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LIBRARY OF THE
LELAND STANFORD JR. UNIVERSITY.

a.38092.

COPYRIGHT, 1878

BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

W. P. 9

C

THE PREPARATORY NOTES.

THE work to be done by the pupil is included under:

I. Biographical, historical, geographical, scientific, and literary allusions or references. The notes under this head are intended to suggest topics for discussion in the recitation, and the pupil is not required to study these, although he may read them with some profit.

II. Spelling and pronunciation. In the Appendix to this volume will be found suggested a method of teaching spelling by analysis. If preferred, the old method of oral or written spelling will suffice.

III. Language lesson on the principles of written or printed language as found in the lesson. If carefully learned, the pupil will acquire a practical knowledge of grammatical forms, without the usual technicalities. He will learn to write and speak correctly. But the logic of language as given in technical grammar is not attempted here.

IV. Definitions, synonyms, and paraphrases, to be given by the pupil in his own language, i. e., in such words as he uses in everyday life, and not in words borrowed from the dictionary. He must find the words in the piece and study their connection with the rest, and give the special sense of the words as there used, not the general definition. This method will secure the most rapid mastery of a good vocabulary on the part of the pupil.

(Numbers II., III., and IV. are to be studied by the pupil, and he may be held responsible for the work required.)

V. Style and thought of the piece. The notes under this head should be read and discussed in the recitation, and they will answer a useful pur. pose in sharpening the pupil's faculty of criticism, even if the thoughts advanced are condemned and refuted.

It is evident that each selection from classic literature furnishes work enough for three, four, or five recitations. First, the pupil should learn the spelling, pronunciation, peculiarities of form, and meaning of the words in the lesson (II., III., IV.); second, the references and allusions made in the piece (I.); third, the thought and the style of expression (V.); fourth, the proper rendering of it as taught in the lessons on clocution.

The work here suggested is intended only as an auxiliary, and may be omitted for other topics presented by the teacher. Only a few hints are risked on the more important phases of each piece, and no attempt is made to exhaust the proper field of inquiry. It is safe to say that a thorough study of each literary piece in the higher Readers will be of more benefit to the pupil, in giving him an insight into human life, and directive power and influence among his fellow men, than all that he will or can learn from the other branches taught in the schools.

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