The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1882-05-24
Study the Meaning Of Words.

erS consists IN allowing pup1kS 20 pass
over so many words without learning
their meaning. Children sometimes
boast 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 at such q de-
msnd. Why do we learn to spellp Just
for the physical exercise (for we admit
1t is an excellent lung training as COM
monty taught), or in order to use the
words thus learnedP II the latter, how
can we use thing when we are ignor-
ant of its usesp Children should take .
utilitarian view Of this matter, remember
ing that words, like most other posses
sions, should be acquired for the 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 as spelling. To read Is not
simply to utter the words in q piece
with their proper order and pronuncia-
ton. If that were true, then children
could be taught to read Latin IS 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 bearing read
to sou, extracts from some foreign
tongue for several hours in the day.
Can children then be 50 interested in
that of which they have very little ideaf
II the object of reading be, as some
one has said, to ''bring out the sense"
of the piece read, could not pupils do 30
more inteligently by knowing what the
s'sense" WASP Pupils who read inteh-
gently, other things being equsl, win be-
come better readers than those who do
not; and so poor spelling might be
ameliorated by encouraging pupils to
spell knowingly.
Some have q mistaken idea that long
words are hard ones, and therefore un-
fit for children. But not 30. 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 il 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, viii not q partial light as tc
their meaning be better than total dark
ness?
To sum up, the advantages to be de
rived from q study of the meaning oi
the words are the following:
1. 1t causes more intelligent and cor
rect reading.
9. 1t helps to make better spoilers.
g. 1t creates interest.
4. 1t encourages the investigating
principle-an important step in gaining
an education.
We give below the views of an emf
nent teacher:
ssThere is, doubtless, to-day NOR,
time spent in trying to learn to read ant
spell than there is devoted to all othel
branches in common schools.
"Hpupils could understand the mean
ing of the words they use, words woulC
then become to them ideas. Word
should be considered simply as signs o.
ideas, and ideas should be had first, and
the words afterward. Then pupils could
comprehend the word, and the ide,
suggesting it. The familiar object
clock or horse, boot or hat-does no
require special thought to suggest thu
name. The thing imparts the idea, snC
/ LQ6 IQou COUlcS
"We learn to spell thousands o
words, and the words are rs abstrac
and meaningless as the names of tn,
Chinese people are to US. We remem
ber when the word ichthyology was
poser for spelling, and do not know
how many years elapsed after mas
tered the spelling of the word with Ger
tainty before learned its meaning
| The word phthisic. and a few more o
those meaningful words without an,
meaning, were test words, but tn
meaning of them was never vouchsafed
We had in Webster's spelling book fey
pages of words which had definition o
their meaning, commencing, stAil, to b
troubled; Ale, malt iquor;" and it wa
to the pupils the most Interesting lessor
in the book. Thus pupils spend tn
best part of their life in learning to spell
words, in great part, without learnin.
their meaning, and though our methot
of spelling in English is crooked ant
difficult to the last degree, and unfor
tunately without any law or analogy
even the English language could b
mastered if all the words that could b
represented by symbol could hav,
such symbol related to the word itself
If there could be fish connected witt
the word ichthyology, and that was un
derstood to mean the science of fishes
there would be some sense in learnin;
to spell it. We would like to see clas
OF pupils trained to spell the names o
articles when presented, the name bein,
pronounced, and then let the pupil spell
1t by sound only, without having learnel
the letters. ."-Kindergarts,s.