Reading Without Tears
IAM teaching my daughter to read. It is very difficult. I cannot imagine how I learned to read myself. And when I look at the classic calledReading Without Tears, which was, I understand, the foundation of my learning, I am yet more puzzled. The author of the book seems to believe strongly in original sin. In the Preface I read: “Tears must be shed by sinful little creatures subject to waywardness and deserving so many reproofs and corrections”; but reading need not be such an occasion; and again, “Observe their minutest actions; shut not your eyes to their sinful nature; nor believe themincapableof injustice or unkindness, of deceit of covetousness.” Perhaps this attitude explains the book.
The author’s great idea ispictures. A is like a hut with a window upstairs. B, on the other hand, is like a house with two windows; and little b is like a child with a wide frock coming to you. When I look at the pictures opposite I see what the author means, but when I look at A and B andlittle b dispassionately by themselves they suggest nothing at all to me. I simply cannot imagine the hut or the house or the child with the wide frock.
letters“Did we really...?”
“Did we really...?”
A is like a hutwith a windowupstairsB is like ahouse with twowindowsC is likean open mouth
But let us look at some more. D is like an old man leaning on a stick; E is like a carriage with a little seat for the driver; G is like a monkey eating a cake. These are no better. Try as I may, I cannot see the little seat for the driver; or if I do, I see it just as vividly in F. But F is like a tree with a seat for a child. So I know that I am wrong.
Now the pictorial memory is a valuable thing;and this pictorial method of teaching is no doubt valuable. But surely the pictures are of no real use unless there is some inevitable connection, however slight, between the form of the thing which it is desired to impress on the memory and the picture with which it is compared. My daughter’s imagination is, of course, much more vivid than mine, but, even so, I cannot imagine her looking coolly at the naked D and saying, “Yes, that is the old man leaning on a stick.” She is more likely to say, “That is the ground-floor of the house with two windows,” for she has a logical mind. And even if she does not remember the futile picture of the old man in a long shirt with his body bent at right angles to his legs, I don’t see why, even then, she should connect him with D. There is nothing peculiarly D-ish about an old man. Yet it seems that I learned my alphabet in this way. I was a clever child, though sinful, I fear.
Then we get on to words. The book follows the first principle of all teachers of languages in arranging that among the first words which the child learns there are as many words as possible which he will never use as a child, and, indeed, will probably never encounter in his entire career. Prominent among the first words in this book are such favourites aspap,bin,hob,sob, andsop,emmetandtome. Each of these is printed three times, in a column, like this:
Over each column is a little picture. When you are teaching the childpapyou say to her: “P-aP, pap—do you see the pretty picture? That is a nanny with a baby in her lap. She is giving the baby a bottle. The bottle has pap in it. At least, it is not pap, really, but it is called pap for the purposes of the alphabet. You remember the letters, don’t you? First there is a big P—youknow, like a man with a pack on his back. Then a little a, which is like a goose on the water. Then a little p; that is like another man coming to you with a pack on his back. Now we have it all in big letters. Maggie, read them out.”
Maggie(firmly). K.You.No, no, not K. Don’t you remember the picture?Maggie.Yes, it was a nanny with a baby.You.No, not that one. It was a man with a pack on his back—P.Maggie.P.You.That’s right. What comes next?Maggie.A goose on the water.You.No, that was alittlea. This is a bigletter. Don’t you remember the dear little hut with the window upstairs? What letter was that?Maggie.B.You.No, no, that was ahouse, not ahut, and it hadtwowindows. Don’t be so inaccurate. This is a big A. Now, what’s next?Maggie.A little house with a nanny inside. And there’s a goose in the garden. And a baby.You(patiently). No, this is another P. He is like a man with a pack on his back. P-A-P pap—there you are. That’s very good.Maggie.May I go into the garden now?You.Yes.
Maggie(firmly). K.
You.No, no, not K. Don’t you remember the picture?
Maggie.Yes, it was a nanny with a baby.
You.No, not that one. It was a man with a pack on his back—P.
Maggie.P.
You.That’s right. What comes next?
Maggie.A goose on the water.
You.No, that was alittlea. This is a bigletter. Don’t you remember the dear little hut with the window upstairs? What letter was that?
Maggie.B.
You.No, no, that was ahouse, not ahut, and it hadtwowindows. Don’t be so inaccurate. This is a big A. Now, what’s next?
Maggie.A little house with a nanny inside. And there’s a goose in the garden. And a baby.
You(patiently). No, this is another P. He is like a man with a pack on his back. P-A-P pap—there you are. That’s very good.
Maggie.May I go into the garden now?
You.Yes.
After that we learn sentences, and we raise in the child’s mind a few more simple pictures of Nature by repeating several times such statements as:
A pig had a fig.
A pig had a fig.
A pig had a fig.
A pig had a fig.
The author introduces us to Ben, who cansupsop. Ben, however, has a fat pup, and this pup cannotsipsop. My daughter, as I said, has a logical mind, and she immediately asked if Ben’s pup couldsupsop. She had perceived at once that if he could neither sip nor sup the unfortunate animal was cut off from sop altogether. I said I didn’t know. I don’t. But I see that Ben fed Poll on bun, so I expect he gave the pup some too.
It is a pity that the author could not provide pictures for some of the more striking incidents she records. Some of these would do:
I met a cat in a bogI sat in a bogA hog is in a bogA wig is in a bogA pen is in a bogI had a red bedTen men had a penI had a wet henI fed ten men in a den
I met a cat in a bogI sat in a bogA hog is in a bogA wig is in a bogA pen is in a bogI had a red bedTen men had a penI had a wet henI fed ten men in a den
I met a cat in a bogI sat in a bogA hog is in a bogA wig is in a bogA pen is in a bogI had a red bedTen men had a penI had a wet henI fed ten men in a den
I met a cat in a bog
I sat in a bog
A hog is in a bog
A wig is in a bog
A pen is in a bog
I had a red bed
Ten men had a pen
I had a wet hen
I fed ten men in a den
I should have thought that by appropriate illustrations the child might have been helped to a greater knowledge, not only of letters, but of life.
But perhaps the most vivid of all these pages is page 99, which I produce verbatim:
A bun is in a tunA gun is in a tunA dog is in a tunA hog is in a tunA pig is in a tunA wig is in a tunA hen is in a tunA pen is in a tun
A bun is in a tunA gun is in a tunA dog is in a tunA hog is in a tunA pig is in a tunA wig is in a tunA hen is in a tunA pen is in a tun
A bun is in a tunA gun is in a tunA dog is in a tunA hog is in a tunA pig is in a tunA wig is in a tunA hen is in a tunA pen is in a tun
A bun is in a tun
A gun is in a tun
A dog is in a tun
A hog is in a tun
A pig is in a tun
A wig is in a tun
A hen is in a tun
A pen is in a tun
Note.—Let the child begin the book again, if it likes.
Whatisa tun? Until I started out to educate my daughter I did not know. But then, I am not a sinful child. For hush! it seems to be a sort ofbarrel. I have drawn rather a jolly tun myself.
If we could only look back into our childish minds and really recapture the impressions of life (if any) which inhabitated us at the end of a day when we had triumphantly mastered page 99 and similar pages, and if one could set those impressions down in print, what rich romances might be born into the world!
But is there no Society for the Protection of Children from This Sort of Book?
tunA pen is in a tun.”
A pen is in a tun.”