Journeys Through Bookland Volume X Part 43

Q. Did he lose it?

A. No. No matter what the Wind did I think the man would keep on his coat.

Q. Will you please tell the story as far as we have gone?

A. The Wind and the Sun tried to make a man take off his coat. First the Wind blew as fiercely as a lion tears his prey, but the man clung more closely to his coat and would not let it go.

Q. That is good, but it does not satisfy me yet. I want a longer, prettier story. Let us make believe the Wind and the Sun are two men.

Make them talk so they will seem real to us. Can't you start us?

A. One day Mr. Wind and Mr. Sun got to talking. Each one thought he was stronger than the other. They saw a man walking along the road. He had a big overcoat on and Mr. Wind said that he--

Q. Tell us exactly what Mr. Wind said.

A. Mr. Wind said, "I am stronger than you are. I can make that man take off his coat. You can't!"

Q. That is a fine start. Tell us what the Sun said.

A. The Sun said that he--

Q. "That he?"

A. The Sun said, "I can make him take off his coat, and I can do it quicker than you can."

Q. Good. Go on.

A. So they tried. Mr. Wind began. He blew as hard as he could and whistled around the man. He blew as fiercely as a lion tears his prey, but the man wouldn't take off his coat.

Q. What would the man do to his coat?

A. I think he'd hold on to it, b.u.t.ton it up, draw it close around him.

Q. Good. Very good. Now tell the story as well as you can.

A. Begin at the beginning?

Q. Yes.

A. One day Mr. Wind and Mr. Sun got into a quarrel about who was the strongest. While they were at it, a man in a heavy overcoat came walking along the road. When Mr. Wind saw the man he said, "Now see that man down there. I can make him take off his coat, but you can't." Mr. Sun replied, "I don't believe you can do it, but I can, though," then Mr.

Wind said, "Well, I'll show you, you conceited thing!" So the Wind blew and blew, fierce and loud like a lion attacking his prey, but the man wouldn't take off his coat. He drew it around him and b.u.t.toned it up and hung on to it.

Q. I like your story. But how many people were talking?

A. Two.

Q. Did you mean to say "_strongest_"?

A. Stronger.

It is not necessary to continue this farther, for enough has been written to show how a story may be developed and improved with each retelling.

The same style of work, perhaps to even better advantage, may be done from the pictures so numerous in _Journeys Through Bookland_. In this volume, under the t.i.tle _Pictures and Their Use_, will be found plentiful suggestions that will be helpful in conversation lessons.

2. Written Lessons

A. Introduction.

The demands of written composition are so much more severe than those of oral composition that we must be careful not to ask more than the child can execute with comparative ease. Before he begins to write, he should have clear ideas of what he intends to write and should have those ideas so arranged that they will not be confused in the process of writing.

Moreover, a child must become quite familiar with writing as an art before he can be expected to originate ideas or forms of expression for the purpose of writing them. It follows, then, that some of the early written work in language may profitably consist of copying selections of various kinds.

The t.i.tles given under the preceding section (_Oral Lessons_) will lead to many excellent exercises for this purpose. Insist on perfect accuracy of copy. Spelling, capitalization and punctuation must be correct. If the original is prose, insist upon proper paragraphing; if poetry, upon exactness in the arrangement of the lines, especially in the matter of indentation. Children will quickly see the relation that indentation bears to rhymes. By following with exactness, the child learns unconsciously to observe the general rules. By occasionally calling attention to the reasons for forms, children are taught to act intelligently and to decide for themselves when they come to original composition.

Rhythm is as natural as breathing, and rhyming is easy for children with quick ears and quick thought. You will be surprised the first time you try the exercise to see how quickly they will imitate a rhythm with which they are familiar, and the skill they show in making rhymes. Try it first as an oral exercise, and later ask for written lines. Much of such work may not be profitable, but it serves well to give variety.

Making simple parodies is amusing and stimulating to thought. Sometimes you will help by suggesting rhymes or by giving hints as to the subject to be parodied.

Take the nursery rhyme _There Was an Old Woman_ (Volume I, page 36) for a model. Suggest _bird_ and _nest_ as ideas for new rhymes and keep helping until you get something like this:

There was a sweet birdie Who built a fine nest, A beautiful birdie With a very red breast.

Use the same meter many times over till all become familiar with it.

Similar exercises prove highly interesting to children of all ages.

Although this is not a treatise on written language lessons, a few general suggestions may not be out of place:

1. Be sure that the children have something interesting about which to write.

2. Be sure that they have a good stock of ideas on the subject, or that they know how and where to get information and can get it without great difficulty.

3. Be sure that they write an outline of their composition or have one thoroughly in mind before they begin on the essay itself.

4. Give plenty of time for the writing.

5. Show a decided interest in their preparation and in their compositions.

6. Do not be severe in your criticisms. Give encouragement. Concentrate your efforts on one or two errors at a time. Let other mistakes pa.s.s till a more convenient time.

7. _a._ Watch for errors:

(1) In the use of capital letters.

(2) In the use of punctuation marks; first of terminal marks, then of the marks within a sentence.

_b._ See that every sentence is complete, with subject and predicate.

_c._ See that verbs agree with subjects, and p.r.o.nouns with antecedents.

_d._ Insist that the work be paragraphed.