CHAPTER XI. PESTALOZZI'S METHODS OF TEACHING LANGUAGE, IN describing the methods which Pestalozzi used in teaching the above subjects, we shall take the subjects in the order of importance and value which he appeared to attach to them. "The impression made on the senses by form and number precedes the art of speech, but the art of sense-impression and arithmetic come after the art of speech." Although he says that "whatever ideas we may have to acquire in the course of our life are all introduced through the medium of one of these departments," i.e., number, form and language; this does not mean, as it at first seems to suggest, that reading, writing and arithmetic are to be regarded as the foundations of education. Notwithstanding the fact that he says that "Upon these three fundamental points [number, form and language] all elementary instruction is to be built and it is evident, therefore, that the object of our first exertions in education must be to develop and strengthen, in that manner which is most conformable to nature, ¦ the faculties of number, of form, and of language, since upon the healthy state, as it were, of those faculties, the correctness of our perceptions essentially depends"; his experience convinced him that reading, writing and } arithmetic, far from being the foundation elements of instruction, ought to be regarded as subordinate ones. "It is well done to make a child read, and write, and learn, and repeat-but it is still better to make a child think" (On Infants' Education). This apparent contradiction is easily explained: the elements of knowledge in number, form and language must first be learned, before they can be used in getting further knowledge. How are these to be learned? As we shall see, when dealing with them, they are to be learned through acquiring and developing intuitions, i.e., by means of what we now call object lessons. The "Three R's" are taught through object lessons: therefore the latter is primary, and the former secondary. As Pestalozzi puts it: "There are two ways of instructing either we go from words to things, or from things to words. Mine is the second method." I. Language-Teaching-or the Teaching of Sound through Object Lessons. Pestalozzi says: "In teaching the child language we ought to follow the same course which nature took. Nature undoubtedly began with intuition. The first simple sound by which man attempted to communicate the impression produced upon him by some object, was the expression of an intuition. . . . From this point language gradually advanced: man began to observe the characteristic features of those objects to which he had given names, and to form words to designate their proportions, their actions, and their powers. It was not until a much later period that he invented the art of modifying one and the same word according to number, time, and so on." Again: "The savage first names the object, then draws it, and then connects it very simply-after first learning its qualities, varying according to time and circumstance-with words, through terminations and combinations, so as to be able to define it more closely" (How Gertrude Teaches). Before children are ready to learn to read, they must have learnt to talk; and to do this they must be taught to feel and to think. There must be a considerable development in general knowledge, through perceptions; and in knowledge of language, through speaking; before we begin to teach reading or letters. The study of language is analysable into: (1) the study of sounds, i.e., phonetics by which the several organs of speech are developed; (2) the study of words, i.e., the means of teaching a knowledge of individual objects; and (3) the study of speech, i.e., the means of teaching composition, or the correct method of expressing all that is known about objects and their qualities. Language thus taught has its highest value in helping the learner to clearness of conception. The ignorance of the lower classes is mainly owing to the fact that they have not thus been taught how to speak. The development of the faculty of language is inseparably associated with the development of the faculty of intuition. It is only as a child gets fuller and more exact intuitions that he can get a greater and more precise use of language. The way to extend a child's command of language is to increase and quicken his power of intuition. The mere sounds of language are empty and barren; it is only when they are consciously connected with the contents of intuitions that they become true human speech. Here also it is life that educates; and the training in language, that is in intuition, must be directly connected with the home-life and ordinary activities of the learner. Teaching in the rules of grammar should come at the end of the study of language, not at the beginning. Our first business is to learn how to talk, and how to understand talk, in the above-mentioned sense. The rules of grammar will enable us to test our attainments in these two points. Language is a connecting link between intuition and thought proper: "Intuition and thought are separated by a great gulf which can be bridged over only by speech" (Swan's Song). All advanced and complex thought is dependent on language, just as higher work in number is dependent on algebraic symbols. The three faculties of perception, language and thought constitute the sum, of the means of intellectual education. Pestalozzi's own words are: "The mind is deprived of its first instrument or organ, as it were, its functions are interrupted, and its ideas confused, when there is a want of perfect acquaintance and mastery of at least one language. The child cannot become distinctly conscious of its intuitions and impressions of Nature without language" (On Infants' Education). The direct connection of intuition with the study of language is seen in the fact that the naming of objects gives us nouns; the words which express the qualities of objects are adjectives; the words which express the movements, etc., of things are verbs; and so on for the other parts of speech. We acquire, through language, the ability to define the qualities of things; and to make changes in these-caused by change of conditionsclear to ourselves, by changing the words themselves and their arrangement. A proper system of teaching language will, without using any of the technical terms of grammar, yet give all the facts of grammar through developing intuitions of objects. Pestalozzi's method was to take from the dictionary the names of certain common things, and also those words which described the most striking qualities possessed by the things-nouns and adjectives as a basis for a lesson. His theory was that, in this way both intuitions and language can be extended and strengthened at the same time; e.g., observation and expression (both involved) will give: the eel is slippery, worm-shaped, leather-skinned; the evening is peaceful, cheerful, cool, rainy; the field is sandy, clayey, sowed, manured, fertile, sterile. Or we can proceed from the adjectives as a basis for calling up in the mind such things as give the impressions associated with these words, thus: round (given)—bullet, hat, moon, sun (recollected); light— feather, down, air; high-towers, mountains, giants, trees. For such exercises in language Pestalozzi used both objects and pictures. He says that these "pictures are selected with a view to present to the child's mind all the chief varieties of objects and their properties, so far as they fall within the reach of our five senses. As to those properties which become known to us only by the intervention of judgment and imagination, I exclude them from my plan of instruction at this period. I am aware that many words denoting such properties will necessarily be caught up by children from the conversation of others, which may have the advantage of setting their imagination to work and awakening their curiosity. For the express purpose of our instruction, however, we should confine ourselves to such objects as are im |