A Manual for Teachers. To accompany Aldine First Language Book. Price 60 cents. Newson & Company, New York.
These two books, the Manual and the Pupil’s book accompanying it, the authors tell us have grown out of many years’ experiment in teaching “language” so called.
The work which the child is called upon to accomplish is, throughout the entire book, based on fables, myths, legends, stories of all kind, rhymes and poems, the delight of childhood, all of which are fully within the range of the child’s understanding and appreciation. The varieties of ways in which these materials are presented arouses the keen interest of the children, stimulates their thought, and quickens their whole mental life. They discuss freely, they dramatize, they reproduce orally and in writing, the work over into new forms, they live and love the contents of stories and poems. No one can read this pupil’s book without becoming impressed with the tremendous value of story telling as a direct instrument of education. The introduction of a comprehensive “Teacher’s Manual” into the class-room, explaining the work to the teacher step by step, seems to be a new and most serviceable idea.
Stories of Long Ago in the Philippines. By Dudley Odell McGovney, A.M. Price forty cents. World Book Company, Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York.
The Story Readers’ Primer. By May Langdon White. Price thirty-six cents. World Book Company, Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York.
These little stories of ancient days in the Philippines contain such interesting selections as “The Sea and the Sky,” “The Bird and the Bamboo,” “The Good and the Evil Spirits,” “Naming the Islands,” and “Manila Long Ago.” These stories have a certain historic value and will be read with interest by children in the United States.
The Story Readers’ Primer tells of the every day experiences of two happy, healthy children, and makes effective use of the classic stories and poems.