Observation Lessons. Observation and description should precede reading in the early lessons. The teacher may write on the blackboard simple sentences based upon these observations and descriptions. Anything in the environment of the home or the school which interests the child should be utilized. Encourage the children to observe their household pets and to tell the other children about them. Whatever the child makes in the time devoted to handicraft, or observes in the nature lessons, or plays in the recreation period may be used as material for reading lessons. Color is so intimately connected with the emotional life that its value and importance should be recognized.
THE SYMBOL ELEMENT.
Use. All thought which rises to the plane of self-consciousness is communicated by means of a material, a pictorial, or a lingual symbol. The thought element and the symbol element are two sides of the same thing, namely, language. They form the impression and expression of language, and hence of social communication and identity.
Kinds of Symbols. There are two kinds of symbols which must be mastered in learning to read, namely, the vocal and the graphic, appealing respectively to the ear and to the eye. These symbols are made by the voice and the hand, and are recognized by the ear and the eye. They must always be regarded in the light of that which they represent in connection with elementary reading, whether used in receiving or expressing thought. This thought must be kept clearly in mind in silent and oral reading, in word repetition, and in word drill. It will aid also in the spelling and the phonic work of the children.
THE PHONIC ELEMENT.
Definition. The phonic element deals with articulate sounds and the letters or the symbols which represent them. Here, as elsewhere in learning to read, the unity between meaning and symbol—impression and expression—must be kept clearly in mind. The spoken symbol implies training in pronunciation, enunciation, articulation, inflection, and all that makes for clear understanding and agreeable oral expression of thought. Ear and voice, eye and hand, are tools which must be trained to work with automatic perfection as the means in communicating thought.
Purpose. The purpose of the phonic lesson is the association of a sound with its written or printed symbol, so that the child will be able to get and to express the sound when the symbol is presented to him. The sight symbol and the sound symbol should be so thoroughly associated that immediately upon the presentation of either one of them the other will appear in consciousness.
Ear and Voice Training. It is of the utmost importance that children be given a broad experience with sound in the way of ear and voice training exercises for a few weeks before the formal study of phonics is begun. These exercises may be carried on in connection with the thought development in learning to read and in the music work. In the nature work the children should be trained to listen to bird note, insect hum, and other sounds of nature. Story-telling is most helpful in this ear training. It should begin in the first grade and continue through the entire elementary school period. The reading of poems aloud should be a regular part of the school program, not only to stimulate the imagination, but also to give the enjoyment that comes from the cadence of rhythmic language and to train the ear to make fine discriminations. Ear training and voice culture are so intimately related that it is impossible to cultivate one without cultivating the other, for they sustain to each other the vital relation of impression and expression.
Phonic Facts. The question of the exact number of elementary sounds in the English language is still unsettled. This Manual is based on the belief that there are forty-five elementary sounds in the English language, twenty vowel sounds and twenty-five consonant sounds. The difficulty in mastering the phonic element in learning to read English is greatly increased because some of the elementary sounds are represented by two letters, as th in thin, ea in head; and some sounds are represented by two or more symbols, as e in her, u in turn, and i in firm. It is neither necessary nor desirable that little children should learn all the equivalent symbols; nor is it considered wise to give to children all of the forty-five elementary sounds. Forty is the number taught in the phonic lessons of this Manual. Use has determined the order of presentation.
1. Vowel Sounds. The vowels are always pure sound. They express the emotions and are the rhythmic, musical element which gives language its beauty. There are many equivalent spellings for the twenty elementary vowel sounds in the English language. Those most frequently used are found on page 113; the others will be learned unconsciously as the child develops. See page 113 for a scientific arrangement of the vowel sounds.