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Manuals
Conduct of Christian Schools:
FIRST PART - Chapter 3 (continued)
SCHOOL PRACTICES AND THE MANNER IN WHICH THEY ARE TO BE CARRIED OUT
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CHAPTER 3
Studies
ARTICLE 3
The Book of Syllables
The first book which the students of the Christian Schools will learn to read will be composed of all sorts of French syllables of two, three, four, five, six, and seven letters and of some words to facilitate the pronunciation of the syllables. Ordinarily, two pages will be assigned for each lesson.
The beginners should not read less than two lines, and the others should not read less than three lines. This is determined according to the number of students and the time that the teacher has in which to make them read. As soon as any students begin this lesson and in order that they may accustom themselves to read their own book while the others are reading, the teacher will take care to assign to each one, for as many days as assistance may be needed, a companion who, when the others are reading, will teach the new student how to follow the lesson and they will follow together in the same book: both will hold the book one on one side and the other on the other. In the Book of Syllables students will only spell the syllables and will not read them. It will be necessary to make them understand first the difficulties which are to be met in the pronunciation of syllables, which are not slight in French. For this reason, each teacher must know perfectly the little treatise on pronunciation.
In order to teach spelling well, it is necessary to have all the letters pronounced in the same tone and very distinctly. In this way, the sound of each one can be fully heard separately from the others. The syllables should be pronounced in the same manner. Thus, the one who is spelling should make each syllable completely and distinctly heard before beginning to spell the following one. The student should pronounce them almost as separately as if there were commas between them. For instance, to spell well the syllable quo, each letter must be named separately and distinctly q, u, o. This is the same for c, a, and r, or t, a, and r. They must not be named quickly and together: quo, car, tar. This practice is of very great importance. There is even more to be feared from spelling and reading too rapidly than reciting too slowly, and much more harm can be done.
ARTICLE IV
The First Reader
The first reader to be used in the Christian Schools will be in continuous sentences. Those who read in it will only spell, and they will always be given one page for each lesson.
Each student will spell about three lines at least, depending upon the time that the teacher has available and upon the number of the students. The teacher will insist that those who are in this lesson distinguish and separate the syllables of the words from one another and that they do not put into the first syllable a letter which should be in the second, or the reverse. For instance, in spelling the word déclare, they should not say déc-la-re. They should say dé-cla-re; and the same with other words.
The teacher will insist that they pronounce all the syllables of a word as they should be pronounced in this word and not as they would be pronounced if they were separated one from another and in different words. For example, the syllable son is not pronounced in the word personne by sounding the n as it is always sounded in the word son when this syllable alone forms the word which signifies sound, for in that case so much stress is not placed upon the n. In the same way, in the word louppe the first syllable is pronounced otherwise than is loup when it forms the word which signifies the animal. For in the first example, louppe, the p is sounded in the first syllable; whereas in the second, loup, the p is not sounded, but is pronounced as if there were only lou. The teacher will take care that students in this lesson pronounce the words as though they were standing alone, paying no attention either to the preceding word or to the following one. For instance, in the sentence "Ne pensez point à ce que vous aurez à dire," they will pronounce the word point as they would pronounce it when alone and not followed by a vowel. Thus they will not pronounce the t but will pronounce the word as though it were only poin, naming, however, all the letters as follows: p, o, i, n, t.
Likewise in the word vous, they will name all the letters: v, o, u, s. They will pronounce it as though there were no s and will say v, o, u, s, vou. They will do the same in the word aurez, not pronouncing the z, but, after naming all the letters of the second syllable, r, e, z, they will say, as though there were no z, ré, with an accent on the e, paying no attention, in case of either of these words, to the vowels which follow them.
ARTICLE V
The Second Reader
The second reader to be used in the Christian Schools will be a book of Christian instruction. The students will not study this book unless they can spell perfectly without hesitating.
There will be two kinds of readers of this book: those who spell and read by syllables and those who do not spell but only read by syllables.
All will have the same lesson. While one is spelling or reading, all the others will follow, both those who spell and read, and those who only read. Those who both spell and read will do nothing but spell in the morning. In the afternoon, they will spell first. After all of them have spelled, they will read without distinction together with those who read only. If those who only read are in the same class with those who both spell and read, they will only follow while the latter are spelling. The teacher will take care from time to time to surprise some of them and have them spell some words, in order to ascertain whether they are following attentively.
All those who read in this book will read only by syllables. That is to say, they will read with a pause of equal length between each syllable, without paying any attention to the words which they compose: for instance, Con-stan-tin, Em-pe-reur, as-sis-ta, au con-ci-le, de, Ni-ce-e, and so on. If these two kinds of readers are in different classes, those who only read will each day in the afternoon, before any one of them begins to read, spell about one line, at most.
Those who spell will spell about three lines and will read afterward as much as they have spelled. Those who only read will read five or six lines, according to the number of students and the time which the teacher may have.
ARTICLE VI
The Third Reader
The third reader which will be used to teach reading in the Christian Schools will be one upon which the Directors in each place and the Superior of the Institute will agree.
All who read from this book will do so by sentences and in sequence, stopping only at periods and at commas. Only those who know how to read by syllables perfectly and without fail will be in this lesson. Two or three pages will be given for a lesson each time, from one complete idea to another, a chapter, an article, or a section.
The beginners will read about eight lines. The more advanced will read about 12 or 15 lines, according to the time that the teacher has and the number of the students.
Those who are reading the third book will also be taught all the rules of French pronunciation, both how to pronounce syllables and words perfectly correctly and how to sound the consonants at the end of words when the following word begins with a vowel. The teacher will teach the students all these things while they are reading, calling their attention to all the mistakes in pronunciation which they make. The teacher will correct them carefully without overlooking any.
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