INTRODUCTION THE surest way to catch a child's attention and to hold it is to arouse his imagination and give it ample room for play. Where this has been successfully accomplished the strongest possible motive for learning to read will have been created. In the intermediate stage of learning to read, when the mechanics of the process have largely been mastered, extensive silent reading with joyful zest, followed by abundant free oral reproduction and discussion, will not only accelerate the pace, but also to a greater degree than ordinary enrich the vocabulary and teach language structure. This new volume of the Progressive Road to Reading Series has been thoughtfully prepared in order to provide additional material for the development of the art of rapid reading, — of seizing the underlying thought with celerity and certainty. The mere oral rendition of the author's text by the pupil is of itself no adequate means of teaching the art of reading. It is only the final evidence that reading has already been taught. Get those teachers whose classes may happen to be below grade in ability to read, to encourage rapid silent reading within proper time limits, and then by spirited oral discussion determine how nearly the pupils have extracted the exact 541404 thought from the printed page. They will discover great joy for themselves and their pupils, as well as a marvelous improvement in the technique of English. Literary beauty will soon bring into the focus of a new attention good literary form. Under the law of imitation this will improve both oral and written expression. The intellectual ideal of truth, the emotional ideal of beauty, the practical ideal of goodness, will attain natural development in the pleasurable contemplation of stories that stir imagination, quicken perception, refine emotion, and set forth in clear light the development of character. Acknowledgment for the use of copyrighted material is made to Thomas Y. Crowell Company for "The Little Vidette of Lombardy" from "Cuore" by de Amicis; "Opportunity" and "The Fool's Prayer" by Edward Roland Sill, by permission of, and special arrangement with, Houghton Mifflin Company. |
