Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1911-12-27


Teaching Modern Languages ia Ger
many /" Direktor Walter Of the Mus.
terschule, Frank urt- N, in his Die
ichts auf die Schulz ind Universitat''
published at Marburg IN 1910, brief
" answers 'the living word, and not
dead letters; modern languages are
to be learned, not by uniting individ-
ual sentences, but by language ma
terial filed with life, and BY speaking
and by oral exercises Of the langu-.
age material make it the inalienable$
property Of the pupil. First place is
no longer to be given to the study Of
grammar, but is as an abstraction Of
the language, to retreat and to be
diverted along inductiye lines (of
study from the language material
already acquired. In place Of the
hitherto customary translations from
the mother tongues into the foreign
languages must come free treat
ment of the languages in word as al
so in letter."
Vieter first Of all shows how little
value has hitherto been given to the
pronunciation Of foreign living Ian
guages, yea, as this, in the words Of
one Of his fellows, Professor Dr..
Trautmann in Bonn, has become in
the main thing full Of horror, and
points out to us the way, how by the
use Of the young science of Phonet-
les that has arisen and blossomed in
the meantime, We may acquire by
teaching correct distinct pronun-
citation, and how hereby we may con-
tinually proceed from sound, Slew
ers, Techner, Trautmann, Sweet, Bel
and other reformers since Vietel
have adapted this method by careful
|synthesis to present school needs
the Inheritance Of centuries. An i'm,
portant place has thus been giver
reading real text from everyday lift
and the oral side Of language sturdy
grammar has been subordinated, tn
| method rearranged, the teaching
body has become more effective, new
ideals introduced, a new era ha:
dawned to save the old paper meth
cd" Of teaching language from dying
f| Prof. Faust in his German Ele
, ment in America" remarks, "The re
e formed method Of teaching moder,
e languages, which has taken possess
ion Of the German Real School
with wonderful results, has also COM
f to America. Its main principle, tina
, Of teaching German as living Ian
4 guage,-the employing the aid Of tn
i. eye and the ear Of the student an,
: engaging his interest and attention t,
the utmost to enable him to use tn
+ language as native,-to speak an,
e write as well as read it, is being sue
e cessfully applied in schools and col
E. leges Of the United States. The Re
form method, though modified to sui
our needs, has been wonderful
\ means Of reawakening our study o
). the art Of teaching modern langu
= lagos.
"There is German educational in
p auence still going on, the full exten
Of which cannot now be measured. !
: is that Of vocational teaching. TIL
u world generally recognizes that Ger
e many's present power, if not suprem
lacy in the commercial world, is du
y to her schools. All countries, includ
O ing proud Britannia, are making eff
+ forts to import the secret Of success
v from Germany's trade schools, whic
day and night instruct the ambition
i, German youth every class in tn
. methods Of improving both himse]
and his particular branch Of indus
try.
g ''To epitomize the German infu
Il ences upon education in the Unite
) States, we may say that the Kinder
q garten and the University are alto
l. yether fashioned after the Germa
IS models. The secondary schools WEI
l. developed by native Americans, VIII
IS took suggestions from Europea
3: schools, but particularly from til
d Prussian. The American college wa
M adopted from the English patterl
:e Init moro avon than tho othnr form