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THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 7

Spelling.—Dictation of words from the reading-book and of easy sentences. Word-building continued. Spelling of all common words contained in one of the reading-books. Common homonyms, as their, there; air, e’er, ere, heir; to, too, two, &c.

Some such scheme of word-building is recommended as the following, which is based upon a more complete treatment of the various vowel sounds than has been given in earlier classes—e.g., father, papa, fah, lah, aunt; fat, ant, attach, &c.; gate, cage, mare, mane, dame, ancient, &c.; bait, maid, saint, remain, pair, &c.; stray, betray, spray, &c.; eight, rein, reign, neighbour, &c.; set, get, &c.; health, breast, &c.; heifer, said, &c.; been, eve, succeed, precede, teach, piece, believe, receive, machine, &c.; live, engine, build, guinea, forfeit, &c.; all, awl, alter, gaunt, naughty, fought, &c.; top, cough, knowledge, &c.; bone, loaf, toe, potato, snow, follow, &c.; cut, tough, dove, son, &c.; flute, pool, true, soup, shoe, through, &c.; full, good, could, &c.; find, dine, try, dye, sigh, height, buy, guide, &c.; boy, boil, buoy, &c.; cow, found, plough, nikau, &c.; pew, due, mule, beauty, feudal, &c.

Recitation.—Not less than 150 lines of suitable standard poetry. A syllabus of the work done during the year to be given to the Inspector.

STANDARD IV.

Reading.—Two books, suited to children of ten or eleven years of age; treated as for Standard III.

Composition.—Analysis, synthesis, and variation of the form of very easy sentences. The recognition of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, by their functions in easy sentences. Distinction between singular and plural, between past and present, present and future, taught by examples and by the variation of simple sentences. Correction of common errors of the spoken and the written language corresponding to this stage. Oral description in consecutive sentences of simple objects or phenomena, or of simple incidents, or of pictures, or the oral reproduction of easy stories and fables. Written composition to correspond. Letter-writing.

Writing.—Transcription of prose or of the poetry learnt for recitation, with due regard to paragraphs or to the lines and stanzas of the poetry, and to all punctuation marks. Copying simple invoices relating to ordinary retail trades.

Spelling.—Word-building continued; other words from one of the reading-books. Dictation suited to this stage.

The word-building might include the formation of plurals (regular and irregular) of nouns, and of the participles and past tenses of verbs; also words with silent consonants and vowels more completely treated than before—e.g., climb, palm, yacht, design, bough, height, ghost, honest, thyme, carriage, business, knowledge, wrinkle, castle, sword, autumn, &c.

Recitation.—Not less than 150 lines of poetry as before, but suited to this stage. A syllabus of the work done during the year to be given to the Inspector.

STANDARD V.

Reading.—Two books suited to this stage.

Composition.—Oral and written compositions on suitable topics. The pupils may be expected to give in their own words the substance of a story contained in a ballad or other simple poem, but paraphrase as usually understood is not to be expected.

The exercises in oral composition should embrace simple narratives and continuous short descriptions of natural objects, as of plants or geographical features, or of scientific experiments, or of pictures. Analysis, synthesis, and variation in the form of very easy sentences; knowledge of the functions of adjective phrases and adjective clauses, of noun phrases and noun clauses, and of adverbial phrases and adverbial clauses, in easy direct sentences, as far as they can be distinguished by answering such questions as “What kind of?” “Which?” “What?” “When?” “Where?” “How?”—e.g., “The State requires for its leaders men endowed with honesty, courage, and intelligence”—“What kind of men does the State require?” “I remember the house where I was born”—“Which house do I remember?” “It is glorious to die for one’s country”—“What is glorious?” “I know where he lives”—“What do I know?” “After the war Lord Kitchener returned to England,” or “When the war was over Lord Kitchener returned to England”—“When did he return to England?” &c. The children should be trained to ask the questions themselves.

(Complete analysis is not to be expected, nor are the children to be required to pick out adjective phrases and clauses, noun phrases and clauses, or adverbial phrases and clauses, except in answer to such