CHAPTER VIII

WORD DRILLS

The study of words is not intended immediately to afford power in thought getting, but to give skill in the recognition and mastery of new words. As we have already stated, these drills should at first be carried on apart from the regular reading lesson. The words used for drill in recognition and pronunciation should be those that are found in the early part of the first book to be studied. As soon as a few words have been mastered, the acquisition of the vocabulary will be greatly assisted by constantly combining them with the old in a variety of ways. The same words must be recognized in many new connections.

All phases of drill work are intrinsically uninteresting. All the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the teacher must be exercised upon work of this sort if an interest is maintained in the recitation. She is justified in appealing to the "puzzle instinct" and to the competitive impulses to stimulate activity in the children. The fighting instinct may be awakened by the stimulation of rivalry for immediate results or for displays later. The devices following this

discussion show in a very practical way some of the uses made of these instincts.

Before leaving this, let us emphasize one direction. Make the drill recitations short and vigorous. All drill work should be kept at high pitch, otherwise the mere repetition of the material will tend to fatiguing monotony. Begin to drill as soon as the class is seated. Do not waste any time in preliminaries. A two minute drill recitation vigorously conducted is worth more than fifteen or twenty minutes characterized by listless, tactless, wooden teaching.

The Purpose of Drills

The purpose of every drill lesson is to make something function as habit. Its factors are "focalization and repetition in attention." By focalization is meant getting the thing to be learned before the mind of the learner through explanation or demonstration, or both. After the mind is centered upon the thing, it is equally important to repeat and repeat until the response is automatic. Evidently the first habit to be established in a child is the habit of recognizing and pronouncing easily and readily words and phrases as wholes. This is what is done in practice later. Speed and fluency in reading are gained as one acquires the ability to take in large groups at a glance, and in proportion as he does this he becomes a rapid, effective reader.

While we must begin to drill upon isolated words, the words themselves become valuable only when

they are seen to function in sentences. This visualizing of unrelated words must continue until the child has acquired the power of mastering words in sentences. With this end in view we append a number of devices found serviceable in handling the drill phases of reading in the first two grades.

Some Devices for Drill

1. Words in bold print or script are held for a second before the eyes of the pupil, then turned away. These should be words the child has met in sentences during some previous lesson, or words so similar that he should be able to recognize them very quickly. The "perception" cards, about four by six inches, may be easily made of manila paper by the teacher and printed with a Fulton Sign Marker, a useful tool for every primary teacher. The speed of this exercise should be gradually increased, but never so far as to result in haphazard guessing by the children.

2. Hide these cards about the room. Send groups of children to find and bring before the class all they can recognize.

3. Match the words on these cards with words upon the board or chart. This is a device to be used early in the first year.

4. The purpose of this exercise is to teach the child that certain symbols, regardless of position, size, or color, always represent a certain word.

(a) Write one of these words at a time among other words on the blackboard.

(b) Write it in different places on the blackboard.

(c) Write it in different sized letters.

(d) Write it with different colored crayon.

5. Have the children build words with letter cards. This is a good device for seat work.

6. Promote a contest between members of the class in pronouncing rapidly the words to which the teacher or some child points, the words being before the eyes of the whole class.

A variety of other devices for enlivening this formal exercise, called a word drill, can be used to aid in reaching the desired results. Whenever possible the imagination of the child should be stimulated by the thought of the lesson. If the lesson is the story of "Hiawatha's Brothers," the teacher writes on the board such words as:

She then says, "Play you are Hiawatha. All these words are your friends, hiding in the forest. See if you can find them out and tell their names.”

Or, "At first the beasts were a little afraid of Hiawatha and ran away. How many can you catch before this eraser makes these friends disappear?"

She erases a word here and there, the children pronouncing as fast as words vanish from the board.

Or, if the lesson is one about the seashore, the teacher may suggest, "I have written all these words in the sand. Charlotte may play she is a big wave. She may wash away (erase) all she can get (pronounce)."

Or, "See all these pretty shells! Who can get a basketful of them?" The children pronounce in turn and claim as theirs the words they recognize.

These devices should be appropriate to the moment; it is almost impossible to suggest suitable ones for general use. They are numerous, but their use should be limited.

Several devices valuable in the second year for drill on words may be mentioned here:

1. The child pronounces as rapidly as he can the words down the middle-or edge of an ordinary page of reading material.

2. The teacher begins reading aloud a sentence anywhere upon the page and the child who first finds the place reads the sentence.

3. Concert work in pronunciation of lists of words can be made valuable to all in the class if some such plan as the following is used:

The teacher touches words, one at a time, with the pointer, then waits a second before removing it. The pupils understand they are not to speak until this is done; then all speak, and promptly.

Special attention should be given to enunciation in all word drills.