E.—2.

Appendix C.

necessary expression being regarded as of minor importance. Pupils should read for meaning and not for mere reading practice, and when they read aloud their efforts should be consciously directed to the form and style of expression as concerned with aesthetic appreciation by the ear. In other words, pupils who have been properly taught and have profited by the instructions should be able, when reading aloud, to convey to a listener not merely the gist of the passage but its meaning clearly and pleasantly expressed. " Barking at print," as some one has tersely described the process, should give place to more ambitious aims, and pupils should be taught to read with intelligence and feeling. The chief object with which reading is taught is to enable children to master written or printed matter for their own information. In addition to this, however, it is most desirable that pupils should gradually come to appreciate good books and develop a taste for good literature. It is here that the teacher's power can be very effective and his influence and example very helpful, for it is mainly on his skilful treatment of lessons that the interest aroused will depend. A teacher without some knowledge of literature and without some appreciation of literary ideals cannot hope to inspire his pupils with a desire to learn and know something of the beauties of thought and setting with which good literature abounds, nor can he hope profitably to direct the reading of his pupils when recommending books from school or public libraries. We are glad to welcome amongst the additions to the reading-matter available for schools many of the recent publications containing carefully selected passages from standard authors, of sufficient length to enable pupils to form some conception of the author's style and of his claims to literary distinction. These should be used freely in the schools and should gradually supersede the " miscellaneous " reader as the class reading-book. Recitation shows but little improvement in many schools. The pieces selected are so hackneyed and so inferior in quality that they raise the unpleasant suspicion that not a few teachers have no more intimate acquaintance with the rich realm of English poetry than can be gained from the ordinal}' school reading-book. We frequently find that the same pieces are learnt year after year by the same class, so that pupils are unable to escape from dreary repetition, which must rob the selections of interest and foster an attitude of indifference, if not of dislike. The selections, moreover, are sometimes imperfectly known, and are often repeated with rhythmic monotony and lifeless expression, as though the task of committing the lines to memory was regarded as useless, uninteresting, and depressing. If the recitation lesson is to be a success not only should the selections be appropriate, but the meaning and aim of the passage should be realized by pupils, who should be trained to express in tone and gesture the beauty of thought and language enshrined in the author's words. Composition. —Composition varies from " satisfactory to good " where the subject receives careful and satisfactory attention, and where due regard is paid to oral treatment in the lower classes and throughout the school. In many schools these conditions do not obtain, and the actual teaching bestowed on the subject is quite insufficient to secure satisfactory results. Too frequently the lesson consists in requiring the class to write a certain number of sentences on a subject announced at the last moment, and in the treatment of which they receive practically no help or guidance. Some teachers, we fear, are too easily satisfied with the efforts of their pupils; others, through inexperience, set up an unduly low standard; others again do not teach the subject according to approved methods. The result is that in only the best schools can the exercises presented in Standard VI be deemed satisfactory, in view of the number of years pupils have been receiving instructions in this subject—their mother-tongue. We are of the opinion that a considerable improvement could speedily be effected if the subject were taught methodically, skilfully, step by step —if teachers, in short, would realize that reading, recitation, English grammar, and analysis, and practically all oral work, should be regarded as parts of the same subject. A study of some of the prose and poetry in the reading-books, including the memorizing of certain passages with the object of enlarging the pupil's vocabulary and of enabling him to understand something of the writer's methods in the use of language, would be found of very real service; whilst a more liberal use of the blackboard appears to be urgentty needed. In connexion with the teaching of this subject the following publications will supply useful information and afford welcome assistance: "Preparatory Reading and Composition" and " Picture Composition," both by Lewis Marsh; and " Tlie Model Class-books of English Composition," by Chambers and Ker (Blackie and Son). Arithmetic. —Much of what we have written in former reports still applies to the teaching of this subject. Some teachers still regard mental arithmetic as an additional subject, and not as a very real and necessary aid to intelligent comprehension of the various processes it becomes necessary to apply, and as a most essential step.otowards acquiring familiarity with the principles involved. In the new syllabus just issued special stress is laid on the importance of practical work, which as far as possible should be continued throughout all classes. The need for the rule should rise from experience, and the rule should be formulated as the result of experiment and observation. As the pupils grow older he will give more and more attention to the processes of reasoning in making these formulations. The application of rules should always include a large number of simple problems varied in character, and the solutions should be written out clearly— i.e., the sentences, although written in arithmetical shorthand, should be logically connected. A variety of problems in each rule is a matter of the first importance, in order to demand from the pupil an intelligent examination of method in each case. " I have not done that kind of sum before " is a reason often given for not attempting a solution, an attitude of mind arising from a course of instruction in which problem-work is limited in amount and lacking in variety. It should be remembered that it is not facility in solving certain types of problems, but an attitude of mind, a. mode of attack, that we wish to develop. We would further draw attention to the matter of setting down the work in general. When pupils are engaged in doing written

IV