Beginners' Book in Language. A Book for the Third Grade

Chapter IV: Part 4

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4. Now that spring is here, shall you be going into the fields and woods to gather flowers? Tell the class the best places you know, how to reach them, and what flowers may now be found there. Do you know any place where some rare wild flower grows every year? What is the most beautiful wild flower you have ever found or seen?

5. Did you ever see a brook? If you did, tell your classmates how a brook looks. How is it different from a river or a lake? Can you tell the class where to go to see a brook?

=55. Telling Interesting Things[63]=

THE RETURN OF SPRING

Have you noticed any signs that spring is coming? The bluebirds are
usually among the first to tell us that winter is over. Soon after,
the robins tell the same glad story. Then the song sparrow puts the
good news into a beautiful song. At about this time boys and girls
begin to talk of going into the woods for flowers.

But the air still seems a little too cold. The ground is still too
wet. The tramps into the country are put off a while. In the
meantime a pretty flower, an early dandelion perhaps, shows itself
here and there along the roadside or on a green lawn. Then,
suddenly, one fine warm day, a boy brings to school a handful of
yellow marsh marigolds. He found them in the low meadows. Now every
boy and girl starts out, and spring flowers are seen in every
schoolroom and in every home.

Gradually the pleasant weather grows still warmer. One boy sees a
snake. Another finds a turtle. These have been enjoying their long
winter sleep deep down, a yard or more, in the ground. Now they are
glad to lie in the pleasant sunshine, as if they needed to thaw
out. In the ponds the frogs sing day and night. More and more
flowers start up, more and more birds arrive and begin to build
their nests. Boys play marbles and make willow whistles. Farmers
start their early plowing. A veil of delicate green shows clearly
on the forest trees. Spring has come.

=Written Exercise.= Make a list of all the birds you know. Make a list of all the flowers you know. Make a third list of all the flowers, birds, and animals other than birds, that you have seen this spring.

=Correction Exercise.= The teacher will now write three lists on the board. The first will give the names of all the birds the class knows. The second will name all the flowers the class knows, and the third all the flowers and all the birds and other animals that have been seen this spring. Compare your own lists with those on the board, and correct any mistakes in spelling that you may have made.

=Group Exercise.= Think of one of the birds or flowers or animals in your three lists. Tell your classmates an interesting fact about it. Tell it in two or three sentences. Thus, you might choose the bluebird from your list and say:

A pair of bluebirds is building a nest in a bird-box my father put
up. They lived in the same box last year.

Your classmates will tell about some bird or flower or animal in their lists. The teacher will write some or all these groups of sentences on the board,[64] or ask some of the pupils to write their own on the board. Then the class will try to improve each of these short accounts. Thus, what was said about the bluebird might be changed to read as follows:

A bluebird family has rented the birdhouse that my father built in
our back yard. They seem to like it, for they lived there last
year. Perhaps they will buy it some day and decide to live there
always.

Or:

Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird have started housekeeping in a little flat
near my home. I saw them getting the straw mattress ready. They are
old neighbors, for they lived here last summer.

=56. Story-Telling=

CERES AND APOLLO[62]

Ceres, the good queen of fruit trees, grains, vegetables, and all
growing plants, returned to her work after watching Proserpina run
gaily to the meadow to pick flowers. She was very busy. Now and
then during the afternoon she went to the window. She wanted to
make sure that her daughter was in sight and safe. She saw the girl
sit down in the long grass.

"The child is getting a little tired, I suppose," she said. "She
will be coming home before long."

But an hour passed, and Proserpina had not yet returned.

"She has probably fallen asleep in the soft grass," said her
mother. "When she awakes, she will run home as fast as her legs
will carry her."

But when another hour had slipped by, and Proserpina was still not
in sight, Ceres became greatly worried.

"I wonder what has happened," she cried, as she hurried outdoors.
She ran into the meadow. She called. Here and there she found a
withered flower that the girl had dropped. At length Ceres reached
the place where Proserpina had sat in the grass and where, as Ceres
supposed, she had fallen asleep. There was nothing here but an
unfinished wreath beside a pile of flowers. Ceres hastened to the
brook. Yes, there in the soft ground on the edge of the water
Proserpina's footprint was plainly to be seen. A little farther on,
Ceres came upon the shrub that Proserpina had pulled out of the
soil. But no other trace of the girl could she discover anywhere.

A farmer chanced to be passing. He was on his way home from the
fields where he had been at work all day.

Ceres called to him. "Have you seen a little girl around here
to-day?"

The farmer thought a moment. Then he shook his head.

A little later Ceres met an old woman in a meadow. The old woman
was gathering herbs. She had seen no girl.

It was not only human beings whom Ceres asked about her daughter.
She asked the animals too. A robin on a tree top was merrily
singing his evening song. Ceres asked him. A pair of squirrels were
chattering noisily in a pine tree. Ceres stopped a minute to
question them. But no one had seen the lost maiden.

At last night fell. Ceres left the fields and entered the open
road. At the door of every house she knocked. Wondering and pitying
faces looked at her curiously as she told her story. Some asked her
to come in and rest a while. But Ceres had no thought of rest. All
night long she kept up her search, and when morning came she was
far from home. She looked about her in the early light. She found
that she had wandered to that far eastern place where the sun rises
and begins the day.

In a few minutes, indeed, Apollo, the sun-god, appeared. He was all
ready to drive his sun-chariot across the sky. In this way he
gives light and warmth to the people of the earth. His six white
horses wore golden harness, which jingled pleasantly as they
pranced about. They were anxious to be off. Apollo held them in
check with a firm hand, when he saw Ceres approaching.

"What brings you here before sunrise, Mother Ceres?" he called to
her gaily, for he had known her a long time. Then he saw that her
eyes were red with weeping, and he leaped from his chariot to take
her hand.

"What has happened?" he asked in a gentle tone.

"Oh, Apollo," cried Ceres, while the tears streamed down her
cheeks, "I have lost Proserpina. Only yesterday I allowed her to go
into the meadow near my house to gather flowers. She did not
return, and I can find no trace of her. Oh, tell me, have you seen
her? You see everything as you drive across the sky."

Apollo thought a moment. "Let me see," he said. "Could that have
been little Proserpina I saw in Pluto's[62] chariot--"

"In Pluto's chariot?" cried Ceres. "What would she be doing in
Pluto's chariot?"

"It was she," said Apollo. "Now that I think of it, I am certain it
was she."

Then Apollo told Ceres all that had happened. He told her about the
shrub of marvellous flowers. He told of the hole that its roots
left in the ground. He told of Pluto and his six black horses, and
of how Pluto had carried off Proserpina.

"He will never bring her back," said Apollo.

Then Ceres dried her tears. Her face grew stern and cold. She stood
straight and held her head high, like a queen.

"He will bring her back," she said. "I shall make him bring her.
Until he does, I shall allow nothing on the earth to grow. Until he
brings Proserpina to me, no tree shall put forth leaves or fruit,
no grass shall become green, no grain shall sprout,--nothing,
nothing at all, shall grow on the earth."

Scarcely had she said this when a change came over the earth. The
leaves on trees and shrubs everywhere grew yellow and dropped to
the ground. The green fields became brown and gray. Fruits rotted
on the stem, and vegetables dried where they grew. Even flowerbeds
lost their bloom and became patches of dry stalks.

Mother Ceres looked upon all these changes with a hard heart.

"Never," she said, "will the earth grow green again, until my
daughter is returned to me."

=Oral Exercise.= 1. Play that you are Ceres working in her house and glancing out of the window now and then. Say what she said when she saw Proserpina sit down in the long grass. Say what she said when, after several hours, her daughter was still absent. Say it in the way you think she said it. Now show your classmates how she hurried into the meadow to find Proserpina; how she picked up the half-finished wreath and crossed the brook; how she looked when she saw her daughter's footprint in the soft ground near the brook. What do you think she was thinking then?

2. One of your classmates will be the farmer in the story, another the old woman, another the robin, two others the pair of squirrels. Still other pupils will be the people in the houses at whose doors Ceres knocks. Now play that you are Ceres looking for her daughter, and asking everywhere for her. Remember how Ceres must have felt. Show that feeling in what you say and in the way you say it. The pupils playing the other speakers in the story will answer your questions. Try not to ask your questions always in the same words.

=Group Exercise.= 1. Now let other groups of pupils play this part of the story.

2. Each time[57] the class will say what they liked and what they did not like. The following questions should be answered by the class:

1. Did the pupil playing Ceres look very much worried over
Proserpina's not returning? Several pupils should try to show the
class how the player ought to have looked.

2. Did the pupil playing Ceres talk like a worried person? Several
pupils should show how Ceres probably did talk.

3. Did the pupil playing Ceres talk enough? What might she say as
she looks out of the window now and then? What might she say when
she finds the unfinished wreath? What might she say when she sees
Proserpina's footprint and, a little farther along, the beautiful
shrub pulled out of the ground?

4. Did the pupils playing the farmer, the old woman, the robin,
the squirrels, and the other people speak as persons really would
speak if a poor woman should ask them where her daughter was? What
might these say that none of the players said?

5. Did the pupil playing Ceres ask each of the other players the
same question in the same way? Would it be better if this player
asked the question differently of different persons? Should this
player grow more worried and more excited all the time?

=Oral Exercise.= 1. Make believe that you are Apollo. Obtain a long rope and harness your six horses. Choose six classmates to be the horses, but first explain to the class how you plan to harness them. Then drive them up and down in front of the class once or twice. As you do so, you see Ceres coming toward you. You pull in your horses in great surprise. Show your classmates this surprise. What might you say in a low tone to yourself to express this surprise?

2. Talk with Ceres. The pupil playing Ceres will answer you very sadly at first. But at the end of the story the manner of Ceres changes. How does Apollo look and what does he say when Ceres declares that nothing shall grow on earth until Proserpina is returned?

=Group Exercise.= 1. Several pairs of pupils should play the meeting between Apollo and Ceres. Each pair should try to show the class exactly how they think Apollo and Ceres looked and spoke and acted.

2. Then the class will tell what they liked and what they did not like in each playing.

3. Now the entire story should be played several times. After each time the class will explain to the players how the story might have been played better.

=57. Correct Usage--_I am not_[65]=

=Game.= The teacher asks a pupil to stand before the class. This pupil plays that he is a certain bird, flower, or animal other than a bird, that is seen in the woods in the spring, but he tells no one except the teacher what he is. The class must guess this. No pupil may guess more than once, and only ten guesses are allowed the whole class. The pupil before the class says nothing except that he is or is not the bird, flower, or animal guessed. The game moves along as follows:

FIRST GUESSER: Are you a dandelion, John?

PUPIL BEFORE THE CLASS: No, Fred, I am not a dandelion.

SECOND GUESSER: Are you a turtle, John?

PUPIL BEFORE THE CLASS: No, Mary, I am not a turtle.

THIRD GUESSER: Are you a song sparrow, John?

PUPIL BEFORE THE CLASS: Yes, Nellie, I am a song sparrow.

The pupil who guesses correctly is the next flower or bird. If no one of the ten guesses is correct, the pupil before the class says, "Classmates, I am a song sparrow." Then he names the pupil who is to take his place in the game.

=58. Riddles=

One day our old friend Tom read his mother a riddle he had made. This is it:

I am a tiny little thing and have an orange face. What am I?

"Can you guess it, mother?" he asked. "A dandelion," she answered. "Yes, that's right," said Tom. "What do you think of it?"

"It's a pretty good little riddle," his mother replied, "but I think you can make it better. Is _orange_ the best word for a dandelion? And should you not put in something to show that you do not mean a bird? Your riddle, as it is, would do for a yellow bird as well as for a dandelion."

Tom thought this over. Then he wrote the following riddle:

I am a tiny little thing with a bright yellow face. I have no legs
or wings, but I come and go with spring. What am I?

Tom's mother was very much pleased with this riddle, and so was Tom. Tom thought he could not make it the least bit better. The next day, however, he had made the riddle over once more. "This," said Tom, "is the very best that I can do."

Here it is:

My face is bright yellow. I have hundreds of brothers and sisters.
We have fine parties on the lawn. I cannot walk, but I can fly when
I am old and white-haired. What am I?

=Oral Exercise.= 1. Which of Tom's three riddles do you like the best? Which do you care for least? Why? Do you think the third riddle is too long? What is in the third riddle that you do not find in the second?

2. Can you make a riddle of your own about the dandelion?

3. Make riddles for your classmates to guess, about flowers, birds, and animals that are seen in the spring.

=Written Exercise.= Write on paper the best riddle of a bird or a flower that you can make. Then, as Tom did, think it over a little longer and try to make it better. When you think it is so bright that your classmates will be much pleased with it, read it to them.[66]

=Group Exercise.= Some of the riddles should now be copied neatly on the board. It will be fun for the whole class to try to make them better. The very best ones the teacher will copy in a book to show to other classes.[35]

=Written Exercise.= 1. Copy the riddle or riddles that your teacher chooses. As you copy them, notice the spelling of the words, the capital letters, the punctuation marks, and the beginning of the first line of each riddle. This will help you to write the riddles correctly when you reach the next exercise. Together with another pupil, correct your copy and his.

2. Write from dictation the riddles you have copied. Then correct any mistakes you may have made. You may do this work of correcting either alone or with one or more other pupils.

=59. Story-Telling=

CERES AND PLUTO

In the underground world, where Pluto was king, stood a magnificent
palace, in which he lived. The pillars that held up the roof were
of solid gold. Jewels of many colors shone and sparkled in the
walls.

Two persons were talking together in a room in this wonderful
building. One of these, who was no other than the lost Proserpina,
was crying. Before her stood Pluto. He was trying to comfort her.

"Why do you keep on weeping day after day?" he asked. "Look about
you and see what a beautiful place it is to which I have brought
you."

Proserpina only shook her head and cried the harder. "I do not care
how beautiful it is," she said. "I want to go back to my mother. I
want to see the sunshine and the blue sky, and the flowers growing
in the meadows."

Pluto pointed to the jewels that gleamed from the walls and floor
and ceiling of the palace. Some were red as roses, others blue as
violets. Still others shone yellow as dandelions or purple as
lilacs or green as the young grass that grows on the banks of
brooks.

"There are flowers for you," said he. "See all their colors! And
these flowers are unlike those on the earth, that last only a day
or a week. These never wither and never fade."

But Proserpina did not so much as look at the jewels that Pluto
praised so highly.

"Please take me back to the earth," she begged. "If you will do
that, I shall always think of you as a kind king. Perhaps I should
visit you now and then."

Pluto smiled and shook his head. "I do not dare let you go back to
the earth, Proserpina," he explained. "I am almost sure you would
never come back to me. Think how lonely I should be down here. I
should have no one to share my palace and my riches with me. But
let me tell what I will do."

He took the golden crown from his head. It was the most splendid
crown in all the world. He held it out before her. It sparkled with
a thousand lights. The most skilful goldsmiths in Pluto's kingdom
had made it.

"This," said Pluto, "I will give you, if you will stay with me."

Before Proserpina could answer, the bark of a dog was heard outside
the palace wall. It was Pluto's giant mastiff. He was a huge
three-headed dog that guarded the palace gate. Some one was
coming. A minute later a loud knock sounded on the door. At once
this flew open and showed a tall young man standing there. His
face was flushed and he was breathless, as if he had run a long
distance.

When the stranger saw the king and Proserpina, he drew himself up
to his full height and made a deep bow.

"What is it?" asked Pluto.

The tall stranger stepped into the room. He was still breathing
hard. "I am the bringer of sad news, King Pluto," he began. "I come
from the earth to let you know what has happened."

"Well, what has happened?" impatiently asked the king.

"The earth has lost its color and its beauty," answered the
stranger. "Nothing grows any more. Where once there were beautiful
fields and orchards, now there is nothing but the uncovered ground
and bare branches to be seen. And Ceres sends me to you with this
message, O Pluto. Until you return her daughter, not a blade of
grass, not a shoot of corn shall grow, not a flower shall bloom,
not a tree shall put forth leaves, on the whole earth that was once
so green and wonderful."

Pluto smiled at these words. "What care I," he said, "whether
anything grows on the earth!" Then he saw that Proserpina was
weeping. His voice grew softer. "What does Ceres want me to do?" he
asked.

"She wants you to return that which you have taken away," was the
solemn answer.

"That," said Pluto, "I will never do."

The messenger of Ceres turned to go, without another word.
Proserpina stepped forward and stopped him.

"I have a plan," she said, "that will help us all." She turned to
Pluto. "Let me spend half of every year with Mother Ceres," she
said, "and I will gladly spend the other half with you."

Pluto looked at her and made no answer. He did not like being alone
in his great palace six months of every year. But then he thought
of how unhappy Proserpina would be if he never allowed her to see
her mother again. He did not wish her to be unhappy. At last he
said, "I will do it."

Proserpina clapped her hands. She laughed and danced about. "Six
months here," she said, "and six months on earth. That will make
six months of green and bloom on earth, and six months of bare
branches and empty fields. Every year when I start back to the
earth, things will begin to grow and bud and blossom. That will be
spring. Every year when I return to this underground world, the
leaves will fall from the trees, the grass will become yellow, and
flowers will wither and fade. That will be fall."

Proserpina at once prepared for her journey back to the earth. When
she had said good-bye to Pluto, Ceres's messenger led the way. They
passed the growling three-headed dog. They passed the iron gates of
Pluto's kingdom. Far ahead they saw a bright light. It was the
sunshine of the earth. They hastened toward it. As they hurried
along, Proserpina noticed that the dry fields began to change.
Green grass sprang up in them, and flowers. A veil of green covered
all the shrubs and trees, and fruit blossoms began to unfold. The
farmers had been sad over the long winter. Now they worked merrily
in the fields, glad at the coming of spring.

It was not long before Proserpina saw that she had reached the
meadow in which she had gathered flowers. Yes, there was the brook
she had crossed without really meaning to do it. There was the
place where she had sat in the grass to weave wreaths. And there,
at the edge of the meadow, stood her mother's house. Hurrying from
it and toward Proserpina with outstretched arms was Mother Ceres
herself.

=Oral Exercise.= 1. Make believe that you are Proserpina in the story above. Think how you would feel if you were in an underground palace far from your mother. A classmate will play that he is King Pluto. Ask him to let you go back. Speak as Proserpina probably spoke. Pluto will answer you. He will try to explain to you that you ought to stay with him.

2. Make believe that you are the messenger from Ceres. Make the deep bow that he made when he saw the king. Tell the king what is happening on the earth. Give him the message from Ceres.

3. You and two classmates should now play the story. Would it be a good plan to have some one play the dog?

=Group Exercise.= 1. Now three other pupils[67] should play the story, and then three others. Each group will try to show the class exactly how everything happened in the story. Each player will try to look and act and speak exactly as he thinks the person in the story did.

2. The class will praise what is good in the playing and point out what might be done better.

=60. Talking over Plans=

Why couldn't the class plan a spring festival? It might be held on a Friday afternoon. Every pupil could invite his parents and friends. The festival would be one way of showing how glad you and your classmates are that spring has come.

=Oral Exercise.= 1. Make a plan for a spring festival.[68] Then stand before the class and tell the other pupils what your plan is. The following questions may help you to make a plan that your classmates will enjoy carrying out:

1. Shall the festival be held in the schoolroom or outdoors?

2. Shall you decorate the room with spring flowers?

3. Shall the festival begin with a march by the pupils?

4. Do you know a suitable story that could be played by a group of
pupils?

5. Could some suitable poems be recited?

6. Would it be a good plan to have each pupil play that he is a
spring flower or a bird and make a riddle about himself for the
visitors to guess?

7. How shall visitors be invited? Shall each pupil write a letter
inviting somebody and mail it in the United States Post Office?

2. It would be fun to have you and a classmate talk the spring festival over on the class telephone. Of course this is only a make-believe telephone, but two pupils can talk to each other over it just as well as if it were real. Tell your classmate at the other end of the telephone what you think of the spring-festival plan. Ask him questions about it. He will ask you questions.

3. Use the class telephone to invite persons to the spring festival. Different classmates of yours will play that they are Mr. Brown and Mrs. Brown and others whom you wish to invite. Tell them about the spring festival. Tell them why the class will have it, and what it is to be like. Then invite them to come.

=Group Exercise.= The class of course hears these telephone conversations. After each one the class should talk about it with the following questions[69] in mind:

1. Did the speakers telephone in clear, pleasant voices that could
easily be heard?

2. Were the speakers polite to each other?

3. Did the speakers make any mistakes in English? Did they
pronounce any words incorrectly?

4. Did the speakers say bright things that every one likes to hear?

5. Can you think of anything the speakers might have said to make
the telephone talk more interesting?

=61. Letter Writing=

A few days before the spring festival you will be inviting your parents and friends to come to it. You could write short letters asking them to come. You could take your letters to their houses or you could send the invitations by mail.[70]

Here is an invitation to the spring festival. It was written, as you see, by a boy named George Smith to his friend Mr. Brown.

=Oral Exercise.= What do you think of George Smith's invitation? What do you think Mr. Brown will say when he receives it? Does George Smith seem to be a very polite boy? How could the invitation be made more polite? What should the invitation tell about the spring festival?

=Written Exercise.= Write one of your invitations for the spring festival. Put in it all that you think such an invitation should say to the one who receives it. Before you begin it, notice how the following greetings are written. This may help you in writing yours.[71]

Dear Mr. Brown:
Dear Mrs. Brown:
Dear Miss Brown:
Dear Friend:
Dear Uncle:
Dear Teacher:

=Group Exercise.= A number of the invitations should now be copied neatly on the board. Then you and your classmates may point out what is good in each, and may try to make each one better.

=62. Addressing Letters=

If you send your invitations by mail, you will need to know how to write the addresses on the envelopes. Perhaps you can learn this most quickly by carefully copying addresses that are correctly written. Before copying them you should read them with care. Notice every capital letter and punctuation mark.

=Oral Exercise.= Read the name of the person to whom each of the following envelopes is addressed. Is it placed nearer the top or the bottom edge of the envelope? Is it nearer the right or the left edge of the envelope? Is it placed exactly in the middle of the envelope? Is the second line of the address exactly under the first line? Is the third line exactly under the second line?

=Written Exercise.= 1. Draw lines to mark off an envelope on your paper. Then copy the first of the addresses above. Mark off another envelope, and copy the second address.[72]

2. Cut figures of paper the size and shape of an envelope, and on each write one of the following addresses:

1. The address of your father

2. The address of your mother

3. Your own address

4. The address of a friend not in the class

5. The address of a friend who is a classmate

=63. Telling Interesting Things=

=Oral Exercise.= 1. When did you last go to the circus?[73] Of course you remember many interesting things about it. Think of these a minute; then tell your classmates about them. Perhaps the following questions will help you remember:

1. Did you see the circus come to town early in the morning?

2. Did you see the men putting up the tents?

3. Did you see the parade?

4. Where did you buy your ticket?

5. What did you see first when you entered the tent?

6. What did you like best of all you saw and heard?

2. If you were old enough to travel with a circus, and if your parents would allow you to go, what should you most like to be? Should you like to be an animal trainer? Should you like to be a horseback rider? Should you like to be a juggler, a tightrope walker, or a clown? Tell your classmates what you would be if you could join a circus. Besides, tell what that kind of performer needs to know and do. Tell how he does some of his tricks.

You and your classmates may now plan to make a book about the circus. Each pupil should write a page for it. One could tell about the parade, another about the tents and the seats and the rings, another about the horses, another about the jugglers, another about the trapeze performers, and so on. When all the pages are finished, they should be bound and a cover put on them. On the cover might be written or printed in large letters:[74]

=Written Exercise.= Choose what you will write about for the circus book. Think what you can say that your classmates will enjoy reading. Then write the account. Better write a short and bright account than a long and stupid one. First, write on your paper rather rapidly the best account you can. When this is finished, read it several times and try to make it better. If you were writing about the juggler, your first, rapidly written account might read like this:

THE JUGGLER AT THE CIRCUS

There was a juggler at the circus. I cannot tell all the tricks he
did. It must take a long time to learn to do tricks. I wish I could
do some.

Of course this first, rapid account can be made much better. It does not tell how the juggler looked. It does not tell clearly what he did. After you have added these and other points, the account might be like this one:

THE JUGGLER AT THE CIRCUS

I saw the wonderful Japanese juggler at the circus. He was dressed
in red silk. He stood in the ring before all the people. I saw him
do one trick after another. It was like magic. He threw five shiny,
sharp knives up in the air. He kept them flying up and down without
dropping one.

=Group Exercise.= Some of the circus stories should be copied neatly on the board. Then the whole class may try to make them better before they are copied on the pages of the circus book.[75]

=64. Making Riddles=

=Oral Exercise.= Make believe that you are one of the performers or one of the animals in a circus. Tell your classmates two facts about yourself: (1) what you look like and (2) what you do. But do not tell what you are. Thus, you might say:

I look just like you, but I spend much of my time in a cage. No, I
am not a monkey. It is my business to be in a cage. Lions are
afraid of me, and I am afraid of them, but you can see us side by
side in the same circus cage in every parade. What am I?

Or you might say:

My face is pale, and my clothes are white. I look like a very
foolish, sad, and solemn person. Everybody laughs at me. I don't
mind it. It is my business to look silly. If I did not look silly,
I should lose my place in the circus. What am I?

Your classmates will try to guess what you are.

=Group Exercise.= 1. Some of the riddles may now be written on the board. Then the class will try to make them better. The teacher will write each improved riddle beside the one from which it was made. 2. When everybody in the class has made a riddle, and all the riddles have been guessed, you and the other pupils will enjoy having a circus parade. In this circus parade the whole class marches around the room and up and down the aisles. Each pupil plays, as he did in making the riddles, that he is one of the performers or one of the animals in a circus. Each without speaking tries to show what performer or animal he is. For example, if you are a circus horse, show it by prancing about, but do not lose your place in the parade. If you are an elephant, show it by your walk. You might use a piece of rope or cloth for an elephant's trunk. If you are a horseback rider, show it by talking to your horse in low tones and by holding him in line. If you are a clown, show it by acting as clowns do.[76] If you are a musician, play your instrument as you march.

Perhaps the teacher will let the parade pass into the hall, so that the piano may be played as the class marches.

=65. Telling about Wild Animals[77]=

Sometimes boys and girls play menagerie. Each makes believe that he is the keeper or trainer of some wild animal. When his turn comes, he stands before the class and tells about the animal that is supposed to be in a cage at his side.

=Oral Exercise.= Choose the animal of which you will play that you are the keeper. Then tell the class about this animal. Tell everything interesting that you know or can find out about it. Perhaps the following list of questions will help you to think of what to say:

1. What does the animal look like? What is its size, color, and
shape?

2. Where does the animal live?

3. How does it live? How does it obtain its food?

4. Is the animal very different from most wild animals in any
important ways?

5. Can it be easily tamed?

=Group Exercise.= 1. The two following accounts are such as a make-believe trainer might give of a lion. One of these is much better than the other. Can you tell which is the better one?

2. What do you like in the first account? Notice that all of the sentences begin in the same way. Do you like that?

3. Do you like the word _frames_ in the second account? What is the difference in meaning between _dangerous_ and _cruel_?

4. After each talk the class should tell whether that talk was more like the first or the second of these accounts:

The lion is a large animal. It has four legs, one on each corner.
Its body is covered with yellow hair. It has a shaggy mane. It has
a long tail. It lives in the wild parts of Africa. It will eat
human beings.

Ladies and gentlemen, the big animal that you see in this cage is a
lion. See his beautiful yellow coat. See the shaggy mane that
frames his head. You probably know that the lion is a dangerous
beast. But do you know that he is the most dangerous and cruel of
all the wild animals? The father of this fine-looking specimen
before you was caught in Africa. Human bones and several copper
bangles were found in his den.

=66. Making a Little Book=

Now you and your classmates are ready to make a book about wild animals. Every page of the book should contain a short but interesting account of some wild animal. A cover of stiff paper might have these words written or printed on it:

=Written Exercise.= Write your page[78] for the class book about wild animals. Better write it twice. After the first, rather rapid writing is finished, read it over several times and try to make it better. Try to put better words in the places of some of those you used. Try to add a bright sentence or two. Leave out sentences and words that are not needed. Copy what you then have.

=Group Exercise.= Before each pupil's account is put in the book, that account should be read by the class to make sure that there are no mistakes in it. The class might be divided into a number of groups of five or six pupils each. Each group could then correct its five or six accounts. The pupils of each group would work together, correcting one account at a time.[79] In this work of finding mistakes the following questions[80] will be useful:

1. Does every sentence in the account begin with a capital letter?

2. Does every sentence end with a period or question mark?

3. Is every word correctly spelled?

4. Are there any mistakes in English?

=67. Correct Usage--_Good, Well_=

Some pupils make the mistake of using the word _good_ when they should use _well_.

The word _good_ is correctly used to tell what sort of person or thing you are speaking of. Thus, you may say, "He is a _good_ writer."

The word _well_, on the other hand, usually tells _how_ something is done. Thus, you may say, "He writes _well_."

=Game.= Tom plays that he is the manager of a circus. His classmates want to work in the circus. Each one makes up his mind what kind of work he will play that he can do. Then one after another raises his hand and asks Tom for a position.

For instance, Fred says: "Tom, have you a position for me in your circus?"

Tom answers: "What kind of work can you do well, Fred?"

Fred says: "I am a good ticket seller. I can sell tickets well."

Then Nellie asks: "Tom, have you a position for me in your circus?"

Tom answers: "What kind of work can you do well, Nellie?"

Nellie replies: "I am a good cook. I can cook well."

Other pupils are good musicians, they can play well; or good tightrope walkers, they can walk the tightrope well; or good singers, they can sing well; or good drivers of horses, they can drive horses well; or good shoemakers, they can repair shoes well. After each pupil has told what he can do well, all those who made no mistake in speaking to the manager of the circus may march around the room, saying or singing, "We are good circus workers. We do our work well."

=68. Talking over the Telephone=

=Oral Exercise.= Talk to a classmate over the make-believe class telephone.[81] Play that he is the ticket seller in a circus. You want to know about the prices of seats. Ask the time at which the doors are open. Ask him whether you and your two children may all go in on one ticket. He will say no to the last question. Try to make him see that he should let you in on one ticket. Then telephone to other classmates. The following ideas[82] for telephone talks will help you think of what to say:

1. Telephone to the lion trainer. Tell him that you want to become
a lion trainer. Ask him what you must do to get ready for this
work. Ask his advice about it. Perhaps he will tell you something
interesting about lions.

2. Telephone to the keepers and trainers of other wild animals.

3. Telephone to the clown, or the juggler, or the tightrope walker,
or the horseback rider.

4. Telephone to a pupil and try to make a plan with him for going
to the circus to-morrow. Where shall you meet him? How will you
prove to your parents and to your teacher that it will do you more
good to spend the afternoon at the circus than in school?

5. Telephone to a classmate and ask him where the circus is to be.
Play that you are a new pupil in the school and do not know the
roads and streets very well. Keep asking the classmate questions
about how to reach the circus grounds. He should answer so clearly
that a stranger would not miss the way.

=69. Words sometimes Mispronounced=

=Oral Exercise.= Pronounce each of the following words clearly and distinctly as the teacher pronounces it to you. Then pronounce the entire list as rapidly as you can, but still clearly, distinctly, and correctly.

horse
because
engine
evening
eleven
lying
lion
address
library
elm
perhaps
something
often
father
theater
bouquet
across
iron
parade
fourth
third

=Game.= Ask a classmate a question that has in it one of the words in the list above. The classmate will answer your question, using the same word from the list. If he pronounces the word correctly, he will ask a classmate a question containing another word from the list. And so it will go on until every one in the class has both asked and answered a question.

=70. Talking over Vacation Plans=

Soon the school term will come to an end. Then the long summer vacation will begin. What good times you will have! Perhaps your parents have already made plans for you. Perhaps they have planned a trip away. Or it may be that they will send you to the summer school. Or, like most pupils, perhaps you will spend the summer at home. You will play outdoors with boys and girls who live near you.

=Oral Exercise.= Tell your classmates what you think you will be doing during the coming summer vacation. Perhaps the following questions will help you:

1. What games do you think you will play during the summer?

2. Shall you go to any city parks? What can you see and do there?

3. Shall you go swimming or boating? Shall you go on a picnic to a
pleasant place?

4. Shall you go to the public library?

5. Shall you take a trip away from home?

Earlier in this book you read about fairies. You know what wonderful things they can do. They can make wishes come true. If a fairy came to your schoolroom and spoke to you and your classmates, you might be very much surprised. But you would be still more surprised if the fairy stood before the class, perhaps on the top of the teacher's desk where all could see, and made this little speech in a tiny but musical voice:

Boys and girls, I have been very glad all the year to see you
having such good times together in this room. I think that young
folks who enjoy school as much as you do should have a very
pleasant vacation too.

As you see, I have brought my magic wand with me. Watch me as I
wave it in the air. Yes, I am waving it more than once. I want to
make a ring in the air for every boy and girl in the class. There,
I have done it. Now each of you may have a wish, just as Peter was
given a wish by the strange little old man. Each of you may wish a
summer vacation exactly as he would like it best. All these wishes
will come true.

Some of you boys will probably wish for a trip to the moon in a
magic airplane. The trip is yours the moment you speak your wish.
Some of you girls will probably wish to spend the two summer months
in fairyland. Your wish, too, will come true.

Now I must say good-bye. Before I leave I shall make one more
circle in the air with my wand. For whom is this? It is for the
teacher. When the wishing begins, the teacher must have a wish,
too.

When the fairy left the room, the planning and wishing would begin. Each pupil would probably have a wish very different from that of his classmates. Some of the plans and wishes would be very interesting. It would be fun to hear them all.

=Oral Exercise.= Tell your classmates how you would like to spend the long summer vacation if you could spend it any way you wished.[83]

=NOTES TO THE TEACHER=

(The page number following each note number indicates the first appearance of the note in the text)

=Note 1= (page 1). Although the lessons in this book are addressed to the pupil, it will probably be advisable for the teacher to reproduce the procedure of the first ones orally and independently of the text, rather than to confront the class at once with the printed page. In some instances, however, it will be preferred from the beginning to work out each lesson as it stands, the class reading and studying the text with the teacher (the "study recitation"). In no case should there be haste. If the teacher finds that the Christmas lessons cannot easily be reached by December, or the valentine lessons by early February, much depending on the class, judicious omissions are advised. The plan of the text makes this both permissible and easy. The teacher is asked to read the Preface and is strongly urged to read the entire book, including the Notes, at the beginning of the year's work.

=Note 2= (page 1). The spirit of play should pervade the composition period. Pupils should feel as free and happy as on the playground. It is suggested that they be encouraged to "let go" when they are playing stories. Let there be much action, even exaggerated action. Let there be unembarrassed speaking, even if it be sometimes a little louder than necessary. Let there be energetic pantomime. When animals are imitated, or sleepy boys, or elves, let it be done with a will, perhaps even ludicrously. This freedom and abandon of play and fun will help lay the foundation for natural, vigorous, and interesting self-expression.

=Note 3= (page 2). A number of pupils may be asked to show how the sleepy boy looked as he wakened. Let each one lie on the platform or floor before the class, apparently fast asleep; then awaken and stretch and yawn prodigiously; and finally awake fully and realize lazily that mother is at the bedside. This may represent an awakening from dreamless sleep. Next, let each player awake with a start, as Tom may have done after his exciting dream. It may be advisable with some classes, as a preliminary "warming up," to ask that (for example) flying a kite, riding a horse, picking flowers, sweeping and dusting a room, rowing a boat, be represented in pantomime.

=Note 4= (page 3). No finished dramatic product is looked for in these exercises. The ends are (1) the pupils' keen pleasure in the activity and expression involved in the play; (2) the creation of a situation that means for the pupils freedom and absence of self-consciousness; (3) purposeful speech by the children "in the situation"; (4) development of increasing interest in the story as a basis for further, and now story-telling, expression work. _No_ rehearsing, _no_ memorizing of speeches, but originality, extemporaneous expression, natural, spontaneous speech, are desired. Later on, different pupils should be asked to be managers of plays, selecting players, giving stage directions, urging the actors to speak more, to act more naturally, etc.

=Note 5= (page 3). It is desirable that all pupils take part in the dramatizations, and not only the favored or the forward few. Besides, each pupil should be encouraged to play the part _as he sees it_. Originality, not thoughtless imitation, is desired. It is the _differences_ that will be recognized as interesting and valuable in schoolrooms where individuality is encouraged; and it is the differences that justify repeated playing of the same story before the same audience. See Note 57.

=Note 6= (page 4). It is astonishing and delightful how well little people do when they are permitted to take the initiative and to assume responsibility. Frequently pupils should be allowed to work out a play alone, the teacher helping only when asked or when the situation calls loudly for her assistance.

=Note 7= (page 4). If the purpose of language teaching is the improvement of pupils' speaking and writing, pupils must speak and write abundantly. But they must do more. Two garrulous housewives may gossip over the back fence for years and at the end of that time speak no better than at the beginning. The same grammatical errors with which they began, the same infelicities of expression, the same lack of organization, the same meager and overworked vocabulary, the same mispronunciations and slovenly utterance, will still be there. Why is this? The reason indicates clearly that it is not enough that pupils speak and speak and write and write. This is only half the battle. In addition there must be continual attention to the problem of improvement in speaking and writing. This improvement is a task of years, and only one step can be taken at a time. In these first lessons criticism should be directed mainly to the matter of the pupil's expressing himself fully. See Notes 20 and 64.

=Note 8= (page 5). As pupils suggest improvements, Tom's dream should be rewritten on the board, sentence by sentence, the point being throughout that Tom did not tell all that he had in mind. The class will greatly enjoy and profit by seeing Tom's original bald, fragmentary story become a vivid narrative, full of interesting detail and realistic color. See Note 64. Later this should be compared with Tom's improved narrative as it stands on pages 5 and 6. Pupils should not conclude, however, that _length_ is necessarily a virtue in compositions. What is desired is not mere fullness but fullness of interesting detail.

=Note 9= (page 7). After pupils have read the introduction to the poem, or the teacher has freely developed one (see Note 1), the poem should be read aloud by the teacher, in order that the class may be impressed at once with its rhythm and thought. A second reading by the teacher, immediately following the first, may be advisable, in order to deepen the first favorable impression. With most classes every selection in the book should be read, the first time, by the teacher to the class. Many teachers memorize the poems, reciting instead of reading them.

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Beginners' Book in Language. A Book for the Third GradeChapter IV: Part 4

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