to work out his own salvation with them, gives frequent exercise to the judgment and common sense of the child in question.

If a child comes across the sentence, "I bought this new book in the city," it is fair to infer that he would not be satisfied with the hard sound of c in the last word, and "because it doesn't make any sense" is a far better reason to him for rejecting it than any formal rule about "c before i." Let him build up his own rules about sounds after he has had enough experience to warrant it.

66

Only continued practice will make a child really independent in the matter of reading. Again and again he must meet new words and always must he master them. He can do this if the teacher has given him a working knowledge of phonics. She should never give more than the amount of "help" absolutely needed. The pupil must not look for any help until he has used every bit of knowledge he possesses which bears on the point in question.

A Caution

The danger in all this work is that the children will acquire bad habits regarding silent reading. They necessarily move their lips in "sounding" words, and they appeal to the ear to help the eye recognize combinations of letters.

The teacher should take care that the children do not get into the habit of moving their lips unconsciously and unnecessarily. The child who has struggled through several new words in a sentence should

be directed, "Now read that to yourself, using only your eyes." A teacher should commend the child who remembers words as wholes when they have been once presented. Of course he has an advantage over the child who, meeting the word flower four times in a paragraph, has to study it out letter by letter four times. And, of course, the child who laboriously finds it out four times for himself, has an advantage over the child who cannot find it out for himself no matter how much time be given him.

A pupil should never grow into the way of thinking that "sounding words" for himself is in itself a virtue. The virtue lies in finding out what the book says. The more readily he can do this, the better. The use of phonics is "the only way out" if the eye fails to recognize the words that stand in

the way.

CHAPTER X

DRAMATIC READING

Children are born with the instinct of dramatic imitation. They live, during the period of childhood, in a make-believe world. Under the magic touch of imagination, inanimate objects are filled with life, acquire the gift of speech, the power of locomotion, and are subject to all the ills and frailties of a human being. Parties, church socials, school, home life, etc., are played with imaginary companions. The most insignificant object, a worm perhaps, is easily and readily transformed into a cherished pet or some horrible creature. In fact, the whole world is drawn upon by this dramatic power and expressed in make-believe objects or symbolic movements.

For all practical purposes the child is fancy free until he enters school, where, too often, the conventionalities of the ordinary school room curb and restrain the vivid imagination, the tendency toward spontaneous and original action, the very instinct which, when properly directed and developed, has constituted the real basis of all scientific inquiry and of every form of art.

What the teacher needs is resourcefulness in supplying material for dramatic representation and skill in effecting its reproduction. Reading offers a fertile field for the cultivation of this power.

Social Benefits

The enthusiasts claim that dramatic work in connection with reading brings the pupil and teacher into a new relation, where, for the first time, they actually become acquainted. Of course this acquaintanceship is unreal and likely ineffective in its results in case the teacher fails to live in the play on the level of her children. However, when this result is achieved, the work will not be pleasurable simply, it will be a positive delight and enjoyment. Unless this spirit saturates the work, the social benefits to be derived from it are of no more real value than superficial manners are to an individual in good society.

It is claimed that dramatization furnishes proper ideals of conduct. When a child represents some of the characters found in the fables, legends, myths, historical stories, or classics, with which our best recent readers are fairly well supplied, he surely grows in ability to interpret human life and character and in securing the emotional basis which enables him to experience deep sympathy and affection for ideals of a certain type and to loathe those of another. His ideals of conduct are likely to grow

just in proportion to the growth of his power to portray beautiful character artistically.

Effect Upon the Voice

Dramatic work aids the speaking voice. It demands clear enunciation and correct pronunciation. If the language is poor, the pronunciation slurred, and the voice weak and indistinct, the acting loses its forcefulness. However, it is not wise to give extensive drills on these preceding the performance. Growth in power of expression will accompany growth in skill in reproducing. The naturalness of the play is of paramount importance and in so far as we are able to secure it, the children, unconsciously, will strive to use the tone and language of those whom they are representing.

Other Results

As has already been hinted, successful dramatic work leads to self-forgetfulness. When a child goes out of himself, beyond himself, and becomes another, he is truly dramatizing. He then reads with the proper expression and appreciation. He is no longer conscious of the language; its mechanism does not restrain; he is the living embodiment of the thought of the selection. The droning over words disappears and the atmosphere, so far as the child is concerned and it ought to be equally true of the teacher is surcharged with living ideas. What finer example of realistic reading can be found in