New-York tribune., 1901-10-13
WRITING ENGLISH.
HOW 1T rs TAUGHT IN THE GRAMMAR
SCHOOLS OF THIS CITY TO-DAY
RAPID PROGRESS MADE BY
CHILDREN OF FOR
EIGN PARENTS.

Among the new commandments of modern
education are two of supreme Importance, and
these two are first, to make study natural ana
interesting, and, second to make one SUBJECT III
in with another. Aforetime one learned Seog-
raphy and history and wrote compositions Out
none of these had anything to do with the
others. The child was in Asia one minute, trans
ported to America of the seventeenth century
Immediately afterward, and obliged to turn MS
mind to the abstract consideration OF truth
or some such subject as soon as the Indians had
been disposed Of His left hand did not know
.hat his right hand did so to speak. But now
the writing of the once dreaded compositions
<, in line with something that the children have
been studying and it is made as natural fer
them to put their thoughts down on paper as IL
is to go home and batter the ears of the family
With it. The very word composition" is avoid
ed 1t all comes in with the teaching of other
subjects and is not bogie any longer.
Each month the children of the higher gram
oar grades write four or five compositions. But
it takes some little time to make them suffi-
riently familiar with the use of the language 10
do this, whether they American or of foreign
firth parentage. They begin to write what
or want of better word must be called compo-
.itons when they are not more than seven or
tight years old. The work is given them TO copy
this stage of the course. but it familiarizes
hem with sentence construction. The little ones
write laboriously Papa planted a tree or "A
Tree grew by a brook They write the sentence
four or five times The teacher has already told
them the story of the planting OF the tree or OF
what grew on the banks of the brook, that
it is not a mere meaningless phrase. There is
interest which was conspicuously absent from
the wisdom of the old copybook. They find that
1t is just easy TO write about the tree as To
tell about it. So self-consciousness does not
rome with the very touch of the pen
That is the first stage. Then comes original
work. and very original some Of IL is. The
teacher tells a story Of some birds that sang in
and made everybody happy with their
tweet songs The children listen, OF course and
! day or so later the teacher will call upon them
to write something about it, She will put on
The board the word "sweetly' and tell the chill
dren to write something about the song OF the
birds that shall bring in the word "sweetly."
The children have difficulty in putting down
the fact that the bluebird in the tree sang
sweetly. that the robin sang sweetly. or that
all birds sing sweetly. The bluebrd and the
robin and the pleasure of the birds songs have
all been gone over in the class a day week
before. When the subject is little com
plicated the work becomes very interesting
Under the word blacksmith there were some
bold attempts. The blacksmith is pony show
maker" The blacksmith weres a heavy apron
THE blacksmith works all day long" and so
forth.
Further preparation for the writing of correct
English is given by dictation and copying The
old style cOpybooks have been superseded OF
course Nothing but the best English is given
to the children $ a model In one school last
week, for instance, the children were copying
the description of early Manhattan from Irv-
ings "knickerbocker History" 1t interested
them taught them something about the place
they live in, gave them the needed exercise in
penmanship familiarZed them with the clear
expression of thoughts, and made them ac-
customed to seeing written paper things that
they found also in books. AT this period too
the children have letters models. and these
are copied for an exercise in writing and also as
preparation for the writing Of original letters
which is to come soon. When a child is ten
years old he is writing simple letters on such
topics as the coming promotion, a subject on
which he is sure to have plenty to say and to
express himself with considerable clearness
In this way the idea of writing as something
entirely distinct from talking is done away with
1t seems a not unnatural process, and when the
children are ten eleven years old they are pre-
pared to write simple abstracts (onIy no such
forbidding title is given them) on the work
done in the history geography and literature
classes. A ten-year-Od Italian who hears not
word Of English at home writes of "Hia-
at y.bi i.h J,a