Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-02-10
LEARNING TO READ NOWADAYS.

SenQ the DlOOQ SuISlHS liiouSh iiS
veins.-Chicago Sunday Tribune.
LEARNING TO READ NOWADAYS.
The Old Fashioned Cat Cat Method
No Longer In Use.
How Is a little child taught to read
in these days?" is a question that trou-
bles many parents.
THE man who went to school until
he was old enough to go to work re-
members how he was taught to read
and" according to a writer in Teacher
and Home, thinks he knows what
dreary time his child is having.
He sends his small son to school
only to discover that the child Is ex-
pected to read before he can spell cat
This father would like to know how
child can read without knowing how to
spell a word.
1.-The great problem in teaching read
ing to beginners is to form an unerr-
ing, almost automatic connection be-
tween speech. ear language and eye
language.
I'VE recognize that we must reach
the child's mind through his senses by
the way of his instincts, and that hav-
ing reached his mind we must impress
by means of drill those arbitrary signs
which represent thoughts.
These principles have led to the use
of stories, rhymes, poems, dramatiza-
tion and other devices which parents do
not always understand and therefore
condemn as nonsense, even sometimes
putting them among the fads and frills.
There is no nonsense about them, but
the soundest common sense.
when want you to know my friend
Jones do I show you a derby hat, a
purple necktie and gray overcoat and
expect you to know Jones when you
see him and to be able to call him by
name? Yet this Is what children are
expected to do when they are taught
in the good old way beginning with
the alphabet and then spelling their
words as first steps in reading.
Under the old plan children were
taught to call C. by the name see;
"a by the name 'ay,' and t. by the
name tee; then they were expected to
put see, ay, tee" together and say the
word cat No wonder reading was
such a drag; the marvel is that they
ever learned to read.
What I really do about Jones to
make him known to you Is to tell you
little tale about him. tell you that
Jones lives in a three room apartment
and keeps four dogs; then along comes
Jones with his four dogs and I intro
duce him to you. What happens?
Your mind is ready for Jones, you look
at him with interest, and the next time
you see him, whether the dogs are
with him or not, you know him. Later
on you may notice that he always ap-
pears in a derby hat, purple necktie
and gray overcoat, but the main fact
is that you know him again whenever
you see him.
Now it is upon this common, or
binary, everyday method that we teach
beginners to read. We tell a little
story to rouse the children's interest.
This story has some central thought
contained in the words the child will
be expected to read. We repeat the
story till we are assured that every
80. Datn -
repeat the central thought with it's eX-
act words.
Now we put that thought on the
blackboard and tell the children we are
are satisfying the children's instincts,
for little ones love to initiate their ell
ders, and in these days Of much read
ing every child tries to read before he
goes to school.
Now the teacher asks a question
that will be answered in the words on
the blackboard, such as, Who was
Bab?'
THE child answers. Bah was
brown baby
Then the teacher asks the same
question again, and as the child an
swers she points to the words. Now
several children come up and point to
the words as they say Bah was
brown baby
by this time many children can
distinguish one word from another and
they will be able to recognize baby
brown or any of the words wherever
they see them. Next these words are
combined into new sentences. If a
child hesitates over a word he is sent
back to the key and studies it until he
is able to get the word he could not re-
member. The next sentence is taught
in the same way, and so on"