The La Jara chronicle., 1906-05-25

minute analysis of the fundamental
units or elements of language,
sounds, and their representative
symbols to the eye, letters. There
fore we see that phonics is debarred
from finding first place in child's
education in reading, for the psy-
Geological reason already set forth,
that natural interest in analysis
does not come to the human mind
until some power has been gained
from a knowledge of units. Thus
the sentence method being closely
allied to oral language or speech,
meets to the least advantage. 1t
also has its defects as it leads the
child to recognize words as units,
in which process his visual memory
is largely brought into play, still
it leaves him no means of discov-
ering new words for himself. The
same is true of the word method.
1t is the true scope of the phonic
method to supply this want in the
word and sentence method by Civ
ing the child the power to resolve
words into their elements, from the
same element to form new words
for himself, or to discover new
words by analysis. The old alpha
bette method was but forerunner
of our present phonic method, a
ray of light struggling through the
darkness toward the right direction.
Thoroughly taught, it produced
good results, for the old fashioned
way of spelling ont supplied the
wants of the reader in deciphering
new words Nowadays it is not
so important that child shall be
able to call every letter by its right
name, as it is that each letter shall
represent sound to him, by means
of which he is enabled to interpret
the printed page. Teachers who
neglect phonics in teaching little
folks to read are guilty of a grave
error, for it is the only way to make
child Independent.
How shall phonics be taught?
Here the thoughtful, conscientious
teacher finds herself face to face
with new difficulty. for this sub
ject must be approached with great
tact and skill to prevent stultifica-
ton of the little minds. Reverting
again to the natural method used
in the word and sentence method
that of correlating the child's
school life with his home life and
outside experience. it will be seen
that the following method of sev-
eral that | shall present, is the
best to use at the beginning.
1t is a fact that many of the
sounds of which our language is
composed are similar to those pro
duced by the things in the world
- for instance, short is similar to
the bleat of Il lamb or the cooling
of happy baby. long e to the lusty
cheer of IA small boy Watching a
parade: p to the putting sound a
man makes when smoking: to the
growing of IA dog; h to the painting
of breathless person or animal;
to the ticking of clock. In fact
it is an easy task for the inventive
teacher to discover for every letter
in the alphabet some corresponding
sound in nature or the world about
us to suit the place in which she
teaches, and the home experience
of the children.
The childrens' attention may
best be directed to this similarity
in the sounds of nature and in
their language. by means of ii well
told story, in which the letters are
given in the guise of animals, OBJ
jects, etc. giving the sound the tea
cher desires to fix in the minds of
her pupils The story should be Il
continued one introducing few
sounds each day, which the teacher
writes or pictures on the board as
she tells the story. The next day
the pupils might be asked to repeat
what the teacher has told them
before she goes on with her
story. thereby fixing sounds already
learned more firmly in the child
ren's minds by repetition as well as
giving play to the memory.
When children have learned to
recognize words at sight. a word
may be written on the board and
slowly pronounced as printed NUT
At first words should be chosen
which contain limited number of
sounds, increasing the same in
variety and number as the child
gains power in that direction.
The child might be asked 10 lis
ten while the teacher pronounces
J n word slowly and be nrennred 10