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Education by Gramdphone
Lecture Records of the International Educational Society, [ 91 Petty France, Westrhinster, S.W.1, published by the
il Columbia Graphophone Co. Ltd. [ The New Linguaphone French Conversational Course. (The Linguaphone Language Institute, 24-27 High Holborn, London, W.C.1.) TILE sixth series of Lecture Records recently issued by the International Educational Society shows that the high stan- dard set up by this organization continues to be maintained.
In the lecture entitled " The Changing School," Dr. P. B. Ballard refers to some of the changes made in elementary education within the last thirty years. Subjects which once , - _ occupied a large and honoured place in the curriculum haye been largely removed. . • • - the primary At one time formal grammar was universally taught in the
primary school. It was regarded as the best way to teach English. It was observed that the London Boy used the word ' done ' when the ordinary person used ' did ' and it was really believed that if
he only learnt that ' done ' was a participle, and ' a finite verb, he would never make that blunder again ! So little children of 8 were taught to pick out nouns and verbs, and older children were taught to-parse and analyse long-and difficult sentences. Then it was discovered that this laborious teaching had - no effect 'at all upon- childien's speech, nor upon their written composition:, . -• • . - Grammar was therefore taken out of the syllabus. But as it is now found that a little grammar is necessary for a complete mastery of the mother tongue, and as an aid to learning a foreign language, " a little 'grammar " has been put back. - • Dr. Percy Buck, who lectures on " How to Listen to Music," talks interestingly about rhythm, that word which, he says, " always rather puzzles people who try to grasp its meaning, because it is used fora lot of different things."
" When' anything is definitely, repeated at exactly equal intervals of time, such- as your steps in walking or the.taps of an electric riveter, it is said to. be Rhythmical in the most elementary sense of the word. It would be best if such repetitions were merely called periodic '—as they are called in science . . . It is impossible to attend' to periedie repetitions -without- mentally grouping them' in twos and threes . . . This irrepressible insistence of the human mind On grouping recurring beats into twos and threes by inventing an accent; is the cause ofwhat is known as ' time ' in music."
Dr. Buck illustrates 'his lecture well : " Everyone is capable of liking things. There are millions of people in England- who like music, and- pictures and books. Edu- cating people in art does not mean increasing the number of people who like it, though that may be one of the results of Education. It means increasing eau* the discrimination of those who 'already like it, and the very first step in discrimination is to be clear in your own' mind—when you say you like or dislike a thing—what factor it is
in the thing that attracts or repels you.". •
Among other lectures in this series are " The Empire in the New Era " by Mr. Amery, Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, " Sonic Famous English Letter Writers " by Miss Winifred- Htighes, "Twentieth Century Poetry " by Professor B. Ifor Evans, " The Mandate System of the League of Nations" by Lord Lugard, and—specially recommended for schools Shakespearean Recital " by Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson and " The Speaking of Verse " by Mr: John Drinkwater.
To the student of French who is unable to avail himself of that best of tutors—residence in France—the new French Conversational Records, issued by the Linguaphone Institute are to be recommended. These records, to the making of which a number of eminent French philologists—including Professor H. E. Berthon of Oxford and Professor Denis Saurat, Directeur de l'Institut Francais and Professor of French at London University—have contributed, deal lesson by lesson with perfectly natural idiomatic language. A variety of interesting aspects of modern French life are discussed in these lessons, including " L' Automobile " and " La Tele- phonic sans Fil," thus introducing many useful words which have only recently become current. A helpful phonetic record is provided which affords a complete reference to sounds in the French language which are. difficult for the _Englishman to pronounce. This phonetic.
record is invaluable because it helps at those fences—the bane of the English student—the French " " eu," and often " e "—occurring - in the words juge," " une,", " rue," " feutre," " ceux," soeur," " leur," " oeil," etc.
Here is a typical extract from the conversation record on " L'Automobile " " Tiens Voila. que mon mateur s'arr:te . . . tsa y'est C'ost la-panne. Heureusement que nous sommes a deux pas d'un garage ; j'apervois sa pompe essence-7-Voudriez-vous venir voir co qu'a• iron mOteur, Monsieur Voyons . . . Votre carburateur est bouche ! Mais non ! Vos bowies sont ecrasees ! Non plus ! . . . C'est drilla . . Eh ! mais yens. n'avez plus une goutte &essence dans votre reservoir, voila tout ! "
Truly a pleasant change from the old and dreary textbook " conversation." The publishers' assertion, in the well- planned textbook which forms part of the course, that " one cannot learn correct pronunciation unless one has first heard' correct pronunciation," is not made without reason. The gramophone undoubtedly can help the of to learn, by constant repetition, the correct sounds of the language he is studying. Grammar forms an important factor in the Linguaphone course, but its introduction is almost imper- ceptible. The whole course consists of sixteen double-sided records, with books to follow the text. It costs six guineas. gu,
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