The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1917-11-01
WOULD SPEAK
MORE, WRITE
LESS ENGLISH
Miss Leona v. Smith Of Grand
Forks High School Advocates
Teaching Talking
GOOD CITIZENSHIP IN
REPUBLIC DEMANDS IT
Boys and Girls I'll at Ease on Feet
Can t say What they Would,
as they Would -

$50 far as l have been able to dis
cover, it is the first time that this
one of the English sisters has ap-
peared thus before us in long dresses
and as real eligible" said Miss
Leona V. Smith, instructor in the
Grand Forks high school this after
noon, in a witty introduction to her
interesting address o.. : .blic Speak
ing in the High School," delivered be-
fore the section on secondary educa-
ton, meeting at the high school audi
tOrium \ @ IN
Miss Smith, graduate OF North
western university, at Evanston, has
some new ideas as to the teaching
of English, and she embodied these
in helpful and inspiring discussion
Of the various phases of public speak.
ing as high school course.
x. Nothing New. !. II,
lis this idea of more use of mother
tongue-not mother pen and paper
as means for broader education Q
new one? You know it is not. The
first rhetoric was all oral. Somehow,
though, we have gotten away from it.
For half century we have been edu-
eating the eye and the hand, and the
stronger ear and tongue have not been
trained. The gift of speech has not
been appreciated.
'The schools more and more are
asking the colleges that all their Eng
lish teachers be able to read sympa-
thetically and speak effectively. 1t Is
the schools that are asking that their
graduates be imbued with deep and
abiding love for good literature as
study OF life and to realize that this
life is written in a living and not a
dead language. Goethe says "A world
dies in the PEN The only hope for
it is that it be recreated."
Can't Talk with Ease.
"Miss Breck of California, speaking
before the national council of teach
ers of English in Chicago in 1913,
said: In an age in which effective
speech is more and more essential,
l found most boys and girls talking
with little ease, clearness or force.
Miss Canlburn of the English depart.
ment in the high school at Mt. Glenn
ems. Mich, said: Since we are train.
ing for citizenship in republic where
the question of effective speaking must
always be vital, regard work Of this
kind as the English teachers greatest
opportunity to satisfy the modern de-
mand for practicability. l turn my
back on the possibility Of training a
star. or two to 60 forth and win laurels
and put my energy in drilling in plain,
simple speaking, which the man of to-
day and the woman of tomorrow will
need more than the rules for the use
of the comma
mot only the schools, but the par
ents themselves are asking directly
that their children may learn how to
talk effectively. l remember one faith
er in particular who came to me and
said: You teach speaking, don't you?
Well, l hope you'll get hold Of that
boy of mine. never had much along
that line myself, and .'by George! I'd
give lot of money II, when he grows
up, he will be able to get up and say
what he wants to and as he wants
to and then shut up and sit down"
Miss Smith told of the attention
which universities and colleges are
devoting to training teachers of this
important art, and of what she is do
ing at Grand Forks through oral COM
position, Interpretation, debate and
current events, in which more than
300 are enrolled. In conclusion. she
said: "Wide-awake teachers of for
eign languages are using the direct
method of teaching not the
teachers of the English language?
North Dakota, the home of many who
speak another tongue, easily, needs
and wants training in the common
tongue. The Cinderella of the Eng
lish sisters, the accomplished and
promising sister, Public Speaking in
the High School, awaits your decis-
ion. Will you at least court her, pos
sibly adopt her, and, if you can, pre-
sent the slipper, be the prince, and
<~hn hov III {va q m ~ -. :