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6 PRACTICE IN ORAL AND WRITTEN ENGLISH

active vocabulary. The semi-passive vocabulary includes the larger number comprehended only when we interpret the speech of others or the matter that we read. The everyday working life of the world requires that our English training shall be such as to fit us for two different reactions: (1) to understand what others say and write, (2) to make others understand our speech and writing. The same kind of practice will not make one proficient in both fields.

A good working rule for every student is:

Be ever on the watch to add to your vocabulary. Have sufficient practice in oral and written English to make your semi-passive vocabulary coincide more nearly with your active vocabulary.

Language is an imitative art. We bewail the fact that children learn slang and incorrect expressions through imitation. Good English is just as contagious as bad English. The only trouble is that we have not been giving pupils sufficient of the best models. Teachers will find that the careful reading of the selections in this book will improve the pupil's spoken and written English. If Macaulay had not read widely in his youth, he could never have acquired such grasp of vigorous language. Much of this mastery came to him unconsciously as a result of the deep interest that he took in what he read and of his practice in spoken English. He was a speaker as well as a writer. The teacher should remember that oral English functions naturally and easily with everyday life.

An interested, suggestive teacher can make every one of the following selections serve for practice in oral English. Fortunately pupils are anxious to tell a good story. They may also be easily encouraged to give a brief, vigorous statement of what appeals to them in matter that is not in narrative form, and to compare various selections with each other. Sometimes oral discussion will be found more interesting and more social than narration. For instance, the teacher will

find that the class will enjoy discussing the question whether they would be tempted by a reward to help officers of the law catch the "Prince,' in O. Henry's The Chaparral Prince (p. 201), and what sort of verdict they would feel like returning if they happened to be on the jury that tried him. Many questions for discussion will naturally suggest themselves in the other selections, e.g. in Hardy's The Three Strangers (p. 269), where pupils will talk sensibly on such questions as: "Would you be willing to eat only bread for a week, if you could thereby enable the condemned man to escape? Would it be right for you to aid him in avoiding the penalty of the law? Suppose a member of your class were to aid in catching him, what standing in the class would that member have? What do you think about this English law that considered property more sacred than persons?"

Not a few of the subjects given after the selections under the heading "Suggestions for Oral and Written English" may be used interchangeably for oral or written composition. The "Study Hints" also furnish numerous suggestions for practice in oral English. The "Suggestions for Additional Readings" will also serve the same purpose. The teacher should constantly use the leverage of social stimulus in connection with this volume and should encourage the student to tell his family and friends what he has read. A genuine desire to interest them will cause him to master the subject matter so that he can present it in a vigorous way and with no hesitation. The same motive may be used to cause him to profit by the "Suggestions for Additional Readings," and to search for matter that his classmates or other associates will enjoy hearing him read.

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