GOSPELS, Wise Men, Visit of the, 38. Heptarchy, 45. Inflexion, 55. Interdicts, 178. LATIN, Lessons in, 53, 81, 110, 143, 173, 205, 302, 333, 371. Accusative Case, Use of the, 57. Adjectives, Agreement of, with Nouns, 83. Declension of, 84, 144, 302. Exercises, 57, 58, 82, 112, 145, 174, 206, 262, 303, 334, 372. Latin Accent, 55. Compared with English, 56. Nouns, 1st Declension, 56. Vocabularies, 57, 84, 111, 174, 206, 262, 302, 372. NOTES OF LESSONS, Rules for the Preparation of, 179, 200, 263, 321. Ordainers, 245. Order of the Garter, 271. Owen Glendower, 338. Plantagenet, Origin of the Name, 148. Prizes, Notices concerning, 30, 64, 347, 376. Provisions of Oxford, 210. Pupil Teachers' Monthly Examination Paper, 58, 92, 123, 219, 246, 280, [308, 342. Queries and Replies, 60, 95, 126, 157, 189, 224, 251, 283, 314, 349, 378. Reviews and Notices of Books, 28, 61, 123, 187, 250, 311, 344. Scholarship Examination, 121. Statute of Mortmain, 245. Subsidy for French War, 210. Surnames, 115. TEACHING, Practical Papers on, 1, 33, 65, 97, 129, 161, 193, 225, 257, 289, Addition, 161, 193, 225. Dictation, 196, 257. Notation and Numeration, 65, 97. Spelling, 1, 35, 67, 99, 131, 163, 196, 257, 366. Subtraction, 289, 368. Tournament, 115. Towns under the Normans, 115. Treaty of Northampton, 270. Training Colleges, Admission into, 272. Witanagemot, 86. Word-building, 99, 131. [366 A Monthly Journal of Assistance for Private and Class Students in Literature, Science, and Arts. No. I. issued January 1, 1877. EACH NUMBER CONTAINS Courses of Study--with special help on difficult points, and with numerous test questions and exercises-in the following subjects: MAGNETISM AND ELECTRICITY. ACOUSTICS, LIGHT, AND HEAT. CHEMISTRY. MECHANICS. ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY. MATHEMATICS. PHYSIOGRAPHY-The New Subject of the Science and Art Department. THE CLASSICAL SUBJECTS FOR THE LONDON UNI- LESSONS IN GERMAN, for Private Students. LATIN COMPOSITION. FRENCH READINGS, and Notes. POPULAR PAPERS ON MYTHOLOGY. And other matters of interest or use to Students. A part of the Magazine is used especially for mutual or professional help by inter-communications and correspondence. Monthly, 32 pp. Imp. 8vo, 3d. By Post, 31d. LONDON: W. STEWART & CO., THE HOLBORN VIADUCT STEPS, E.C. Stewart's TEACHERS' ASSISTANT. Practical Papers on Teaching Spelling. By T. W. PIPER. IN teaching spelling there is one great mistake to be guarded against, viz., that of supposing that as a rule children learn the spelling of a word by continually repeating the letters in the order in which they occur in the word. By this we mean that it is a great mistake to suppose that most children learn how to spell such a word as dog by repeating again and again the letters d, o, g. If spelling were only learnt, or even chiefly learnt, in that way, persons would seldom be able to spell a word they had not seen before. Persons learn spelling more by using their eyes than their ears, i.e., more by remembering the form of a word when written than by remembering the order in which certain sounds (i.e., the names of the letters) follow each other in the spelling of that word. Now, what do we learn from this to guide us in our practical teaching of spelling? We think it teaches us (1.) That in teaching spelling (especially to the young children of Standard I.), we must lose no opportunity of using the blackboard. We have more then once seen a young teacher spend a great deal of time in endeavouring to get a boy properly to spell a word by making him listen to several other children who spell it properly. Not unfrequently it has happened that at last the child has failed to learn the spelling of the word. And the reason seems to be that the child has an imperfect ear for sounds, and consequently they make but little impression upon his mind; but if the teacher A had written the word on the black-board in order that the child might SEE as well as HEAR its spelling, he would probably have learnt it easily. (2.) When a child spells badly the most useful way of curing him of his faulty spelling is to teach him to use his eyes. This may best be done by causing him to copy moderately long pieces out of his Reading Book. The teacher must be careful, however, not to choose too long pieces for these "Transcription" exercises, else the child becomes tired before he has finished, and then he does his writing carelessly and makes many mistakes in spelling, and so learns the wrong instead of the right spelling of words. For a similar reason the teacher must very carefully examine the exercise after it is finished, otherwise the child will not be careful to copy the words exactly as they are in the books. The teacher must always in such cases bear in mind that the children will in time come to take just as much care in doing this (and every other) exercise as he takes to examine it when done. We have another word to say on this subject, viz.: (3.) That whenever a child sees a written or printed word he must be learning spelling. It follows that when a boy is reading he is also unconsciously learning spelling. If then we can lead children to become fond of reading we shall help them to spell. This subject is more connected with reading than with spelling; yet we may observe that children are assisted in their spelling when they do not read through their Reading Books too fast. It is much better (especially with young children,) to make them read over each lesson several times, in order that the pictures of the new words (for every written word is a kind of picture) may be thoroughly impressed upon their eyes before other new words are presented to them in new lessons. In what we have said we have endeavoured to show that there are reasons why certain plans are useful, and we hope that young teachers will not rest content with storing up in their memories as many plans and "dodges" for teaching spelling as they can hear of or devise for themselves. We hope rather that they will always endeavour to discover wHY such and such a plan is a good For in thus searching out "the reason why," teachers are doing two very important things, viz., first, they are exercising their own minds; secondly, when "the reason why" has been found, something has been discovered which will enable them to devise one. |