Beginners' Book in Language Part 15

8. Miss Smith, ---- I borrow a pencil of Ruth?

9. Miss Smith, ---- you speak French?

10. Miss Smith, ---- I have another sheet of paper?

=Game.= 1. Let the boys write on the board a number of sentences in which _may_ is used correctly. Then let the girls do the same. Now let the girls read the boys' sentences. The boys will read those written by the girls. Who made the fewer mistakes?

2. After all sentences have been corrected (if they need to be corrected), let the boys read their sentences aloud, and the girls theirs. The teacher will tell whose reading was the better.

=39. Talking over Plans=

Valentine Day is near at hand. Why could not your cla.s.s plan a special good time for that day? Other cla.s.ses have done it. One plan would be for pupils to send each other valentines. You could have a post office right in the schoolroom. One of the pupils could be the postmaster. It would be the business of the postmaster to see that each valentine went to the right person.

=Group Exercise.= Make plans with your cla.s.smates for Valentine Day.

Think out what should be done and how it should be done. Then stand before the cla.s.s and explain your plan. The other pupils will explain theirs. At last the whole cla.s.s will choose the one that seems best. The following questions will help in the making of plans:

1. How shall the cla.s.s post office be run?

2. Who shall be the cla.s.s postmaster? What shall he do? Shall there be letter carriers?

3. Would it be more fun for pupils to send short notes to each other than valentines bought at the store? Perhaps red-paper borders could be pasted around the edges of the letters? Some of the letters might be from Jack Frost, Queen Mab, Peter, and other friends you have met in this book.

=40. Letter Writing=

First of all, in getting ready for Valentine Day, you will need to learn how to write letters.

=Oral Exercise.= 1. Who wrote the first of the following letters? How can you tell? Who wrote the second? To whom is it written? To whom is the first written?

Dear Jill:

The doctor says that I am perfectly well again. I should like to go coasting Sat.u.r.day. Shall we go together? I want to show you how careful I can be in steering a sled.

Jack

Dear Jack:

My mother will not let me go coasting. I wish you would come over to my house Sat.u.r.day. We could write valentine letters together, to our friends. We could pop some corn too.

Jill

2. Do you see the little mark (:) after the words _Dear Jack_ and _Dear Jill_ in these two letters? That mark must always[48] be written there in a letter. Next, do you see how the first line in each letter is different from the other lines? The first line of a letter must always begin a little to the right of the other lines. Notice where the name of the writer of each letter is placed. Is there any mark after it?

=Written Exercise.= 1. In order that you may not forget the points you have just learned about letter writing, copy Jack's letter to Jill. Then compare your copy with the letter as it stands in the book, and correct mistakes.

2. Now read carefully Jill's letter to Jack. Notice once more exactly how the different parts of the letter are written. Write the letter from dictation. Then correct what you have written by comparing it with the letter in the book.

It is well that you now know how to write a letter. There is at this very time an important letter that needs to be written by you. As you know, the teacher will soon choose some one in your cla.s.s to be the postmaster for Valentine Day. Whom do you want for that position?

Perhaps you would like to be postmaster yourself. Or do you want to be one of the letter carriers? The next exercise will give you a chance to tell the teacher.

=Written Exercise.= It would take too much of the teacher's time to listen to each pupil's opinion about those post-office questions.[49]

Then, too, the teacher might not remember all that each pupil said. So there is only one thing to do. Each pupil must write his ideas and wishes in a letter to the teacher. Write your letter, beginning it thus:

Dear Teacher:

Tell in your letter exactly what you would tell the teacher in a private talk. No one but the teacher will see your letter.[50]

=41. More Letter Writing=

When Valentine Day comes, you will wish to write very good letters to your cla.s.smates. You already know how to write a letter, but it is another matter to write a bright letter.

Do you remember that boy, Tom, who once dreamed about an owl and an elf?

One day Tom told his mother that his school was planning a special good time for Valentine Day. "We shall have a post office in our room," he said. "Everybody is to send everybody else letters."

"What kind of letters are they to be?" asked his mother.

"Well," answered Tom, "each pupil is to write at least one bright letter about himself. Those who receive the letters have to guess who wrote them. You see, we do not sign our names."

Tom had already written his letter, and he showed it to his mother. It was to his best friend, Fred. Here it is:

Dear Fred:

I am four feet three inches tall. I weigh seventy-five pounds.

I like to run and jump. I like to read books, too. I am your best friend.

Somebody

=Oral Exercise.= What do you think of Tom's letter to Fred? Is it a bright letter? How does every sentence in it begin? Do you like to have all the sentences begin the same way?

Tom's mother read the letter. Then she read it again. Then she said, "Tom, you can do better than that."

Tom was surprised. He thought it was a good letter. "Are there any mistakes in it?" he asked. "No, there is not a single mistake in it,"

answered his mother. "You have the right mark after the words _Dear Fred_. You have begun every sentence with a capital letter. You have the right mark at the end of every sentence. But, Tom, it isn't a bright letter."

"How shall I make it bright?" asked Tom.

His mother smiled. "Look at the first sentence in your letter," she said. "It tells that you are four feet three inches tall. How uninteresting that is! Who cares to know your exact height, down to an inch! Why not say instead, 'I am a funny little blue-eyed chap with brown hair all over the top of my head'! Would not that be much brighter than 'I am four feet three inches tall'? Now look at the next sentence.

It tells that you weigh seventy-five pounds. How uninteresting that is!