Published by: naath (Karma: 6.44) on 20 August 2008 | Views: 6394
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A foreigner who has successfully memorized the above sentence can convert that one fluent sentence into hundreds of others almost equally fluent and in quite as good English by memorizing a stock of "substitutive elements" (as described above) and by using them as interchangeable parts of the original sentence. The pupil (who is presumed to have some previous notion of English sounds and of phonetic notation) then repeats the sentence several times, endeavouring to reproduce as nearly as possible what he hears. The teacher corrects any mistakes in pronunciation or enunciation until the pupil can produce the sentence easily and without hesitation. •At this point the teacher may write the sentence on the blackboard "ai oilweiz du:it" and give the integral translation. Assuming the pupil's language to be French, the equivalence will be "Je le fais toujours." The pupil must "think" the whole sentence without attempting to cut it up into its component parts. He should then repeat the sentence a few more times while "thinking" it. He is now presumed to have memorized one English sentence and to be able to use and to recognize it. To form the basis of a series of progressive exercises" in the grammar, inflexions and semantics of Spoken English. For this reason the vocabulary is distributed partly in accordance with the "FREQUENCY PRINCIPLE" and partly with a view to progressive study, and is not classified and GROUPED STRICTLY ON GRAMMATICAL LINES.
We have to remember that the book was written in 1916, so the English language is not the same as we speak it today, as to the vocabulary at least. In many ways it is richer and reflects a broader general education of the older days.
It brings no harm to learn the way it was spoken at the times of great expectations and the ongoing war just across the English Channel...
Was it reflected in the sentences used in the book? Or does it show only skill and great technical ability in providing excellent teaching material? Decide by yourself! - stovokor
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