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to begin another. Pass examinations in translating passages previously unseen may be multiplied to any desired extent.1 Other plans equally serviceable will doubtless suggest themselves to teachers who are in earnest.

A chief difficulty- the grammatical essentials being mastered - will be in the matter of vocabulary. How can

How to obtain vocabulary.

it be obtained within a reasonable time? Evidently some help must be given looking to this end. It is very helpful to assign daily to the class beginning a new author a list of from five to ten basal or stem words taken from the lesson of the succeeding day. These lists should be made most carefully, regard being had to correct etymologies, and they should be supplemented by such idioms as find a place in the author read, which may, so far as is possible, be explained to the class outright, unless they can be utilized and treated in the work of Latin composition by the class.

In this way a learner may soon get nearly all the vocabulary necessary for the reading of an author, for most derivatives from the root meanings, that he already has, he may be presumed to know, or infer (in various ways to be mentioned hereafter), and, furthermore, the vocabulary ac

1 In his own work as a teacher the writer has insisted that, as a sine qua non of receiving credit in a session's work or upon an author read, the pupil must pass a certain number of the examinations in extemporaneous translation - the passages set being generally selected from the author read at the time by the class. It is sometimes useful to strike off by a hektograph or gelatin copying-pad in blank books of prescribed form the passages to be translated, so that the examination papers may be compared at the end of a term or year, these books being retained by the teacher except during the actual work of examination.

2 This was suggested some years ago by Prof. J. W. White in a series of letters to the New England Journal of Education, and its practical wisdom has been verified with many classes of pupils.

tually necessary to read a given author is much smaller than is commonly supposed.

Class practice.

By frequent class practice the teacher can show the student how to translate. Opportunity for this can sometimes be secured at the end of a formal lesson, when the class can read in advance a portion of the next succeeding lesson.1 Besides, it is sometimes desirable for a class to read at sight regularly at least once a fortnight (or better, weekly) even at some sacrifice of the amount of text that might otherwise be read by the class. This class practice can be much varied according to the judgment of the instructor: one day the members of the class can translate individually and orally; or all in the class can be asked to translate the same passage on paper as at a written examination, the teacher at the end of the hour translating the passage for the students' benefit, or correcting and returning the papers subsequently; occasionally he may do both. In this work the blackboard can be frequently utilized. For the more formal practice in sight-reading it may be profitable, for at least a part of the time, to use selections easier than the author read by the class from day to day. More rapid reading can in this way be had; the subject matter will be fresh; the poorer members of the class will derive from the exercise more confidence and encouragement. In this class practice the teacher has opportunity to afford whatever help he judges proper: hints can be given; idioms explained; help, more or less adapted to individual needs, can be given. Sometimes it will be well, just before the reading begins, to give an epitome of the subject matter of the passage; proper names and historical allusions can be explained during the exercise, as occasion may seem to require. It should, how

1 This plan has the merit of securing the attention of even those ordinarily listless.

ever, be a rule never to pass over a sentence until thoroughly understood, unless it be assigned for subsequent study. While "judicious guessing" may sometimes be encouraged, sheer carelessness should never be tolerated.

What shall a class do outside the class-room (in lieu of the usual preparation for the class) upon the days devoted to class-practice? It is suggested that Outside class work. these days may be utilized for such reviews as do not require recitation in class; for the private reading of Latin to be passed on by subsequent examinations; for the learning of idioms and select passages of Latin; or for private practice in sight-reading. With some classes it may serve a good purpose to read at unexpected times, that is, to have no regularly appointed day for sightreading. The regular lesson of the day may be rapidly translated by the teacher, thus affording the class a chance to hear a model translation, and in this way time may be gained for the sight-reading without abridging the amount of text regularly read.

Auxiliary work helpful to reading-at-sight. Writing Latin.

Much of the regular class work may by the wise teacher be made helpful to that in sight-reading. Especially is this the case with the writing of Latin. Nothing can in importance take the place of composition as a means of getting a real understanding of a language. While there is not time in our schools to make "masters of style," a minimum of work in composition is as practically useful as it is necessary to a proper understanding of the syntax. Especially will this be found the case where a portion of the work in writing Latin is in imitation, or from translated portions, of the author read at the time by the class. While a weekly exercise in Latin composition may be necessary, it is desirable to have some class writing each day, if but a few sentences. This may be extempore blackboard work

or oral, but should be based upon the author read at the time.

Learning of

Latin passages.

Despite the limited time that can be given to Latin in our schools compared with schools in England and on the Continent, the learning of Latin passages ought not be wholly slighted, especially if the pupil is to write in imitation of the author he is reading. A sentence or two- especially if idiomatic memorized each day will help in many ways, not the least in the getting of a working vocabulary.

Frequent reviews and oral practice.

Frequent reviews of the text read will be found very helpful in fixing vocabulary, idioms, etc. It is sometimes very profitable to review orally a part of the lesson of the preceding day, phrases in the original (or whole sentences, if short) being given out for translation, or the student may be asked to give the Latin from the English translation of the teacher. Of course, systematic reviews at stated times can be turned to good account. The pupil should be made to understand that in learning to read Latin rapidly, the thing most essential after a sufficient knowledge of elements has been acquired is systematic practice in reading;1 that directions, hints, etc., are for those who need them, -are, indeed, but means to an end, and that "rules and suggestions, when their application becomes easy and natural, will be outgrown and, perhaps, forgotten.

1 Nothing herein stated is meant to imply that extended grammatical study has not a proper place. There is, perhaps, danger that in our revolt from old-time notions, we go to the opposite extreme and substitute mere fluency in translation for exact knowledge. This little book has in mind those whose chief business is to learn how to read.

HOW TO READ AT SIGHT.

In getting at the meaning of any new sentence two main difficulties must be overcome: first, that arising from the Latin order and relation of words, and, secondly, the vocabulary or meanings of the new words.

At first sight it would appear that the difference between the Latin and the English in the order of words and clauses presents an almost insuperable difficulty to reading Latin readily. In English prose the order is generally regular, the relation of the words being indicated by position rather! than by inflection as in Latin, where a greater diversity in the order of the words is common.

Syntax.

I. The difficulty growing out of the relation of words and clauses (syntax), so far as it is concerned with mere reading or grasp of the thought, is not ordinarily great- not so much so as most teachers are disposed to make it. Many here make hard a thing reasonably easy, if approached naturally. The pupil should feel that the grammatical nomenclature applied to constructions, however valuable for other reasons, is to one who seeks only the meaning of the text rather a hindrance than a help. If, for example, a boy can associate a limiting genitive with the noun on which it depends, he ought to be able to see the meaning. The ability to recognize the genitive in Ciceronis libri as a subjective or any other sort of genitive is no direct help to seeing the meaning, and no one in reading it rapidly at sight thinks of it in that way. He thinks only of the two ideas as logically and grammatically connected, and if he get the contextual meaning suggested by books of Cicero he

Elementary knowledge.

looks no further. Of course, to do even this, the ordinary relations suggested by inflectional changes cannot be overlooked and exceptional

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