Arizona weekly citizen. [volume] (Tucson, Ariz) 1880-1901, 1892-01-09

was veritable tag of war. Each cham
pion was backed by his following, an
it was war to the knife. Prof. Gulley be
lieved that the difficulty lay not so mucl
in the method as in the failure TO i'm
press on the mind of the student VIVA
was to be learned. He believed tina
much depended upon the enthusiasm q
the teacher, which was necessary t.
success in teaching spelling.
Consequent upon Prof Gulley's quer.
as to the benefit of spelling down match
es, Miss Moulford and others agreed tina
the spelling down aroused great inter
est among the pupils, and that 1t wa
beneficial because 1t aroused the ambl
ton of all participating.
Rev. Mr.. Biilman spoke of the delight
| full recollect ons OF the spelhRg match
shat was to come off at the red schoo
| house." He remembered the jolly
crowd Of young folks RIDING in large
sleigh to go to the spelling" great
occasion in those times. Mr.. Billmar
| referred to Prof. Harper's method with
| the Hebrew language of mastering anC
thoroughly knowing the words, and
making them part of the mind.
Prof. Tully spoke of the means he had
employed to arouse the greatest interest
possible between the two opposing
sides in spelling; to give one side red and
the other side white ribbons, and to
arouse their party feeling. he had found
very effective. Also he would desig
nate one side the democrats and the
other side the republicans, and between
the two as fierce combat would be
waged as is carried on between the &.
o. p and its misguided opponents. He
dwelt upon the great need of accurate
spelling in business life, in the store in
the Office, and everywhere.
Prof, Gulley spoke of the handicap a
young man carries by not spelling we'll
He knew of business men demanding
letters of Application in order to see the
spelling of the applicants, and throw
ing aside the applications if the spelling
was bad. He wasl inclined to believe
that the old time system produced bet
ter spoilers. Spelling, Prof. Gulley
thought, must be learned in early life.
Recess was then taken for ten min
utes, after which the paper on Gram
mar" was postponed until the afternoon
session.
Discussion was then opened by a pa
per on "Ihe Spanish language, Valu-
able Auxiliary to teachers in the
country schools of this county," by Miss
Luttie Wood. Miss Wood believed
that a certain amount Of knowledge of
theSpanish language was absolutely nee
essary in this country.
1t is a very great help in enforcing
order, the first law of heaven, and Miss
Woods first law of school. She thought
il easier TO explain matters to the Mex
can students in their own language,
specially as they enjoyed converslpg
with Americans in their own tongue.
Miss Wood did not think that the pu-
pills lost in learning English by the teach
or speaking Spanish. to a certain extent
explaining to them. Her plan was t.
explain to them in Spanish and give
hem plenty of time to study and give
heir own explanation in English. Size
1ad her pupils use EnglisI. entirely il
the school room.
Prof. Tully spoke of VIM. Horton, the
he first pr ncipal of the Tucson schools,
# his being the best principal ever had,
md of the factt hat the first work ,he did
mere was to learn Spanish. The teach
speaking Spanish can help the pupil to
understand the English. He spoke of
the young men of high standing in Tue
son who speak Spanish, and emphasized
the Importance of learning that Ian
guage. On this frontier country. Finally
Prof. Trlly believed that the teachei
who does not speak Spanish is at the
mercy of the Spanish student.
Then followed general discussion of
the method of treating the students not
-peaking English.
Bearing on the subject of instructing
Students who speak language different
rom that OF the instructor, Rev. Mr.
Billman made few remarks on the
method of treating the Pima scholars.
As far as the Indian school was con-
;erned, the prime object of instruction
was root out the Pima language. Its
use was prohibited among them under
penalty. He found that better progress
;ould be made, and using English and
English only, in the school room and
with the Indian pupils. Mr.. Billman
showed the difference between teaching
the In lian and teaching the Mexican
student. While the Spanish language
has equivalents for all of our words, the
Pima has not. For instance, the Pima
language has no word to express "Gooo
l1OH yOu VI
you,"' and therefore it is easier to adopt
these words in the English, while the
Mexican student clines TO his own words
that are equivalent. After further re
marks on the Spanish language, the
members Of the institute joined IN sing
ing and the morning session adjourned.
Tuesday evening" session.
Shortly after seven o'clock the Tues
day evening session of the Pima COUNTY
Teachers Institute was opened in the
Methodist church of this city with prayer
oy Rev. Carlisle.
After the opening remarks by Prof
iulley, music was rendered by the quar-
tetfle, Mr.. and Mrs. Grossetta, Mrs. G. F.
Smith and Mr., Miner.
The audience was then addressed by
the Rev. MIR. Billman on the subject of
" The public school system in its relation
20 the public good" In substance he
said:
If our public school system is the
logical development of the enlightment
OF modern times, then your immediate
and pressing duty is to exteno
its benefits to ali for whom they were
intended.
There are improvementsyet tc be made
In our educational system which the
wisdom of our times will, undoubtedly
seek out and introduce a friend in
Europe has recently said: "We are teach
ing about too many things, our curricu-
lum is crowded; too muc5 machinery
and too much red tape; We slight the
hand, neglect the feet, and cram the
brain; the nervous STRAIN upon on
Yeacners is excessive; our teachers talk
90 much" If our system contains these
iefects. they will without doubt be COR
rected. Yet it is of more Importance