the subject of grammar.
GRAMMAR
NOUN LESSON
We may call persons and objects by their name (their noun). People answer if we call them, so do animals. Inanimate objects, however, never answer, because they cannot; but if they could answer they would; for example, if I say Mary, Mary answers; if I say peas, the peas do not answer, because they cannot. You children do understand when I call an object and you bring it to me. I say for example, book, beans, peas. If I don't tell you the name of the object you don't understand what I am talking about; because every object has a different name. This name is the word that stands for the object. This name is a noun. When I mention a noun you understand immediately the object which the noun represents: tree, chair, pen, book, lamb, etc. If I do not give this noun, you don't know what I am talking about; for, if I say simply, Bring me ... at once, I want it, you do not know what I want, unless I tell you the name of the object. Unless I give you the noun, you do not understand. Thus every object is represented by a word which is its name and this name is a noun. To understand whether a word is a noun or not, you simple ask "Is it a thing?" "Would it answer if I spoke to it!" "Could I carry it to the teacher?" For instance, bread. Yes, bread is an object; table, yes, it is an object; conductor, yes, the conductor would answer, if I were to speak to him.
Let us look through our cards now. I take several cards from different boxes and shuffle them. Here is the word sweet. Bring me sweet. Is there anything to answer when I call sweet? But you are bringing me a piece of candy! I didn't say candy: I said sweet! And now you have given me sugar! I said sweet. If I say candy, sugar, then you understand what I want, what object I am thinking about, because the words candy, sugar, stand for objects. Those words are nouns. Now let us look through the noun cards. Let us read a couple of lines in our reading books and see whether there are any nouns there. Tell me, are there any nouns? How are we to find some nouns? Look around you! Look at yourself, your clothes, etc.! Name every object that you see! Every word you thus pronounce will be a noun: Teacher, clothing, necktie, chair, class, children, books, etc. Just look at this picture which represents so many things! The figures represent persons and objects. Name each of these figures! Every word you pronounce will be a noun!
VERB: ACTION
Mary, rise from your seat! Walk! Mary has performed a number of actions. She has risen. She has performed the action of rising. She has walked. Walk stands for an action. Now write your name on the blackboard! Writing is an action. Erase what you have written. Erasing is an action. When I spoke to Mary, I performed the action of speaking. (Just as the noun was taught with objects, here we must have actions. Objects represented in pictures will be of no use, since actions cannot be portrayed by pictures.)
The next step will be to suggest a little exercise of imagination. Look at all these objects! Try to imagine some action which each might perform! A class, for instance; what actions might a class perform? Store: what actions might take place in a store? Let us now look through our cards after we have shuffled them. Next try our reading book. Show me which of the words are verbs. Give me some words which are verbs (infinitive).
NOUN
Persons, things (proper and common nouns). Singular, plural, masculine and feminine. The articles: "Choose the article that goes with this noun!" etc.