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COPYRIGHT, 1886,

BY SOPHIE DORIOT.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

311.5

EDUC.-
PSYCH.
LIBRARY

The Athenæum Press

GINN & COMPANY. PROPRIETORS BOSTON U.S.A.

GIFT

PREFACE,

7163

EDUC
PSYCH.
LIBRARY

AND SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS.

IN teaching French to beginners, I have greatly felt the need of suitable books to be put into their hands, and I have not been the only one to feel it.

Experience has taught me further, that children, as a rule, are rather hard to please, and not very willing to submit to arduous or humdrum work; that, in order to obtain satisfactory results, it is necessary to amuse them, awaken their enthusiasm, or appeal to their sympathy, and that it is next to an impossibility to do so with such material as this: Are you going there? Is he also going there? Have you seen my aunt's gloves? Have you found my cousin's umbrella? A child cares nothing for the intrinsic meaning or value of words; hence, the small amount of satisfaction one generally gets after having used time, patience, and strength on things which

704

children do not care for, and which convey nothing of interest to their imagination.

In object-teaching (and object-teaching has its limits), it requires teachers of exceptional ability or of special energy to experience or communicate a never-failing enthusiasm about the chair they are sitting on, or the table placed before them, whether the latter be round or square, black or brown.

On the other hand, I find that by giving children and other beginners subjects which they like, or which are calculated to excite their curiosity, they will, in order to conquer the point which is luring them, master words and expressions in a time and manner that will put to defiance the best arranged methods.

It is on this principle that I have prepared this book, intending that it should prove a relief to teachers and a source of pleasure to young pupils.

I also rely on the pictures, which have been made as humorous as possible whenever the subject allowed it, and which are in themselves exact illustrations of the text following (having been all drawn expressly for this purpose) as a great auxiliary in an object-lesson. In regard to this matter, I have also been more anxious to place before the eyes of children, things calculated to excite their curiosity, awaken their enthusiasm, or amuse them, than

things like those they see every day, or pertaining to an order of art which they are unable either to understand or to enjoy.

As I do not believe in confining one's self to objectteaching alone for children old enough to prepare a lesson at home or for other beginners, my object has been to make a combination to suit both the younger and older ones.

In preparing the lesson part, I have kept in mind the questions that could be asked on the preceding piece, and have taken care to use in the vocabulary all the words contained in the questions as well as in the answers, and also that the questions should be put in such a manner as to avoid, as much as possible, their being answered simply by Yes or No.

While going over Part I., the lessons may be lengthened by the teacher, and the questions multiplied, the pictures affording sufficient material.

But, before venturing on new questions, which must always be put in as easy a way as possible, all the words that are going to be used must be explained by writing them on the blackboard, and by pointing to the objects illustrating them. It is neither safe for the teacher nor encouraging for the pupil, to ask questions that cannot be answered

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