THE GRADUATED SERIES OF READING-LESSON BOOKS FOR ALL CLASSES OF ENGLISH SCHOOLS. IN FIVE BOOKS. BOOK THE FIRST. LONDON: LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, AND ROBERTS. 1860. PREFACE. IN the First Book of the Graduated Series, which is now laid before the public, there is little that calls for special remark. It is intended that this volume should be put into the hands of children who have gone through that rudimentary stage in which the pronunciation of single words or the enunciation of simple sentences is commonly taught.* The lessons which it contains are all of so colloquial and homely a cast that it is believed they present no obstacles which such children will not surmount with alacrity. No attempt has been made in the first section to furnish information or instruction of any kind, the object aimed at being merely to in * A set of Rudimentary Lessons on Reading Sheets is in con templation. ས duce the child to read. It will prove no disadvantage, but rather an advantage, if his ear happens to be already familiar with some of the earlier rhymes and tales. The occasional repetition of certain words and phrases which will be noticed in this part of the volume, is designed to put the children at their ease, and so, by adding to their amusement, to facilitate the acquirement of reading. Those teachers who can "point a moral " with effect, will find suggestive materials in the fables and parables of the second section, which appear preferable to lessons of an abstract and purely doctrinal character. The pieces forming the miscellaneous section, with which the volume closes, are designed to introduce the young learner to that kind of variety in the treatment of simple themes which he will meet with on a slightly extended scale when he passes to Book II. The Editor is desirous of taking the present op portunity of recommending two simple rules for securing intelligible reading a loud utterance always being the conditio sine qua non :— - First, a pupil given to a slovenly mode of articulation should be required to pronounce each word separately-word by word, interpolated by a short pause. Secondly, the teacher should accustom himself to test the accuracy and quality of the reading by his ear alone, using the book merely for the purpose of reference. |