Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1909-04-28
MORE BREAD, LESS CAKE
TEACHING OF MODERN FOREIGN
LANGUAGES in SECONDARY
SCHOOLS.
Interesting Paper on Modern School
Methods Containing Common
Sense Ideas, Prepared by
Miss Marie Hitler, Now
i'm Washington.

SOAiCo W Jul IdDle, COutdluluS d
splendidly written article on modern
methods of school teaching by Miss
Marie Hitler, daughter of Fred Hill
err of this city, who has been teach
ing school the past year in Wash
ington. The article contains so many
practical, common sense ideas that
we believe our people will be glad
to read it, and therefore reprint it
in full. 1t is as follows:
While l am not at all in sympathy
with the Scriptural command which
states something to the effect that
we should take no thought of the
morrow-what We shall eat and
what we shall wear-yet / do feel
that a. fit teacher will not teach
solely for the sake of financial re-
turns, but will subordinate that
thought entirely to the conscientious
remuneration which comes from her
sense of DUTY we'll performed, and
days well spent"
Little Songs and Pieces.
Naturally, the first modern Ian
guage in which We are technically
instructed in this country is our
mother tongue. Though / know
little about primary teaching, I be-
lieve that even in the kindergarten
children are taught little songs and
short pieces" But how many Of
those songs and pieces are known
by the children except by rote? Are
they not all like the little girl who,
being asked to illustrate that hoary
song, 1.-The Old Oaken Bucket"
presented her teacher sheet of pa
per upon which she had drawn a
circle, three buckets, and made half
a dozen dots. When the teacher,
| unable to solve the rebus, asked the
child what the circle was for, she
received the reply, why, that's the
WE'LL" And why do you have three
buckets?" The child told her one
was the old oaken bucket, one the
iron bound bucket, and one was the
bucket which hung in the we'll.
But what are the little dots?"
further inquired the astonished
teacher. ooh, those are the spots
which my infancy knew" was the
| child's answer. And again, the
teacher of fourth grade, asking if
any one knew who Nero was, re-
ceived the reply, HE must have
been some one in the Bible, because
in Sunday school we sing about
Nero, my God. to Thee" Or, like
the little boy in the first grade, who,
reading expressionlessly in his
primer, Il see-a-horse-ru
Do = e-that-horse-
min ?" being asked by his teacher,
Johnny, haven't you forgotten your
"g I? 4" re-read, "Gee,-I-see-a-
horse--runnin' !
The Lack of Comprehension.
This lack of comprehension on the
part of the little child follows him
up into the higher grades. He be-
comes immune to the beauties Of
literature and consequently has no
personal pride in using pure, proper,
and precise English. He does not
realize how much better results, how
much greater animation, how much
more culture, are derived from the
correct use of good English words
than from the most bizarre slang.
1t seems a pity that students escape
from our high schools without cher
ishing that instinct of pride in their
mother tongue which seeks to pre-
serve 1t without a blemish. Young
men and women who are simply un-
able to speak a sentence without
using slang, go out from our uni
versities every year. Vitality of ex-
preston is to be sought after at all
times, of course. and / am not ad-
vocating that teachers shall speak,
or teach their students to speak, in
proverbs. but good, simple. English
words, properly put together, can
produce so much better an effect
than slang-can express so much
richer humor-that every student
should be made to realize it. l
nope l am not too conservative in
this matter / think of a story in
this connection: A small girl told
her mother: 81 love cake. It's
awfully nice" Her mother inform
ed her that she must say like"
when she spoke of inanimate OBJ
Jects; very" was the word to use
instead of "awfully," furthermore,
nice" did not contain the mean
ing good" which was intended.
On being invited to repeat her state
ment, the child said: II like cake.
lt Is very good" and then added in
disgust, Sounds as If / were talk
ing about breadi" Such cold-blood-
ed, deadening correction is not to
be countenanced. but l am strongly
In FAVOR of more bread and less
CAKE. Too much cake is the ruin of
the digestive apparatus, and too
much slang and too superlative a
manner OF expression will not vital
ize our language, but deaden it..
(Of course, l approve of butter on
the bread usually. and often would
encourage club sandwich
Make the Pupil Understand.
l have laid this stress on the i'm
portance of making a student feel
and understand the meaning of what
ever he reads, because of it's great
influence on his work later i'm for
eign languages. For it stands to
reason that IL pupil appreciates
all he reads, he will understand all
the constructions of the words-he
VIII know. even when asked unex-
pectedly. what personal pronoun
Is, and subject and predicate (and
even a participleD: and he will be
able to analyze any sentence. no
matter how complicated. There
fore, when he begins his Latin. his