A List of Words.

The driver sat upon the box of the coach.
The garden walk had a border of box.
John kept his money in a box.

The boy received a box on the ear.

Sailors can box the compass.

This will be sufficient to explain my meaning. Your active mind will readily expand the exercise, and make it highly interesting and instructive. Such questions in connection with the spelling lesson will do much to give it life and meaning; and with such exercises, well devised and continued, pupils will become good spellers, though they may never study the spelling-book for an hour. The words thus selected can be left upon the blackboard until within a few minutes of the time for spelling them.

At another time you may collect a list of words from the school-room, as follows:

The names of objects which pupils may see at their respective homes, may constitute a list sufficiently long for two or three lessons, and include such articles as may be found in nearly every house.

The Parts of a Book.

These names will be the very words all should know how to spell, and yet such as are very frequently misspelled. The articles kept for sale, in different kinds of stores, would also form a very appropriate and long list. The names of the va rious trees to be found in the gardens, fields, and forests, and the names of flowers, would, also, be fruitful sources from which to draw many useful spelling and object lessons.

Make a drawing of some familiar object upon the blackboard, as the basis of a spelling lesson. For example, the picture of a book. Call upon your pupils to name the different parts of the book, and you will get something like the following:

Let us suppose you call upon your pupils to give the names of the different trees they have seen, and the following are given and written upon the blackboard: oak, walnut, elm, chestnut, hemlock, birch, cedar, pine, spruce, maple, beech, locust, ash, sycamore, poplar, willow, cypress, fir, larch, apple, pear, plum, peach, cherry, mulberry, apricot. After these are distinctly written, ask questions like the following:

Parts of a House.

Which of the trees named are fruit-bearing? Which produce nuts? For what purposes is the oak valuable? How many kinds of oak, and what called? For what is the walnut valuable? Which of the trees named are most prized as ornamental trees?

After calling for the uses and properties of the different trees, let the names be studied for a future spelling lesson. The same course may be pursued in regard to flowers, shrubs, vegetables, etc.

At another time, you may make a plain drawing of a house.

Teacher. "Can you tell me the names of some of the parts of a house?"

Pupil. "Roof, eaves, ridgepole, cornice, doors, windows, chimney, rafters, sill, sash, parlor, kitchen, pantry, cupboard, closet, sitting-room, chamber, garret, cellar, stairs, hall or entry, piazza.”

Teacher. "Can you name some of the materials used in building houses?"

Pupil. "Timber, joist, boards, laths, nails, lime, brick, clapboards, shingles, glass, paint, screws, hinges, stone, zinc, etc."

The particular use of each of these objects or materials may be explained at the same time that its name is spelled. A prominent advantage in these methods is, that it connects the subject of spelling with actual objects, and gives it a meaning and a force. Pupils trained in this way will soon form the habit of spelling the name of every object they meet with.

Another Method.

I will now name one or two other methods which may be well for occasional use and for the sake of variety. In all exercises in oral spelling, I would recommend that you pronounce the words distinctly, once only, require the class to pronounce the same in concert, and then call upon some one to spell. This will help to secure the attention, and make it sure that the word is 'understood.

In giving out long words it may be well, at times, to let the pupils spell by each giving a letter in its order, or pronouncing a syllable when finished. For example, let us take the word orthography. You pronounce the word and the whole class repeats it. In rapid succession the pupils spell thus, the figure indicating the number of pupil:

O-r—or▬▬t-h-o-g-thog-orthog―r-a-ra-orthogra

14 15 16

17

p-h-y-phy-orthography (by whole class.)

Another method which has its advantages is the following. Let the teacher dictate some thirty or forty words to a class, requiring the members to write them upon their slates.. These words are to be carefully examined and studied by the pupils, who are also to be required to incorporate each word into a sentence, which shall illustrate its meaning and show that it is understood by them. After these sentences have been read, and erased from the slates, let the words be again dictated, to be written and examined with special reference to the orthography. An exercise of this kind will answer very well to fill up time that would otherwise

Extract from The Teacher and Parent.

be unimproved. The words may be given on one afternoon, and the written exercises and the spelling receive attention on the next afternoon.

It will be well if the teacher will have a small blank-book in which to write such words as are frequently misspelt, or such as are not of very common occurrence, and make use of these words for the method above named.

*"In order to secure the perfect attention of a class, the following methods will be found valuable; and, at the same time, they will aid in awakening an interest, and causing improvement.

"1. Read a short sentence distinctly, and require every word to be spelt by the class, the first scholar pronouncing and spelling the first word, the next scholar the second, and so on, until all the words in the sentence have been spelt. After a little practice in this method, scholars will be able to go through with quite long sentences, with a good degree of accuracy and promptness. Many valuable truths and proverbs may in this way be impressed upon the mind, while attention is more directly given to orthography. The following may be samples:

A good scholar will be industrious and obedient. If sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

Take care of the minutes, and the hours will take care of themselves.

A soft answer turneth away wrath.

*From "The Teacher and Parent," published by A. S. Barnes & Burr, New York.