Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-08-11
Stud, the Meaning Oi Words.

A common mistake made by our teach
srs consists in allowing pupils to pass
over So many words without learning
heir meaning. Children sometimes
beast their ability to spell through the
"blue back" and yet when questioned
as to the meaning of these words, they
not only profess their Ignorance, but
seem little surprised al such a de
mand. Why do we learn to spell? Just
for the physical exercise 0or we admit
it i, IN excellent lung training As com
monty taughD, or in order to Use the
words thus learned? If the latter, how
can We Use thing when We are ignor-
ant of its uses! Children should take 4
utilitarian view of this matter, remember
ing that words, like most other posses
sions, should be acquired for tn" sake OF
the benefit to be derived from them.
Pupils, by knowing the meaning OF
words, can remember their orthography
better. The word suggests the idea,
and the idea the word.
This same deficiency is found in read
ing as well rs spelling. TO read Is not
simply to utter the word in a piece
with their proper order and pronuncia-
ton. If that were true, then children
could be taught to read Latin as soon as
English. When pupils spell or read
words that convey to their minds no
idea, these subjects grow tiresome, and
the interest is to some extent impaired:
Imagine your reading, or hearing read
to YOU, extracts from some foreign
tongue for several hours in the day.
Can children then be so Interested in
that of which they have very little idea?
If the object Of reading be, Is some
one has said, to ''bring out the sense
of the piece read, could not pupils do so
more intelligently by knowing what the
s'sense" wa>o Pupils who read intclli-
gently, other things being equal will be-
come better readers than those who do
not; and so poor spelling might be
ameliorated by encouraging pupils to
spell knowingly.
Some have a mistaken idea that long
words are hard ones, and therefore I'M
fit for children. But not 80. A child
has as vivid an idea of the words rhi-
noceros, grandmother, and Elizabeth,
as of hare, aunt, or Guy. The difficult
ness of a word, with child, lies in the
obscurity of the idea it conveys. We
admit some words are too hard for the
child's mind to comprehend, and we are
not in favor of introducing such words
too soon and too freely. Some words
We use we do not fully understand our
selves. But if such words must be
learned, will not a partial ligh. as to
their meaning be better than total dark
ness?
To sum up, the advantages to be de-
rived from a study of the meaning of
the words are the following:
l. 1t causes more intelligent and cor
rect reading.
| 2. 1t helps to make better spoilers.
3. 1t creates interest.
4. 1t encourages the investigating
principle-an important step in gaining
an education.
We give below the views of an emil
nent teacher:
"There is, doubtless, to-day more
time spent in trying TO learn to read and
spell than there is devoted to all other
branches in common schools.
Ifpupils could understand the mean
ing of the words they use, words would
then become to them ideas. Words
should be considered simply as signs of
ideas, and ideas should be had first, and
the words afterward. Then pupils could
comprehend the word, and the idea
suggesting it. The familiar object
clock or horse, boot or hat-dOes not
require special thought to suggest the
name. The thing imparts the idea, and
tho mo <hov, DCv,oc 90 civ
"We learn TO spell thousands of
and meaningless as the names of the
Chinese people are to us. We remem-
Der when the word ichthyology was a
poser for spelling, and l do not know
how many years elapsed after mas
tered the spelling of the word with GER
tainty before l learned its meaning
The word phthisic, and few more of
those meaningful words without any
meaning, were test words, but the
meaning of them was never vouchsafed.
We had in Webster's spelling book few
pages of words which had a definition of
their meaning, commencing, Gail, to be
troubled; Ale, malt liquor" and it was
to the pupils the most interesting lesson
| All siIO OOOh. Ahuo PuDho SHCuu tHC
best part of their life in learning to spell
words, in great part, without learning
their meaning, and though our method
of spelling in English is crooked and
difficult to the last degree, and unfor-
tunately without any law or analogy,
even the English language could be
mastered if all the words that could be
represented by a symbol could have
such symbol related to the word itself.
If there could be fish connected with
the word ichthyology, and that was I'M
derstood to mean the science of fishes,
there would be some sense in learning
to spell it. We would like to see class
of pupils trained to spell the names of
articles when presented, the name being
/ pronounced, and then let the pupil spell
it BY sound only, without having learned
the letters. "-Kindergartcn.