The Teaching of English
PROBABLY there is no aspect of education in which a more marked advance has been made than in the teaching of English. The work of commissions and conferences during the last twenty years shows its effect in every school book that is published. At one time it seemed possible that grammar would disappear altogether from the teaching of English. In the old days grammar was a sacred subject, quite unconnected- with language. Some teachers even regarded it as unfortunate that words had to be used in teaching grammar, instead of mere logical symbols. The revolution from this deification of grammar led us to the opposite extreme. Now we seem to have settled into a middle path. Grammar is taught without any excess of abstraction ; but the end in view is the understanding of language, in speech and in writing.
One of the Most interesting books for the nnglish teacher published in recent years is Professor George Sampson's Cambridge Lessons in English (Cambridge University Press, Teachers' Edition : Book 1, 2s. 6d. ; book 2, 3s. ; book 3, 3s. 6d.). Professor Sampson is not in the slightest pontifical. He has left it to the individual teacher to make any adaptation he thinks fit in using these textbooks. What is paiticularly attractive in them is the stimulating discuision, which the author gives on the basis of English teaching and on the design of his exercises. A teacher with enthusiasm and originality could hardly do better than : take these three volumes and improvise his own methOds from them. The three books offer a course in English for children from the age of eight to the age of fourteen.
There is the same lightness of touch in the other English books we have received. Mr. Ernest J. Kenny's An English Course for Secondary Schools (University of London Press, 3s. 6d.) is full of amusing and interesting extracts. It includes suggestions for class debates, for reading, and for literary criticism, as well as for compositions. The chapter on grammar is short and clear. The same author has published a similar book fcr the higher classes in primary schools and the lower forms in secondary schools, A New Course in English Composition (University of London Press, 2s. 6d.). Foundations of English Grammar and Composition, by Mr. J. D. Stephenson (Methuen, 2s. 6d.), leaves a great deal :to the child himself. " EVery child," says the author, "loves doing things for himself " ; and this, too, is the kind of textbook that will provide enjoyment as well as discipline.
As much of the practical art of language can be learned from reading as from more systematic studies.. Mr. Harold Herd has compiled an admirable small compendium of good English in An English Prose Treasury (Allen .and Unwin, 3s. 6d.). There is nothing unexpected his selection,unless it should be taken as unusual that we are introduced in so shorta volume to " Junius," Cardinal Newman, and T. H. Huxley. The newest volume in The New Reader's Shakespeare is The Life and Death of King John (Harrap, ls. 6d.). The series has been edited with excellent economy by Mr. G. B. Harrison and Mr. T. H. Pritchard. There are no notes. The only addition to the text is an expansion of stage directions. Each volume contains a glossary and a series of exercises. For younger children Mr. Samuel Davis has retold in simple and vivid language the story of Shakespeare's As You Like It. (Bell, ls.) The teaching of English can be made more vivid by dramatic performances: For their Six Craft Plays (Bell, Is. 6d.) Mr. Ralph Cooper and Mr. 'Alfred Dunning have ranged through the centuries. The first short play takes place among the cave-men. In the last the principal parts are played by two modern schoolboys and a learned old gentleman. The authors have enjoyed themselves, and- children, too, will enjoy acting out these shbrt scenes. Another play which schools would find useful is Miss G. Winifred Taylor's passion play, Pilate (Soc. of SS. Peter and Paul, Is.). Mr. C: M. de Reyes' ' suggestions in his book, On the Acting of Shakespeare's Plays (Blackie, 2s. 6d.) are detailed very carefully. Some nine plays are analysed scene by scene. Notes are generally thought an evil to be avoided at all costs, but Mr. E. A. Greening Lambourn's commentary on " The Golden Treasury," Poetic Values (Oxford University Press, Ss. 6d.) is certainly an exception to the rule. Mr. Lambourn has his own very definite outlook on poetic excellence ; and he is not in the slightest degree overpowered by the reputation of Palgrave. He can compare, for example, a poem of Tennyson's to " the pulpit eloquence of glib but shallow curates." Where he admires, he praises with acute perception and with catching enthusiasm. .
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