1168
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
No. 53

spelling. Indeed, the spelling may be judged rather from the composition
and other written work than from special tests. The learning by heart of
lists of spellings and meanings cannot be considered as serving any useful
purpose, but children may be encouraged to bring to school lists of words
and phrases that they have been unable to understand in the books read
at home.

Practice in spelling, it may be added, should be given by written work
alone and not by oral work.

Any spelling shall be allowed that is recognized by the Oxford English
Dictionary, and, ceteris paribus, it is recommended generally that where
this authority gives a choice the more phonetic form should be preferred;
e.g., recognize, rime, gram, kilogram, program, honor, labor, plow, jail,
and not recognise, rhyme, gramme, kilogramme, programme, honour,
labour, plough, gaol.

WRITING.

Writing should be taught by means of blackboard examples, copybooks,
and by transcription. The blackboard should be freely used in class
teaching, not only for setting copies, but for exemplifying and correcting
mistakes. It follows that blackboard copies should be written with the
greatest care. Teachers should pay attention to the correct position of the
body, the proper holding of the pen or pencil, and to the exact imitation
of the copies by the pupils. Black-lead pencils should at first be used in
place of pens, giving place to the latter in the lower standard classes.

Good writing will, however, not be secured merely by formal copybook
instruction. Children become good writers only by writing carefully at
all times, and every lesson in which the child uses the pen or pencil should
contribute to form good handwriting. The copybook will therefore not
be regarded as affording the only, or even the best, test of handwriting.
The judgment of the writing in a school will be based largely on the dictation
and composition exercises, and not on the copybook work alone.

ARITHMETIC.

Ability to apply number to everyday problems is requisite for efficiency
in any position of life. It is very important, therefore, that the teaching
of arithmetic should be planned to strengthen this ability, and should be
associated with matters familiar to the children. To a large extent the
teaching should be concerned with elementary notions of form, size, and
weight rather than with abstract number; in other words, it is concrete
and applied arithmetic which has to be taught. If the practical and utili-
tarian aspects of arithmetic are constantly kept in view, it will be a much
more effective instrument for developing and disciplining the intelligence of
the pupils than if it is taught merely in an abstract manner. In the teaching
every “rule” should in the first instance be presented in a concrete form;
practical exercises in counting, measuring, and weighing should be per-
formed by the children themselves, and the heuristic method or the method
of discovery should be largely used. Cardboard coins may be freely used
when money sums are first introduced. In the highest classes the practical
work should be associated with mensuration, with drawing to scale, and,
as far as possible, with handwork; at the same time, where appropriate,
the use of graphs and graphical methods should be encouraged.

Although the pupils should know before they leave school that 1 rood
= ¼ acre, and 1 square pole = ¹⁄₄₀ rood (as these measures are used in describ-
ing the area of land), yet the reduction of square yards to poles, or vice versa,
need not be taught—the time can be much more usefully employed. The
meaning of decimal fractions should be introduced gradually—at first, 0·1,
0·2, 0·3, &c., of a pound sterling, of a meter, of a ton, of a mile, &c., may
be known respectively as 1 florin, 2 florins, 3 florins, &c.; as 1 decimeter,
2 decimeters, 3 decimeters, &c.; as 2 cwt., 4 cwt., 6 cwt., &c.; as 8 chains,
16 chains, 34 chains, &c.: then 0·01, 0·02. . . . 0·99 may easily be taught
by division of the meter into centimeters, and in like manner suitable con-
crete examples may be taken for 0·001, &c. The reduction at sight of deci-
mals of a pound to shillings and pence, and vice versa, will enable the pupils
to appreciate rapidly the meaning of decimals; and one of the chief uses
of the metric units will be to afford easy concrete examples of decimal frac-
tions.

The following figures will give sufficiently near approximations for the
equivalents in English measures of the metric standards: 1 kilometer =
1,100 yd., 1 meter = 40 in., 1 decimeter = 4 in., 1 centimeter = ²⁄₅ in. or
0·4 in.; 1 kilogram (kilo) = 2·2 lb., 1 gram = 0·035 oz., or 1 ounce =
28 grams; 1 liter = 1¾ pints. In S6 algebraic and graphic methods may
be used where the solution is thereby made shorter or easier. (By the sug-
gestion that algebraic methods may be used it is not intended that a course
in algebra should be attempted, but that the use of algebraic symbols—e.g.,