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(a) The use of models in the seventh and eighth years.

(b) The correction of children's compositions.

But, by way of introduction to these main topics, it is necessary to run over very briefly the kind of work to be done during the first six years.

I. ORAL COMPOSITION.

Oral composition is the natural beginning of the subject. This may take the following forms:

(a) All answers to questions in the class-room should be required in complete statements. If the question is, "How many are five and three?" do not take "eight" for an answer, but insist on "Five and three are eight." If the question is, "What is the capital of New York?" the answer must be, "The capital of New York is Albany." The use of a complete sentence as the expression of a thought should be taught from the first day of school. In our adult life we properly abbreviate sentences to save time and effort; but in language training the case is different. Here we must insist upon the complete

thoroughly impressed upon his mind. Moreover, English is to many of our children a foreign language, and every good teacher of a foreign language insists upon complete state

ments.

(b) Another subject for oral composition is the contents of the reading lesson.

(c) A third form is the telling or reading of fairy tales and stories. The gift of story-telling is one of priceless value to a teacher. Children should be trained to give back such stories. in an abridged form (abstract).

(d) Another valuable exercise is the description of processes in arithmetic and manual training. Such descriptions should be brief and informal, and must not in any case be allowed to degenerate into formulas committed to memory; for when this is the case, children are no longer composing, but reciting parrot-fashion.

(e) A very valuable exercise is found in the separation of sentences from the grade reading into complete subjects and complete predicates. We need not necessarily use

these terms, but from the third year upward all children should get constant practice in this exercise. In this way is formed the habit of judging sentences by the standard of their essential parts, and children will then be able to criticise their own compositions.

(f) Another drill in oral composition is the recitation of good prose and poetry. Teachers are prone to limit their selections to poetry, but for the language side of these drills prose is as essential as poetry.

(g) Finally, a good drill in oral composition is afforded by exercises in explaining the meaning of words. The teacher should remember that putting words into sentences is not a method of teaching the meaning of words, but a method of determining whether the meaning of a word is known. (Read Bain's "Science of Education.")

In all these conversations the aim must be to find easy subject-matter, confined within the limit of the child's experience. Constant Constant watchfulness is required to keep children from falling into the "and" habit, the most dreadful malady to which young writers and speakers are subject.

II. WRITTEN COMPOSITION.

(a) The first and simplest form of composition is the old-fashioned but much neglected exercise in copying out of the reader. If this is done with absolute accuracy as to spelling, punctuation, capitals, etc., it is good language training.

(b) Dictation. This is a test of something previously taught. Hence, whatever is dictated should first have been copied or otherwise studied. Never dictate an entirely new selection. The chief use of this exercise is drill in mental alertness, spelling, cap

itals and puncuation. Be careful not to dictate too rapidly, nor yet too slowly. If the time allowed is too long, no alertness is cultivated. If the time is too short, failure and discouragement are the result.

(c) A third form of written composition is the formation of sentences. The models upon which such sentences should be based were formulated by the Germans. The following list is found to exhaust the possibilities of construction in the simple sentence:

(1) What things do. The dog barks.

(2) What is done to a thing. The tree is shaken.

(3) Of what quality things are. The rose is red.

(4) What things are. Baseball is

a game.

(5) What things do to things. The cow eats grass.

Infinite variety may be introduced, as, for instance, by changing the noun to the singular or plural; by the use of the pronoun; by changing the present tense to the past, future, etc. In the sixth year a good course of old-fashioned grammar should be introduced, and in this the children should have a thorough drill, both of the analytic and synthetic kind.

(d) The fourth form of written. composition consists of stories, descriptions and scriptions and narratives, based chiefly on observation.

III. THE USE OF MODELS IN SEVENTH AND EIGHTH YEARS.

The normal conditions of writing are these:

(a) The writer has something he wishes to say.

(b) He assumes that some one is interested in what he writes.

In the class-room these conditions are naturally not present. Hence the

teacher must create them. This he can do

(a) By limiting the composition to subjects that children know.

(b) By finding something in literature that shows how common things may be made interesting by the way they are treated.

If, for instance, we take a game played by the children, they see nothing particularly interesting in it for a composition. But if we read some great writer's description of such a game, they are intensely interested, and by skillful handling one can arouse in them the feeling, "I have something to say, and some would like to hear it." This audience is the class itself, and it may be made a powerful educative force in many ways.

one

Biography is full of examples of the value of imitation in learning to acquire a style. Johnson recommended the style of Addison for this purpose. Franklin followed Johnson's advice. Stevenson acknowledges that he employed a similar method.

(1) HOW TO SELECT A MODEL. (a) The first requisite is that it must possess literary value. Teachers should not, as a rule, undertake to manufacture models.

(b) Each model should be in itself complete.

(c) Models should not be too long; five hundred words should be the maximum.

(d) The model should appeal directly to the child's interest and knowledge.

(e) It must illustrate either exposition, description or narration.

(2) HOW TO USE THE MODEL. (a) Every pupil must himself read the model. Even a blackboard copy is not near enough to the child. He

should hold it in his hand, so that he may study it at close range.

(b) By some way we must get the pupil to appreciate the merit of the model.

(c) Each model is to be selected for one special characteristic. This point. is to be impressed upon the pupil. Not more than one characteristic is to be looked for in any one specimen. Among the things to look for are clearness, choice of words, and in every instance the plan that was in the writer's mind (outline).

(3) HOW TO IMITATE THE Model. (a) After studying the model, put it aside, and let the children reproduce it (not paraphrase it) as nearly as they can.

(b) Let each write an imitation of it on a kindred subject. If the model. describes a man, the imitation will describe another man. If the model is a fable, let the class invent a similar. fable. If the letter is the model, a similar one is written, or the model is answered in the appropriate way.

Here Dr. Maxwell read from the "Hoosier Schoolboy" a description of a game and then he read a number of children's compositions describing other games after the manner of the model. The study of this description resulted in the discovery that it is so clear that one who never heard of the game could play it after reading what the author wrote. Clearness is the excellence to be imitated. The plan was discovered to include—

(1) An introduction.

(2) A body; namely, the description.

(3) A conclusion; why the game is interesting.

A Christmas letter from Phillips Brooks revealed the fact that one must constantly keep in mind, when