CONFERENCE OF MODERN LANGUAGE TEACHERS OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS

A CONFERENCE for the Teachers of Modern Languages in New England was held on May 3,4, and5 in Dartmouth Hall, under the auspices of the French and German Departments of Dartmouth College, with an attendance of about seventy-five teachers. Mr. Morrison, State Superintendent of Schools in New Hampshire was appointed chairman, and served throughout the series of meeting.

The first two speakers, Mr. P. O. Skinner and Professor A. K. Hardy, dealt exclusively with books which should form-the library of those who are to teach French and German m an effective manner. These lists of books are to be augmented, and a printed copy of each one is to be sent to every teacher who was present at the

The paper read by Mr. Watson, of the English Department of Dartmouth' College, dealing with the practical use of the Phonetic Method of teaching pronunciation of foreign languages, aroused considerable interesting comment. The Phonetic System seems to be the only possible way of teaching an adult the correct pronunciation of a language, unless he can devote years to study. It is practica or American schools. The trouble in America that prevents its use is that Americans are unwilling to give the time required to learn to pronounce well a foreign language. Any approximation seems to be sufficient for them. No system can teach pronunciation in a few lessons, the Phonetic Method does not claim to be able to do that. It is, however, as rapid as is consistent with thorough work.

The lecture at the evening session was by Professor Horatio S. White on the Disciplinary and. the Cultural Value of the Modern Languages. Professor White's argument, which he elaborated in detail with much effect, was that while modern languages cannot expect to displace Latin and Greek for humanistic training, nevertheless the disciplinary and cultural value of modern languages is such that they are of large importance for such training and that their benefits may be made to approach closely those of the ancient languages.

Miss Mary Stone Bruce'5 paper on College Entrance Requirements m French, may be summarized as follows:

Without exception all colleges insist that students that come to them for examination in French be well prepared in the elements of French grammar, an that they be able to translate well into English fairly easy French prose and poetry. Furthermore, while the colleges differ slightly in the statement of requirements for this part or the examination, they agree in adding .

" The candidates' should be able to write ordinary French from dictation, and '' Pronunciation should be carefully taught, and pupils should have frequent opportunities to hear French read or spoken." But when the time comes for examination the candidates find before them some lines of more or less connected prose, a few lrregular verbs, but not the slightest opportunity to prove that they have really acquired the power of understanding spoken French and of writing it under dictation.

Teachers, then, come to regard this dictation and pronunciation work as unnecessary, or at least superfluous, with the result that they disregard it and devote all their time to other things. Now, it is clear that more than half of the high school pupils never go to college, yet for the sake of those who are preparing to take entrance examinations they are made to sacrifice the chance to learn to understand spoken French. The aim of the teacher has become, then, to enable his pupils to pass examinations, and not to give them a useful knowledge of the spoken language. French Composition on entrance examination papers should be based upon some definite text, for it is not vocabulary, but rather construction, that is to be asked of preparatory schools. In private schools the teachers have an advantage over the instructors in the high schools, for practically every student in the former schools is preparing to enter college.

Professor Dow,in speaking of the defects in preparation in French,laid particular emphasis on the fact that the beginner is given by far too much detail in grammar. As a result he loses the inspiration that comes from actual contact with the living part of the language at an early moment in his study. Instead of going painfully through a long grammar, taking everything as it comes, it has seemed best to the teachers in Dartmouth to employ a grammar of some thirty lessons, in which all the essentials are given, and to take at first only the French into English leaving the translation of the English into French for the review.

With this method the student gets to reading at the end of the second month, at the latest. A large amount of reading gives a sense of progress to the pupil, yet it is clear that beginners cannot be expected to read very carefully long passages. To remedy this defect let the teacher require the accurate translation of only a small part of the lesson, lea vi tig the remainder to be read for an appreciation of the meaning only.

When the grammar has been carefully reviewed, compositon, based on some text, should be introduced, for in this way an excellent opportunity for the study of idiomatic expressions, which have purposely been omitted up to this time, is given. To train the pupil in pronunciation he should be required to read aloud what he has written, or to read, after the teacher, parts of the translation lesson that has been assigned ; and to accustom his. ear to the sounds of the new language he can very profitably be required to write French under dictation.

Mr. Eugene F. Clark, speaking on the requirements in German for entrance to college, favored the adoption of requirements which would encourage more thoroughness of preparation, rather than partial knowledge of many works, and he urged a] completer knowledge of pronunciation.

Mr.Stewart, speaking on the defects in preparation in German said, a great deal of the bad pronunciation from students who take the college examinations results from the fact that their courses in German, under the stress of work in the last year of preparatory schools, have been neglected, or totally abandoned. In reality there should not be any break between the secondary school and the college.

The average candidates for entrance to colleges pronounce the German language fairly well. Especially is this true when the phonetic method has been used in teaching them the sounds. To train the pupil's ear to the sounds of the language the employment of dictation is extremely useful; but sporadic attempts to profit by its use are not worth while.

On the whole, students coming from the secondary school are able to translate fairly well simple prose, but as soon as anything somewhat complicated is presented to them they do extremely careless work. The reason for this does not lie in the fact that they have not had a fairly good preparation in the elements of German Syntax, but rather in the fact that they never have received sufficient drill in English or Latin Grammar to enable them to co-ordinate-the different parts of the sentence. This condition of affairs is especially manifested in the careless translation of conjunctions and adverbs.

The paper that called forth the greatest amount of discussion was read by Mr. Julius Tuckerman, of the Central High School of Springfield, Mass. A summary of it follows:

For many years Latin and Greek have held a certain definite position in the requirements for entrance to college, and the result is that colleges have now a uniform standard for such examinations. There is always in the catalogue a very definite statement as to what is required, in the way of amount of reading and in the amount of time that must be spent in preparation for accomplishing the work if students are to be able to pass the examinations. Now this is not so with respect to the study of Modern Languages, which only of recent years has taken on any considerable importance. Colleges, although they might easily conform with the Report of the Committee of Twelve, have not yet announced with any degree of uniformity, the exact titles of books or the precise amount of work that shall be insisted upon from the students if they wish to present themselves for the examination.

There is, furthermore, in Latin and Greek, a definite understanding as to what a year's work in those branches means. In French and German, on the other hand) there is such lack of uniformity that a pupil going from one school to another can never be sure that he has satisfied the requirements for entrance into the new institution.

On account of the importance given to Latin and Greek, each of which outweighs twice over French and German together, it is very clear that secondary school teachers will inevitably put the greatest stress on the Classical Languages, for their work has now developed into a struggle for points at the time of the examinations, and not into a desire to instill a certain amount of culture into their pupils. The colleges are wholly responsible for this chaotic state, for they will not give sufficient amount of credit to the Modern Languages to make it worth while in the secondary school teacher's eyes to have his pupils study a language as it should be studied, namely, with due attention to the pronunciation and to the development of the power to understand the language when spoken or read. Colleges agree only on demanding a certain amount of reading, some 300 pages. To get onto some sure ground, then, the teachers hurry their pupils through a minimum amount of grammar in order to get them to reading. Thus it is that instead of approaching a language, which is a spoken thing, through the proper channels, all beginners approach it almost exclusively through the silent letter of the printed page.

Nobody will deny that if the colleges should abandon the habit of requiring a certain amount of work to be done on certain Latin and Greek books, and should allow the preparatory schools to make their curricula suit their own convenience, it would be a decided step backward. Conversely it would be a great step forward if a certain amount of work were required on certain books in preparation for the examinations in French and in German for entrance to college.

The two aims of secondary school teachers are: to teach French or German for the sake of the culture that will result; or to teach just enough of one or the other of these languages to enable the students to pass the college requirements. Evidently these two objects are antagonistic. Either a great amount of time must be spent in training the ear and eye of the pupil, sacrificing the hope of covering huge amounts of reading in a slipshod manner in the expectation of getting quantity to atone for quality, or else the emphasis must be put on reading, to the neglect of the living features of the language. This latter is the more prevalent condition, for there is no likelihood that the college will give to ability to pronounce and understand French or German any credit commensurate with the amount of work that must be put into them for that purpose.

By uniting on demands like the following ones the colleges could do a vast amount of good for the preparatory schools:

(i) Let more time, and a given amount of time be given to the preparation of Modern Languages.

(2) Let a few specified books be read and studied carefully.

(3) Let more attention be paid to pronunciation and to training in understanding spoken French.

(4) Let an elementary knowledge of both French and German be required of all who enter the colleges.

(5) Let the. French and German have as many credits as the Latin or Greek.

Nearly all secondary school teachers are now complaining that it is not possible for them to give the proper amount of time to the Modern Languages, on account of the pressure exerted by the other branches. If, however, the colleges demanded a reasonable amount of work and insisted on a reasonable amount of time to do it, then the teachers, freed from the worry which comes from the knowledge that a certain large amount of reading must be done, would go to work in a more leisurely way and would spend the necessary time to make sure that the principles were mastered by every pupil.

If there were a certain list of books to be used nearly every year we undoubtedly would soon find that a distinct advance had been made by the publishers, who would vie with each other in getting out the best notes or the clearest vocabulary. But now we have at times books that are fit neither for a preparatory school nor for a college.

Now that the secondary schools have teachers who are competent to teach a good pronunciation to their pupils, rapidity in reading should be sacrificed, if necessary, to allowing the student to get a fairly acceptable pronunciation, for unless he does get it in the preparatory school the chances are that he will never acquire it. Rapidity in reading can easily be gained in college. Only a simple dictation would be required to prove to the authorities whether or not the student recognized the sounds in French or in German. Little by little then the requirements for the Modern Languages would become as difficult as are those for the Latin and the Greek. Naturally, then, the amount of weight given for the former languages would naturally equalize that of the latter.

Furthermore, under such conditions there might be introduced into the classes a study of the institutions of other countries than their own, just as now the classical students are required to familiarize themselves with the ways of the ancient nations.

The Germans have of late adopted a motto that governs the choice of books to be used in the secondary schools. This motto is: "Wertvoller Inhalt in EdlerForm." To how many of our text books of fairy stories and tales could such a motto be applied? Very few, indeed.

Mr. Tuckerman gave an outline of a thiee years' course in French and in German to illustrate his points, and closed by saying:

There are two things which the teachers of Modern Languages need especially at present: First, a periodical that will treat in a practical way the everyday problems that a teacher meets in his class-room. Second, the establishment in college of a one year's course for those who intend to teach Modern Languages. At present most colleges are concerned with turning investigators, not teachers, and it is not fair to assume that a man with a Ph. D. is any better to impart instruction than one without such an ornament. If the colleges would devote more attention to this matter they would be casting bread upon the waters that wouid surely return to them in the shape of students who with better preparation would eventually raise the whole standard of Modern Language instruction in this country.

Under the head of Personal Experiences in teaching elementary French and German, Mr. Head, Miss Averill, Miss O'Leary, Professor Adams, and Mr. Alder, spoke, without exception, in favor of the Grammar Method instead of in behalf of the so-called Natural Method.

Without taking up the discussion in detail, a digest is given herewith of Mr. Alder's paper:

After outlining the work of the German Department at the Phillips Exeter Academy and calling particular attention to the stress laid upon the grammar training of the students, Mr. Alder spent the rest of his time discussing the methods that are in use in Exeter to bring the students into closer touch with the life and customs, the culture and the aims of the German people. To quicken the interest and to give to the work a pleasant aspect Mr. Alder has organized a Deutscher Verein among the students, at the meetings of which the literary programs are for the most part entirely in German. One especially pleasing feature is the interest shown by all the members in German customs, which are frequently discussed at length, by the students as well as by the instructor. It is thus that a great stimulus is given to the work in conversation and composition for which there is not adaquate time in the class-room.

A Verein, energetically managed, is as stimulating to the teacher as to the pupil. It affords him a constant field for his originality, prevents his German from crystalizing into classroom formulas and keeps his mind constantly alert for interesting material regarding Germany, To the student it is an "open sesame" to much which could not otherwise be given in his German course. It furnishes him a better opportunity for practical work in speaking the language and renders him far more capable of a just appreciation of the people whose language and literature he is studying.

Professor Taylor spoke upon the subject of the value of the use of Latin in the teaching of French. He advised teachers to introduce as early as possible comments to show the origin of French in Latin and acquaint students with a brief history of the development of French out of Latin. He advised teachers to early connect the study of French with the first page of Caesar, and to have students know the race from which the French have sprung, and further, make allusion to their teaching to what the invasion of the Germans added to the composition of the French language. Professor Taylor then followed with a, concrete list of simple illustrations of how the teaching of French may be enlivened by relating it to Latin. In conclusion he made an appeal for a longer grammar discipline for all our students. He especially asked that teachers advise that this discipline should be through the means of Latin grammar. He called attention to the obstacles in the way to such a consideration of grammar, such as the utilitarianism of parents and school boards who desire results wholly incommensurate with the time given to grammar in our system of education.

Friday evening, May 4, Professor Frederic C. de Sumichrast of Harvard University, gave in French a very interesting illustrated lecture on "Versailles—Le Palais du Grand Roi." On the following morning Mr. Sumichrast outlined to the Conference the origin and the purpose of the Alliance Francaise, a society which at the present time is having an enormous influence in widening the sphere of influence of the French language and literature. Its initial object was to develop French schools in the Orient, in the various countries in which France is charged with the protectorate over the Christians. Soon after the foundation of the society a great many Americans who were in Paris began to inquire for a school where they might be trained thoroughly in French. Thereupon the Alliance took upon itself to furnish the chance asked for, and so succesfully has it done so that now teachers come from all parts of the world to follow the courses given by the Alliance in Paris, every summer.

It was regretted that neither Mr. Aldrich of Worcester Academy, nor Professor Josselyn of Boston University were able to attend the Conference. The former sent a telegram at the last moment saying that he was unable to attend, while the latter was confined to the hospital with a serious illness.

The Conference was a decided suc- cess. It aroused great activity and sustained interest on the part of all who attended. All the papers read were very practical, and (if judgment can be made from letters that have come to the College since the Conference closed) it has already had a considerable influence on the work of those who heard the discussions.

The series of annual conferences for teachers in the preparatory schools, of which this one concerning methods and problems of teaching the Modern Languages is the most recent,is profitable for the College men, no less than for the fitting school teachers. It is of importance that teachers in the schools should understand the requirements and the aims of the College, but obviously it is also necessary that the College should comprehend the difficulties and limitations of the work in the schools.

This conference, like the others, was undertaken for the gaining as well as the imparting of knowledge, and the contributions of visiting teachers were most profitable.

Mention is made in other columns of efforts being made by the College to be of assistance to its large quota of men in the teacher's profession. The conferences held from year to year are not an unimportant phase of this work.