DIRECTIONS. Ascham's dictum is undoubtedly true, that languages are learnt by imitation, and therefore lingual practice can never be in excess.-The Museum, April, 1862. L'intelligence et l'imitation, c'est-à-dire la version et le thème, tel est le double objet qu'on doit se proposer dès le début de l'enseignement.-J. L. BURnouf. CLASS TEACHING ON THE ORAL SYSTEM. 1. Each sentence is distinctly uttered in French by the teacher, and translated into English by the learners', whose books are shut. 2. The pupils re-open their books, and the sentences, going round the class, are read in French to the master, who calls attention to all words whose sound, meaning, application, or termination, may be peculiar. 3. The pupils are then told to master the lesson for the next day. (Here the pupils pass to the Exercise.) 4. When the next teaching day comes, the questions and answers are read once more, and then the books are closed; after which the master, or some one in the class, puts the questions to the pupils, each of whom answers in his turn in the words of the book2, the teacher correcting all mistakes that may be made, or calling upon some of his scholars to detect them. (At the outset, this part of the system may appear too hard for those pupils who either have little time to learn, or experience great difficulty in committing anything to memory. The plan to be followed in similar cases is left to the judgment of the teacher.) As the questions are as important as the answers, they are also to be learnt. One of the ways of teaching them is to read out the answer, or part of it, and to ask the pupil what the question is. This should only be done when the whole conversation has been studied. II. Exercises. (All the words required for forming each Exercise appear in the preceding French Conversation.) 1. In the earlier stage, every English Exercise is to be read out in French by the master to the pupils, to enable them to write and read it out without any difficulty. 2. Every Exercise is not only to be written, but to be read at sight to the master. 3. The Exercises, like the Conversations, consist invariably of questions and In no instance should the answer be given by the pupil who asks answers. the question. III. Lessons for Translation and Reading. The text is read in French by the master, and then translated into English by the class. When the master is satisfied that the extract is understood, the pupils read it in French to him, and he takes every opportunity of questioning them or giving information regarding all peculiar words, according to their state of advancement. The learners are supposed to have studied the lesson before the class begins. 2 In the more advanced stage, the answers need not be given in exactly the words used in the book, but a little latitude may be allowed, if the learners display taste and judgment in their replies. CONTENTS. The alphabet and the orthographical signs, The four regular conjugations: porter, finir, devoir, and vendre, Le masculine, la feminine, before a noun in the singular; les before any noun in the plural, Un masculine, une feminine, "a" or " an,' Negative and interrogative forms of verbs, L' instead of le or la before a noun in the singular, beginning with a vowel these or those," before nouns, Negations. Simple and compound tenses of verbs in the negative form, The imperative mood used negatively is preceded by the objective pronoun, The imperative mood used affirmatively is followed by the objective pronoun, Les fleuves et les rivières. (Translation and reading), Le, la, l', or les, appears before nouns used in their widest sense, Quadrupeds: The male, the female, and the young, Agreement of the adjective with the noun. The singular and the plural, Agreement of adjectives. Difference between the masculine and the feminine, School articles. Second part, Studies. First part, ... Singulière apologie de la musique et de la danse.-Molière, (For translation), |