upon the board for the class to correct. After correction, the pupils should examine their respective slates, and note how many errors are their own. The slate review should be entirely from memory.

7th. Detail several to find the same or duplicate letters among the letter-cards, upon the charts, or in books.

8th. When all the selected letters have been learned, put them together to form words.

9th. Write or print the word upon the board, to be criticised by class divisions as were the letters before.

10th. Let the word be reviewed upon the slate without a copy, and criticised as was the former slate exercise.

11th. Require each pupil to originate a sentence containing the word.

12th. If the letters can be arranged so as to form another simple word or words, it may be done at this point of the lesson, and each of the words thus formed be treated as the first word.

13th. The class should be trained upon the sounds of the letters in succession, as arranged in the tabular view.

14th. Require the pupils to point out or mark the silent letters in words.

15th. Sometimes the form can be impressed by uniting instruction and amusement. Make the capital letters upon the board; then give each pupil two cuts of straw or sticks, to make as many of these simple capitals as can be made. with two lines. When they have made L, T, V, X, give each one more, and have A, E, F, H, I, K, N, Y, Z, and with another add M and W. The remaining letters with curved lines they will soon learn to make.

Card and Chart Lessons.

The following method of teaching selections of letters by means of cards and charts alone has been so successfully employed in teaching small classes, that it deserves a place among the best methods of teaching primary reading. Give each member of the class a letter-card, whispering its sound, charging them to remember, but not to reveal to any one else. When they have had time to memorize the shape,

collect the cards, and call the class one by one to select from the cards on the table the letter which they held, or point out a similar one on the chart. When a child has learned two letters that will make a word, as ox, give the name of the word, then prefix b for box, f for fox, etc. In this way a great many words may be learned by changing the initial or terminal letter.

When a number of letters are known by the whole class, one may be sent to the chart to point out and name letters that will make words, as s, a, t, sat; h, a, t, hat; b, a, t, bat; c, a, t, cat; r, a, t, rat. Let the one at the chart spell in this manner (by sound) as many words as he can; the one, however, who first observes a mistake to supersede the one at the chart. Another instructive amusement is to allow the class to select letters from the cards or blocks that will build words found upon the word-chart.

Memorizing Letters in Alphabetical Order.

This method is now entirely abandoned, other and better methods having been adopted in its place.

PHONIC OR PHONETIC.

Phonetics, phonics, or phonology is the science of representing the elements of language.

A phonograph is a graphic or written sign, a distinct letter to represent a unit of speech, and always one and the same unit of speech or vocal sound.

Phonography is writing by phonographs, and is long or

short.

"Phonetic long-hand, or long-hand phonography, is writing produced with a phonetic alphabet, consisting of most of the ordinary script letters, and additional ones of the same general character for the additional sounds."

Stenography, or short-hand phonography, is a term expressing extreme brevity of word-signs founded on the phonographic system of sounds and signs.

The phonic or phonetic method of teaching primary classes may be made analytical or synthetical, according to the desire of the teacher.

This method, although founded upon reason and common sense, has as yet but indifferently succeeded.

It is based upon the principle that every distinct unit of speech or elementary sound of a language should have a corresponding sign. The English language is composed of thirty-four or thirty-six sounds, and hence should have thirty-four or thirty-six signs or letters to represent those sounds. Then every word would be pronounced as it is spelled, and spelled without silent letters.

In the phonic or phonetic method, pupils who have learned these corresponding sounds and signs will have no trouble in pronouncing a word when seen in print, or spelling words properly pronounced.

Phonography would save much time and labor when con-. trasted with the present English orthography, in which pronunciation is learned orally or from the dictionary.

Some learned philologists object to the change, because, in their opinion, the language would lose its etymology, which is chiefly known from the spelling. But we could not lose the origin of the words if the present orthography were placed immediately after the words in the dictionaries; and this would add but one link more to the chain of ety, mological study, while it would save time and labor for the student.

The nearest approach to a strictly phonetic method in elementary instruction, consistent with accepted orthography and the printed characters in common use, is the following, which has been used and approved by some of our best primary teachers. The teacher, taking a single word, as map, brings out the oral elements, showing on the board how each one is represented by printed characters. Let the marks be those of some standard authority, using them with such letters as represent more than one sound.

When these characters are learned so as to be read and written, take another word with not more than one new character, as n in man. Proceed in this manner, requiring the pupil to write the characters for the sounds previously given. As soon as enough characters are given to make new familiar words, as with the above, we may make map

and pan; let them be printed on the board, and copied by the children for the next lesson. Continue thus with the short sound of a in words of three letters; follow with the short sounds of the other vowels in monosyllables having no silent letters, then with the other sounds of the vowels, until all the characters and elementary sounds are learned. Silent letters may be marked with a line underneath.

Thus we have a complete phonetic system for learning to read words. As soon as possible, omit the marks, and let the letters and orthographic spelling be learned in connection with the phonetic. When words occur (like they) in which the sounds are not represented by any marks given, they may be spelled with the common letters, and the pro.nunciation given with phonetic characters in parenthesis (tha). To write sentences before the sounds can all be presented to the class, a few words may be printed on the board, and learned as sight words.

See Introduction to Selections.

TABLE NO. 24.

READING-CLASS FORMULA.*

I, PRELIMINARY EXERCISES,† (Time from one to five minutes.)

Vocal Gymnastics:

1. Pronouncing words.‡

2. Analyzing words.

3. Phonic spelling.‡

4. Learning some fact in elocution, or practicing the tables in Orthophony.

Calisthenics or Gesture. (See page 76.)

II. SELECTIONS OR LITERARY PRODUCTIONS.‡ (To be read according to any of the standard methods described on pages 78 to 81.)

III. REVIEWS.

Of the selections (page 89):

1. The form and manner‡ (prose or poetry, etc., page 86, 89).

2. The thought or subject‡ (pastoral, historical, etc., page 86, 89). 3. The objects (their names, natural or artificial, etc.).

4. The incidents,

5. The meaning of words (technical or received).

6. The moral or the personal application.

Of the errors of pupils in

1. Reading position. (See page 24.)

2. Articulation. (See pages 34 to 44.)

3. Pronunciation. (See pages 44 to 54.)
4. Phonic spelling. (See page 75.)

5. Definition. (See note, page 75.)

6. Elocution (general or particular faults).

IV. PORTIONS OF COMPOSITION TO MEMORIZE. (See page 86.)

V. EXAMINATION OF THE ADVANCE LESSON.

(See page. 87)

* This Formula can, by attention to the capacity of the pupils, be adapted to any class in reading that has mastered monosyllables. The younger classes should receive drill in elocution, but not facts or rules, and the review should be simplified.

+ The preliminary exercises should not occupy more than five minutes in any class; and if the time for recitation be less than 20 minutes, then one or two minutes only should be used.

+ This sign is placed after such exercises, etc., in the Formula as can not well be omitted.

D