NEW SERIES OF INFANT READERS TO BE RELEASED

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 96, 10 February 1950, Page 5

NEW SERIES OF INFANT READERS TO BE RELEASED

Embodying the latest accepted pi'mciples of teaching practice the “Janet and John” series of new infant readers, which are to be distributed free to primary schools .throughout New Zealand this year, are expected at the Whakatane Primary School either during the second or thii'd terms. Other schools in the district will also receive their quota of the books, which are considered to be an advance on previous similar publications.

Yesterday the headmaster of the* Whakatane Primary School, Mr A. H. Fryer-Raisher, said that advance copies were expected this month but he could not say when they would actually arrive. At the present time instruction preparatory to the introduction of the books is being given in all schools.

From America The “Janet and John” books are an English adaption of the American “Alice and Jerry” series, and the publishers have agreed to print a special New Zealand edition for the, Education Department. Further adaption to conditions in the Dominion has also been made. There are four books in the English series; but seven will be published for New Zealand schools. An introductory book and two transition numbers have been prepared to improve the work still further by more gradual progression in vocabulary. Limited to words which children use naturally, the text is planned so that the number of new words seldom exceed three in 50 of the running series. In the first five books 413 new words are introduced in a total of 6,790. Book 1 (“Here We Go”) uses the following words: Janet, John,, come, book, and, see, the, boats, little, dog, run, here, down, up, aeroplane, my, kitten, one, two, three, I, play, jump, can, horse, ride, go. Another 32 are introduced in “Come and Play,” and 46 in “Out and About.”

Familiar Series The stories in the early numbers are realistic and built round the familiar topics of home, parents, toys, pets, playmates, places to 'go, ways of travelling, and things to see, make and do. More imaginative material is included in the late books: Each book is divided into sections with a complete simple “plot.”

widely-used illustrations are designed to enlarge'the meaning of the text. These are the drawings in colour (one on each page in the early books) all lively and matched to the text.