F+O4 4+36 Feb.18-1922 Library of the Graduate School TRANSFERRED TO NARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY COPYRIGHT, 1914, 1919, BY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 619.10 The Athenæum Press ΤΟ THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF OUR SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES THAT IT MAY HELP THEM TO LEARN, APPRECIATE, AND LOVE THE BEAUTIFUL LANGUAGE OF "LA BELLE FRANCE" PREFACE This book is the result of actual class work based upon the best theories of modern language-teaching. It attempts neither to present all the fine grammatical intricacies of the French language nor to be a guide to intensive study. It aims merely to be a live, practical book for a practical purpose, and its purpose is to give a working knowledge of the French language. The use of the spoken tongue is essential to the successful teaching of any modern language. This has been made possible in connection with the grammar rules, drills, and exercises, and in the texts which accompany the lessons. At first these texts are necessarily somewhat colorless; but as soon as the pupil has acquired a sufficient vocabulary, subjects of interest to him have been introduced, with the idea of enlarging the possibilities of conversation. French geography, history, institutions, and literature are all discussed in the lessons, thus enlarging the educational scope of language study. The pupils acquire such a knowledge of France, its people, and its institutions as vitalizes their class work. In the treatment of the past tenses, passages from wellknown works have been introduced as illustrations. This carries conviction to the mind of the pupil, who is always more or less skeptical of the fine differences we are trying to teach him. The future and conditional tenses are taken up later, as are also the idiomatic uses of all the tenses. |