Practical exercises in english - Huber Gray Buehler 2004

Appendix

Suggestions to teachers

The following suggestions are made in answer to many inquiries from teachers who perceive the rare excellence of the "Foundations of Rhetoric," but who do not clearly see, because of the novel method of the book, how to turn its merits to account in their class-rooms. The suggestions outline one way in which the book has been used to great advantage.

It should never be forgotten that the illustrative sentences in the "Foundations" have no value except as they help the student to grasp a principle that he can apply in his own use of language. In every case the emphasis should be laid on the principle which is announced or illustrated. Merely learning the corrected sentences by heart is useless and should not be permitted.

In taking a class over PART I., which treats of words, it is the writer's practice to assign a short lesson—from one to three pages—in connection with every recitation in English. The leading ideas and most typical sentences in each lesson are privately marked in the teacher's book with colored pencil, so that they may readily catch his eye, and from five to twelve minutes of each recitation period are taken up with a rapid questioning on these leading ideas and typical sentences. Corrections or answers unaccompanied by reasons are not accepted. Attention is always fixed, not on the form of the illustrative sentence, but on the principle of usage under discussion. Pupils would rather commit to memory the sentences than trouble themselves about reasons; but they will master reasons when they find they must. After principles have been mastered, exercises in the choice of forms and words are needed in order that knowledge may be converted into habit.

In PARTS II. and III. the lessons are equally short and the emphasis is unceasingly laid on the question "Why?" If the subject is difficult, it is desirable, at the time that the lesson is assigned, to lead the class over the text and some of the illustrative sentences in order to open, as it were, the eyes of the pupils. Since these parts of the book treat not of single words, but of sentences and paragraphs, recitations on them seem to call for the use of pencil or chalk. One successful teacher conducts the recitation with books open, requiring her pupils to cover the correct sentences with a strip of paper while they explain and correct the faults in the incorrect sentences. The writer's practice is to paste the faulty sentences on cards of convenient size and thickness—the arrangement of columns is such that the sentences can all be cut from one old book—and to distribute them among eight or ten pupils at the beginning of the recitation hour. While other matters are being attended to, these pupils write the sentences in correct form on the blackboard, and, when the time comes, give their reasons for the changes which they have made. Their work is discussed, if necessary, by the whole class. Reviews and written tests should be frequent. As fast as the various principles explained and illustrated in PARTS II. and III. are studied, the attention of pupils should be immediately turned to their own writing. It will be far more profitable for them to correct their own offences against clearness, force, ease, and unity than to correct similar offences committed by others. For this reason the PRACTICAL EXERCISES IN ENGLISH contains no exercises on the subjects discussed in PARTS II. and III. of the "Foundations."