VERB
Present, past, future. I am performing an action now. Have I performed it before? Did I do it yesterday? Have I always done it in the past? When I walk now, I say I am walking, I walk. When I mean the action that I performed yesterday, I say: I was walking, I walked. The same action performed at different times is described differently. How strange that is! The word referring to an object never changes. The beads are beads to-day. They were beads yesterday. Actions, however, are represented by words which change according to the time in which they are performed. To-day I walk. Yesterday I walked. To-morrow I shall walk. It is always I who do the walking, I who perform the action of walking; and I walk always in the same way, putting one foot in front of the other. The objects you see perform an action always perform it. Do you see that little bird which is flying—which is performing the action of flying? It was flying yesterday. It flew at some time in the past. To-morrow also, that is, at some future time, if the little bird lives, it will fly and it will fly always in the same way, beating its wings to and fro. You see what a strange thing a verb is! It changes its words according to the time in which the action is performed. It is different according as it represents action in present time, or action in past time, or action in future time. Now, see! I am going to take out some of my cards and make up a little sentence:
Now I am going to change the word which stands for the time when the action takes place. In place of the card now I am going to use this one:
Is this a good sentence? No! Supposing we change the time of the verb: Yesterday George ate an apple. This makes good sense. Put these cards back now in the boxes where they belong.
ADJECTIVE
Every object possesses certain qualities. Tell me what you can about this apple. It is red, it is round, it is sweet. What qualities can you find in this chair? It is hard, it is brown, it is wooden. What about your school-mates, the children? Are they good, are they pretty, are they polite, are they obedient, or are they naughty, impolite, disobedient, disorderly? Let us look through our cards to see whether we can find words which stand for the qualities of objects. Supposing we select some from the drawer of the adjective and some from the drawer of the noun. Now let us place beside each noun a card which makes sense with it: here, for instance, I have Charles, red, quadruped, transparent. Does that mean anything? Well then find me some adjectives which will go well with Charles. Adjectives are words which stand for qualities of a given object. They must go well with their noun. Find me some adjectives which fit well with the noun dog. They must be words which stand for some quality of the dog. Now put all the cards back in the compartments where they belong. (This latter exercise is very instructive.)
In this method of teaching grammar we make use of objects and actions directly relating to life. Such lessons may be made more attractive with story telling, etc. The teaching of grammar at this period should be extended as far as is possible without forcing the pupil.
OBJECT LESSONS
There should be concise and vivid descriptions of some object. The attention of the child should be sustained by changing the tone of voice, by exclamations calculated to excite the child's curiosity, by praise, etc. Never begin with the word, but always with the object. All the notions possessed by the child should be as far as practicable in a given case applied to his study of the object. First it should be described as to its qualities; next as to its uses, then as to its origin; for example, Here is an object! What color is it? What is its shape? Feel of it! Taste of it! etc. If possible, have the child see the use of the object and its origin in every possible way. Just as the concrete idea of the object is imparted by verbal description and by various appeals to the senses of the child, so the different uses of the object should be brought out in describing actions which the child sees performed with it before him. This, of course, is an ideal which the teacher should try to realize as far as possible. The object should be shown the child in different circumstances and under different aspects so as to give it always the appearance of something new and something to excite and hold the attention of the child. Take, for instance, a lesson on the word hen. Show a paper model of the hen, the live hen in the courtyard, the stereopticon slide of the hen; the print of the hen in the reading book; the hen alive among other domestic fowls; pictures of the hen among pictures of other birds, etc. Each new step should be taken on a different day and each time the word should be connected with the object. Write the word on the blackboard; make up the printed card for the card file and put it in its proper box. "Who wants to take the blackboard out-doors? We are going to write some words in the yard. Now in your reading books there is the figure of the hen. Next to it is the word hen. Write this word in your copy books. Who can repeat what we have said about the hen? Write down what you know about the hen." The amount of information given about a particular object will depend, of course, upon the class. The simplest description should be followed by one more minute, passing thus to speak of uses, habits, origin, etc. The writing of a simple word may be developed into a written description. But the lessons on the given object should always be short, and they should be repeated on different days. For the lessons on trees, plants, and vegetables, a garden is necessary: the children should see the seeds planted, a growing vegetable, a picture of the fruit, etc. If possible the domestic use of the garden products should be demonstrated. This applies also to flowers. The blackboard with crayon should never be lacking in the garden. For object lessons we need toys to represent furniture, dishes, various objects used in the home, tools of different trades, rooms and the furniture that goes in each, houses, trees, a church (to build villages), etc.; dolls equipped with all the necessaries for dressing. There should be a shelf for bottles containing specimens of different drinks; various kinds of cloths (for tactile exercises); the raw materials out of which they are made, demonstrations of the way they are manufactured, etc. Show also specimens of the various minerals, etc.
HISTORY
History is taught first on a little stage with living tableaux, gradually advancing to action; second, by descriptions of large illustrations and colored pictures; third, by story-telling based on stereopticon views. The teacher should strive for brevity, conciseness, and vivacity in descriptions. Historical story telling should, as in the case of all other lessons, bring about additions of printed cards to the word boxes. Various information of the seasons, months of the year, etc., should be imparted by illustrations and pictures. Every morning the child should be asked: "What day is it? What day was yesterday? What day will to-morrow be?" and "What day of the month is it?"
GEOGRAPHY
1. Exercises on the plane for the cardinal points, with various gymnastic and guessing games. 2. Building games out of doors. Make a lake, an island, a peninsula, a river. 3. Carry the houses and church into the yard and construct a small village. Put the church on the north; the schoolhouse on the east; the mountain on the west; in front of the school place the national flag. 4. In the classroom fit out a room with its proper furniture to be placed on a map of the room outlined on a large chart. As the furniture is removed, make a mark on the map to indicate where each article was. Make a little village in the same way, houses, church, etc. Take away the church, etc.; mark the place of each object on the map as it is removed. Then identify each spot. "Where was the church?" "What was over here?" etc. Thus we get a conception of the geographical map. Read the map, making use of the cardinal points. 5. Physical characteristics of regions may be shown by clay modeling to represent hills, etc. Draw outlines around each model, remove the clay and read the geographical map resulting.