The Teaching
of .
Modern Foreign Languages
in our Secondary Schools
BY
KARL BREUL
LITT.D. (CAMBRIDGE), PH.D. (BERLIN) CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LECTURER IN GERMAN
CAMBRIDGE:
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 1898
[All Rights reserved.]
Cambridge :
PRINTED BY J. AND C. F. CLAY, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
PREFACE.
paper on ' the teaching of modern foreign languages ' -L was first read, in the Lent Term of 1895, to the students of the ' Cambridge Training College for Women Teachers ' and was twice repeated, with but a few alterations, in subsequent years. It was also read, by the request of the Syndicate, to the students attending the Cambridge University Extension Courses in August 1896.
The lectures were originally intended to form an Intro- duction to some criticism lessons of modern language lessons given by the students of the Training College, and the principles set forth in the lectures were at once practically applied in the detailed criticism of the lessons heard. The lectures were intended to be above all suggestive and stimu- lating, but no attempt could be made to discuss in full the views either of the old school of language teachers and examiners who are hostile to any reform or of some modem extremists.
A few slight alterations were introduced and some references to recent literature on the subject added when the lectures were revised for the Press, but, apart from these exceptions, they are substantially printed as they were first written in the Christmas Vacation of 1894.
A paper ' on the training of teachers of modern foreign languages,' read in April 1894 to the College of Preceptors
260611
vi Preface.
(printed in the Educational Times , May 1894, and reprinted by Professor Victor's special request in Die Neueren Sprachen ii. 424 sqq., 585 sqq.), supplements in several respects the views set forth in these lectures and may be read in connection with them.
The essay describing the contents of a well-equipped ' reference library of a school teacher of German ' is a revised and enlarged reprint from the Modern Language Quarterly n. It was thought that many teachers would like to have it as a useful appendix to the first paper.
The author is anxious to tender his heartiest thanks to Dr Henry Jackson of Trinity College, Professor G. C. Moore Smith, M.A., of the Firth College, Sheffield, and the Rev. W. A. Cox, M.A., of St John's College, who kindly read through the lectures and contributed some valuable suggestions.
The author is convinced that many important changes are needed in our present system of Modern Language teaching and examining ; he believes that many teachers share this conviction and are ready to consider new problems in con- nection with their teaching and to take part in the necessary re-modelling of the system. It is hoped that to such teachers the present pamphlet will be acceptable. The outlook seems promising. Modern Languages are at last beginning to re- ceive in this country the attention to which the subject is entitled not only by its practical usefulness but still more by its intrinsic value as an important element in a truly liberal education.
K. B.
ENGLEMERE, CAMBRIDGE,
October, 1898.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
I. THE TEACHING OF MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES IN
OUR SECONDARY SCHOOLS r — 62
a. General part . i — 42
b. Special part : The teaching of German . . . 43 — 56
c. Bibliographical Appendix . . . . . . 57 — 62
II. THE REFERENCE LIBRARY OF A SCHOOL TEACHER OF
GERMAN 63—82
INDEX 83—86
THE TEACHING
OF MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES IN OUR SECONDARY SCHOOLS.
THE subject which I propose to discuss to-night will certainly not be likened to a smooth and flower-strewn path leading down hill. If it is not exactly a thorny path, it may yet appear to outsiders to be stony, dull, and probably devoid of those beautiful vistas which those who unweariedly climb the upward path have a reasonable hope of beholding in the end. Moreover my lectures must of necessity be somewhat technical, and the limited time at my disposal strictly forbids me to enter some of the by-paths from the main road which often afford no small amount of amusement beside material for very serious reflection. One of these digressions would be a short sketch of the early days of Modern Language teaching, a discussion of the old quaint l babees bookes ' or ' bookes of Curtesy ' which sometimes combined teaching of Modern Languages with teaching of good manners1. Another digression would be ji discussion of the results frequently obtained by the present system of Modern Language teaching in our Secondary Schools. It has been my lot for more than twelve years to make from time to time a careful study of that very remarkable and ever increasing part of educational literature which is
1 See my edition of the fifteenth century poem ' * The Boke of Curtesy " in Kolbing's Englische Studten, IX. (1885), 51 sqq.
B. I
2 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
known to the scholastic world by the high-sounding name of 4 examination papers.' From these papers and the answers to them one may gather some ideas as to the aims and results of Modern Language teaching — here I refer especially to the teaching of German and French — in our Secondary Schools, and if I were to tabulate my experiences, the results would in some cases be very curious. In what way do you think must a girl have been taught, in what spirit must she have read that great masterpiece of Goethe, his lofty play ' Iphigenie,' when in answer to my question 'Why do we take an interest in the character of Iphigenia ? ' she candidly writes ' Because Iphigenia is the heroine of the play which we had to get up for this examination'? But I must abstain from telling anecdotes which are none the less interesting for the fact that they are absolutely true.
Again, I cannot but allude in passing to the so-called t reform-movement ' in the teaching of foreign tongues, the leading ideas of which were set forth lucidly and forcibly by Professor Wilhelm Vietor (now of Marburg) in his famous pamphlet : ' Quousque tandem ! Der Sprachunterricht muss umkehren? This revolutionary little treatise was written in this country in 1882. Since that date very many books and papers have been written pro and contra, most of them advocating a more or less radical reform of the old system of teaching in the spirit of the so-called ' direct,' ' analytic' or 'imitative' method. The ' new method ' or ' Neuere Richtung ' has of late made rapid strides in Germany, and its main principles are being gradually, and deservedly, adopted by a small band of energetic Modern Language teachers in this country. I cannot under- take to discuss here even the best books and pamphlets on new methods of Modern Language teaching. They will be enumerated at the end of these lectures, and students and teachers should make it a point to read the principal ones.
These lectures are especially intended to be suggestive, and, in my own small way, I hope to fire your enthusiasm.
in our Secondary Schools.
Instead of discussing many different modern methods1 I shall venture to lay before you my own opinions and experiences together with my reasons for holding the former. I propose to throw out some hints on all the more important points of Modern Language teaching in schools, and shall take my instances mainly, but not exclusively, from German.
I suppose I may take it for granted that you are all more or less well acquainted with the general methods of teaching, and have some notions as to what can be reasonably expected - from school children. I can therefore restrict my observations to the more technical part of the Modern Language teaching in Secondary Schools and the various questions intimately connected with it.
Some years ago there was a great deal of controversy as to the educational value of Modern Languages2 — fortunately that time is now definitely passed. People are becoming more and more anxious that Modern Languages should be taught, and should be taught efficiently and with much better results than heretofore. I firmly believe that there is a great chance for Modern Language teachers in the immediate future, that great opportunities will before long be given, and that all we have to do at schools and universities is to prepare ourselves most carefully so as to be ready when the time comes. It should not be said of us ' Aber der grosse Moment findet ein kleines Geschlecht.'
The question arises : How should the necessary improve- ment in the teaching of modern foreign languages be effected ? I think it can be brought about if the following four conditions be fulfilled:
(i) More time should be allotted to the study of Modern
1 See now Miss Mary Brebner's pamphlet ' The Method of Teaching Modern Languages in Germany' (London, 1898), Chapter v.
2 See, among others, C. Colbeck, ' On the teaching of Modern Languages in Theory and Practice,' Lecture I. Cambridge, 1887, and Fr- Storr, 'The teaching of Modern Languages' (1897), p. 274.
I 2
4 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
Languages at School. This is of paramount importance. Our leading public schools should set the example.
(2) This time should be used much more systematically, with special reference to the educational needs of the pupils, and not merely with regard to the requirements of certain examinations. A great deal of harm is done to Modern Language teaching throughout the country by the conflicting regulations of our host of examinations — even though many of them have done a great deal of good in their time and may still have much to recommend them — and by the fact that nearly all of them are conducted exclusively by means of printed papers and without any oral test. This seems to me a fatal mistake. The modern tongues should not be treated like the classical dead languages, a viva voce test should as far as possible be insisted on, in spite of the many practical difficulties in conducting the examinations of which I am of course well aware.
(3) From the very beginning none but duly qualified teachers should be entrusted with the teaching of Modern Languages. As to the qualifications which I believe to be absolutely indispensable I shall in the course of these lectures briefly give you my views. For details I should like to refer you to my lecture given in 1894 before the College of Preceptors " On the training of teachers of Modern foreign Languages" (Educational Times, May, 1894). I have since been told that the qualifications desired in that paper were too high for human capacity to attain, that they represented the ideal rather than the feasible. My answer is that I know from experience that in many cases the ideal has been reached, that I believe that in another twenty- five years it will be realised much more completely, that the training of a Modern Language teacher does not end with his having taken his University degree1, and finally that it is a mistake to put one's ideal too low. He who forms an educational or any other ideal must 1 See Educ. Times, I.e. p. 230.
in our Secondary Schools. 5
pitch it high ; time will shew if he was right or if his demands were excessive. I confidently leave you to judge for yourselves. (4) There should be a more general agreement as to the chief points of method to be adopted and the books to be read in school. To this fourth point I wish to devote special attention in these lectures. It is the one which at this very moment is engrossing the attention of Modern Language teachers in this country1 and abroad.
Methods.
There are many different methods of teaching Modern Languages in the field — all claim to be the one true method, — all have zealous adherents, and I need hardly tell you that all promise wonderful results — most of them in a remarkably short time too. Still it seems to me, and my experience as a teacher and examiner confirms my impression — that ' the true method,' * the royal road,' has not as yet been discovered.
It has not been discovered either in England or abroad.
I certainly do not flatter myself that I have discovered it. We are clearly just now in a time of transition and experiment, and I think we are in a fair way towards agreeing on a number of essential points. Many practical and experienced teachers in this country as well as abroad are at present actively working in this field ; much that is good has of late been said and written on the subject, — and much, as it seems to me, that is quite worthless, unscientific and impracticable; a universal agreement on all the principal points of method has, however, at present not yet been arrived at. Much more interchange of ideas and experience is required. The chief work is being done in Germany, Austria, Scandinavia, France and America — England, in spite of a few noteworthy exceptions, has unfortunately so far lagged behind.
1 See the discussions in the Jotirnal of Edtication and in the Modern Language Quarterly. Cp. the Bibliographical Appendix, pp. 57-58.
6 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
Before going into details I should like to caution intending teachers on one or two points :
(1) Do not be too confident with regard to certain 'new' methods, especially do not believe too easily in certain in- fallible ones which promise to teach many wonderful things in a very short time. They are mostly very one-sided, no doubt very good with regard to one certain point, but, to the neglect of all else, they carry one really good idea much too far. They are as a rule more or less mechanical, of but little scientific, literary or educational value ; they afford a certain routine but do not at all form and educate the minds of the pupils. They merely aim at drilling the pupil in the use of a number of commonplace phrases and small everyday chit- chat. But the acquisition of the practical, though limited, command of a modern tongue by means of some series of words and phrases, the knowledge possessed by head-waiters, couriers and interpreters, although it is no doubt sometimes useful, cannot be the aim of Modern Language teaching in our higher schools. A language which has so subtle and elaborate a syntax as French, or a language which 'is so deeply saturated with poetry as German, cannot and ought not to be studied by older boys and girls by mere imitation, after the unconscious fashion of an infant !
(2) Again, method itself, even the best method, however important it is, is not everything. A very great deal of the success depends on the natural gifts, the previous training, the energy and the experience of the individual teacher. It is well known that the best Modern Language scholar does not always obtain the best results as a teacher. Consequently the Modern Language teacher must not only be a well-trained scholar, but in addition something of an artist and of a man of the world. He must have the power of speech, an easy mastery of the foreign idiom, and the gift of drawing out his pupils and of making them speak, one and all, the shy ones no less than the others, at every lesson. He must have, —
in our Secondary Schools.
more I think than any other master, — the great gift of readily imparting his knowledge, of really interesting his pupils in using the foreign idiom and in studying foreign life and thought, and of enabling them not only to speak but to think in the foreign language. I fully agree with Dr Miinch who at the general meeting of German Modern Language teachers held at Hamburg in 1896 insisted that "a teacher should have a certain amount of natural eloquence, quickness of perception, and appreciation of foreign character, as well as an interest in all that concerns modern life. "
Whatever the method adopted may be, each master will modify it in accordance with his own individuality and the requirements of different sets of pupils. He will continually modify and improve his ways of teaching in the light of his extending study and increasing experience.
Nevertheless, although the possession of a certain, even a very good, method is not all that is wanted by a young zealous teacher in order to be successful, it would yet not be right to undervalue its importance. On the contrary, it is most important for us to make up our minds as to what seem to be the most satisfactory principles to be generally adopted in Modern Language teaching.
Happily on a few important points there seems to exist even now an almost general agreement among experts. Let me take these first. They are :
(1) It is necessary that Modern Language teachers should have a much longer and better training1 than they have had up to now in the great majority of cases. Their preparation should be at once more scientific and more practical. The improvement of the masters must needs precede the improve- ment of the children entrusted to their care. The element of dilettantism is henceforth to be strictly excluded.
(2) Modern Languages should not be taught in the same
1 On the method of training of Modern Language teachers see my before-mentioned lecture.
8 The TeacJiing of Modern Foreign Languages
style as the ancient tongues. They are not studied mainly for the sake of their form, not even exclusively for the beauty and value of their literature, but in teaching Modern Languages we aim at teaching the principal features of the life^ character and thought of great foreign nations. You will, then, agree with me that Modern Languages should not only or mainly be studied and taught by means of translation-exercises, by getting up many paragraphs of grammar, remembering rare exceptions and turning over the pages of dictionaries. There should be no lessons more interesting and delightful to children than a Modern Language lesson given by the right teacher.
(3) And again, Modern Languages should be much more closely connected with the study of English on the one hand and with History and Geography on the other. If groups of languages are studied together, those naturally related to each other should be taken by preference. French should be con- nected with Latin, and German with English. From a purely theoretical point of view it is even desirable that the two foreign tongues should not be taught by the same person, as not many a man will possess the power of transforming himself now into a Frenchman and now into a German with equal ease and success. There are, on the other hand, many advantages in entrusting the teaching of English and of Modern History and Geography, which are often sadly neglected at school, to the Modern Language master.
I have maintained that Modern Languages should not be taught in the old fashion like the ancient classical languages. A much greater stress must be laid on the language as a living and spoken organism. Hence it follows that
(a) Pronunciation should be most carefully taught by trained teachers and from the very first lesson. The pronun- ciation of the children should be correct from the beginning and should become easy through much practice. This aim cannot be reached by mere unconscious imitation, but in the case of some especially difficult sounds a certain amount of
in our Secondary Schools.
phonetic drill is absolutely necessary in order to shorten and to smooth the way of the pupil. No one should undertake to teach Modern Languages even to beginners who has not previously had some training in phonetics.
(b) Ordinary phrases and characteristic idioms should be taught from the very beginning. The children should learn to choose them correctly and to use them readily. And lastly,
(c) Their vocabulary should be as large and as useful as possible.
Under the old system of studying Modern Languages cases like the following often occurred : a great scholar would read French easily but would scarcely understand a word of the spoken idiom if a French colleague happened to address him in French. Another scholar would write German fluently and without a single grammatical mistake, but it would be mere book-German, a dictionary language, a 'papierner Stir as it has been called by O. Schroder, a language in which there would be scarcely one single sentence such as a German would write. A letter on ordinary topics written by this scholar would so much smack of translation and be so utterly academic and unreal that it would require re-writing from beginning to end in order to become living German. On hearing a noise outside he would perhaps say : ' Welches ist doch jenes Gerausch, welches ich eben jetzt dort ausserhalb vernehme?' while a German would say : ' Was ist denn da draussen fiir ein Gerausch?' or possibly in familiar language: 'Was ist denn draussen los?' Only the other day I heard a gentleman who professed to know Modern Languages well say home for homme, vou for vu, and Enfenk for Anfang, swonsig for zwanzig, Studten for Studien, etc.
It is not easy to say to what extent oral and colloquial German should be combined in school teaching with the study and analysis of the written literary language. In order to arrive at a fairly satisfactory conclusion and to strike a fair balance between the views of the old school who almost
io The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
exclusively studied the written language of a few select classics, mostly poets, and the modern extremists who condemn what- ever is not colloquial and, in their dread of elegant diction, often recommend and teach in school a familiar language bordering on slang, it will not be out of place before going any further to settle for ourselves the question : What should be the aim of Modern Language teaching in our Secondary Schools ?
Here we cannot ask merely : What is desirable on general theoretical grounds? we are obliged to ask : What can be done in a limited number of lessons with children ? Hence it seems to me that 'a practical mastery' of a foreign language as promised by some methods cannot possibly be hoped for. How many adults can confidently assert that they are absolute masters of their own language ? But a good deal may be done at school, and whatever is learned should be learned well and intelligently so as to become a good basis for later practice.
What is to be of paramount importance to most learners in after-life? Here I deliberately look for a moment at thi from the utilitarian point of view and maintain the follo^ propositions :
Not one of them will have to translate English works into foreign languages (we are of course not concerned with the training of interpreters and professional translators).
Few will ever be called upon to speak very fluently in a foreign tongue.
Some may wish to translate from the foreign idiom into English.
Others may wish to correspond in the foreign tongue, but
All want to read foreign books, periodicals and newspapers, and to enjoy the treasures of foreign literature. All will one day be anxious to know something of and to appreciate justly the general character, thoughts and manners of their neighbours and fellow-workers in the great field of European civilisation. For this most important aim the school teaching should fully equip them. Hence it follows that reading, and
in our Secondary Schools. 1 1
not translating, should be placed in the foreground. * Sprach- gefiihl ' should be early aroused and carefully fostered by much reading of first-rate modern authors. A sufficient amount of grammar should be learned chiefly from the reading and a sub- sequent systematic analysis of the most important sentences1. But in school (the University system is of course different) grammar should not be taught for its own sake, but rather as a j subsidiary subject, to promote the full and proper understanding, and to facilitate the reproduction or imitation, of the author's words and phrases. Translation from the foreign language into good and idiomatic English (not the usual shocking trans- lation-English) should be carefully and systematically practised, and at an early stage some very easy original composition | in the foreign language might be attempted with advantage. But very little ordinary composition, i.e. translation from English into the foreign language, should be done, and only with the most advanced pupils. This is I believe the greatest mistake made in our schools. The worship of early composition in French and German is as unjustifiable as it is detrimental to the best training in lower forms. In almost all schools composition is begun much too early, when the children know but little grammar, hardly any idiomatic turns and phrases, and have not yet developed any 'Sprachgefiihl.' Most ex- aminations prescribe it at a stage when the children cannot possibly be expected to produce a piece of decent composition of ordinary difficulty. The regulation requiring early compo- sition and the pieces set may look very nice on the programme and in the papers of certain examinations — but look at the Examiners' Reports in order to estimateHhe value of the work sent up by the vast majority of the candidates. Rather set
1 As to the way in which this may be dpne eVen with the merest beginners see F. Spencer's ' Aims and Practice of Teaching ' (Cambridge, 1897), pp. 100 sqq. Cp. also J. Findlay's 'Preparation for Instruction in English on a direct method ' (Marburg, 1893) and the essays enumerated under 7 and 12 in the Bibliographical Appendix (page 59).
12 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
them some easy original composition. Original compositions are in fact easier than translations from the mother-tongue and certainly at first better calculated to make the children enter into the spirit of the foreign language. The writing of easy letters on familiar subjects which would interest the children should be encouraged early and practised constantly. Little stories read or told by the teacher should be reproduced by the pupils, short accounts of ordinary things and occurrences should be frequently given. The children should be en- couraged to write and to speak about all they have actually seen and experienced. During a Modern Language lesson no English appellation should as far as possible stand between the objects and their foreign name. In higher forms paraphrases of easy poems should be attempted, and at the end of their school time the most advanced pupils might write about the principal characters in a play which they have read or on similar subjects. Some of the best pupils might also be induced to take part — under due supervision — in the lately instituted International Correspondence between pupils attend- ing German, French and English schools. This movement is a very recent, one but much good is reported of it1.
After having now settled the various preliminary questions concerning the requirements and aims of Modern Language teaching I shall proceed to the more detailed discussion of the teaching of pronunciation, spelling, grammar, and similar points of language, while in a subsequent lecture I shall discuss the reading, the composition and study of reading-books, and the proper selection and explanation of authors, and the teaching of the history of foreign literature. In a final lecture I shall speak of some special points referring to the teaching of German only.
1 Apply to Dr M. Hartmann, Konigliches Gymnasium, Leipzig, and also to Monsieur Sevrette, 31 Rue St Brie, Chartres (Eure et Loire). Compare Miss M. Brebner, ' The Method of Teaching Modern Languages in Germany,' pp. 38 — 39, and the Journal of Education, 1897, p. 99.
in our Secondary Schools. 13
Pron undation.
Any child that is instructed in a foreign language has a right to hear and to learn from its teacher a correct and idiomatic pronunciation of the foreign tongue. Am I wrong if I main- tain that in many schools, even in good ones, this condition is far from being fulfilled ? I do not at all require a teacher to dwell too long on phonetic niceties or to give a great deal of precious time to the teaching of phonetics pure and simple. There is neither time nor need for that. He should at first speak and read to his pupils a good deal himself, in order to train their ear and to accustom them to the characteristic sounds and intonation of the foreign idiom. After they have been bathed, as it were, in the foreign element and have become somewhat familiar with the foreign way of articulating sounds, words and phrases, he will make them repeat his sentences over and over again, carefully and mercilessly correcting any mistake of any importance. He will sometimes make the whole class pronounce some sentences together in order to force shy and backward pupils to speak out and to form their sounds after the model of the others. He will thus more readily detect the faulty pronunciation of an individual child. The chief difficulties will be noted down and tabulated. Victor's Lauttafeln (for German, French, and English) should be used throughout in connection with this work. They should be hung up in the class room during the lesson. They will be continually worked at and the difficulties will gradually become less and will finally be overcome by the large majority of children J. Such difficulties are for instance the French nasal sounds, the 1 mouille^ the guttural r in French and German, the pure (un- diphthongised) long vowels and the modified vowels in German,
1 On the whole question see now the able lecture " On the use of Phonetics in Modern Language Teaching" by Dr Paul Passy, an abstract of which is printed in The Modern Quarterly of Language and Literature ', I. pp. 64 sqq. and cp. The Journal of Education 1897. (See the Index under " Phonetics." )
14 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
the German initial z, medial and final ch, etc. The instruction in actual phonetics should be as short and as simple as possible, but its fundamental principles should be imparted even to children. They should be told and shewn that— the spoken words consist of sounds and not of letters (e.g. veau, deuil, feuille-, schwarz, stehen, sprechen, etc.). There is no very great difference in the pronunciation of the German Vieh, the English fee and the French ft, although the vowel sound is perhaps longest in the English word (=feeee, phonetically^2). Again a teacher would probably seize an opportunity of shewing the children that our ordinary alphabet is not by any means complete, as it is far from representing each sound occurring in a language by a special symbol, but uses the same letter for various sounds, e.g. ch in ich, ach, or b in Weib, Weibes • or a in man, father, small, or oo in good, floor, flood; or th in thin and thine ; g in gin and gun \ I in fusil, peril and fils (' sons ' and 1 threads'); // in famille, Camille\ or g in gant, mangeant. Again — and here lies a great source of danger with regard to pronunciation — the same letter may represent different sounds in different languages, and in pronouncing foreign words the child should be early accustomed to give to the letters their foreign and not their usual English pronunciation, e.g. Mann and man, Ball and ball. In the case of the German words the mouth is much more opened and the vowel sound quite short and pure. The German Quell ' source ' is to be pronounced Kvel (bilabial but without protruding the lips at all), the English quell is kuelL Or again, in many German words the so-called ' glottal stop ' should be carefully noticed and practised, e.g. Verein (=feryain), erortern (=rfortern}, geachtet
(=gjdctet\ abdndern (=dp'end^rn), Polareis (^ Polar' ais), Wach- telei (vdct^at), etc.1 The ' glottal stop' is formed by bringing the vocal chords together, so as for a moment to close the glottis, and then suddenly opening them with an explosion,
1 For the explanation of the symbols used in the transcription of the German words see Victor's 'German Pronunciation,' Leipzig, 1890.
in our Secondary Schools. 1 5
as is done in coughing, or in clearing the throat. It is not a sound difficult to produce, but, as it is not ordinarily written, it is often neglected by English teachers of German. Students who wish to speak German at all well must be careful not to neglect the glottal stop and to make a clear distinction in the pronunciation of words such as vereisen (=for'ais9n) and verreisen (foraiszri). It has been well discussed by the late Miss Laura Soames in her excellent ' Introduction to Pho- netics' (London, 1891), p. 146, and by Professor W. Victor in his most useful ' German Pronunciation,' pp. 56 sqq.
A word exists as a rule only as part of a phrase, hence the ' proper reading of whole sentences should be started at once. Here the characteristic foreign intonation and the peculiar accent of the phrase should be carefully taught from the beginning. The teacher should insist on his pupils reading and reciting the French sentences in the even, rhythmical and distinct manner which is so characteristic of the French enunciation. He should not allow them to jerk out the words one by one, but he should strictly insist on their emitting them in one continuous flow to the end of the sentence, how- ever slow the pronunciation of the whole sentence may be at first. This is often neglected in school teaching, the masters being satisfied with a correct pronunciation of individual words. Keating should be regularly and carefully practised from the Deginning, and also dictation, in order to train the ear to catch foreign sounds quTckTy~and 'correctly.
In order to teach pronunciation effectively, most advocates of the ' Neuere Richtung ' strongly recommend beginning with a phonetic transcription of foreign texts and not letting the children see the ordinary spelling at all during the first few weeks (or months). They maintain that children will catch the foreign accent ever so much better if they do not start with the confusing spelling of the present day, and they are of opinion that the transition to the ordinary spelling later on is not nearly so difficult as one would believe. They say that the
1 6 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
experiment has been tried more than once with excellent success, while those who most strenuously oppose it have never given it a fair trial. This vexed question (of which I have no practical experience) is still much discussed and far from being settled1. Practical experiments by competent, well- trained teachers are still much wanted. As far as I can see at present and have been able to gather from the experience of others, it is not necessary to introduce transcribed texts — excellent and indispensable as no doubt they are for students and teachers — into class teaching. The modern reformers seem to go, in this case, a little too far in their natural reaction against the old method. They want revolution instead of reform. At all events books like Dr Sweet's * Elementarbuch des gespro- chenen Englisch ' and ' A Primer of Phonetics ' will never do for school teaching. Dr Passy's system as used in his periodical *Le maitre phonetique' is much easier, it has recently been adopted by Professor Victor and bids fair to become the recog- nised International alphabet for phonetic transcriptions. Single words of exceptional difficulty might well be transcribed in class teaching in the symbols of this comparatively simple alphabet. The books on phonetics from which a teacher will derive useful information are enumerated in my ' Handy Guide,' § 4, b. To these should now be added Victor's * Kleine Phonetik des Deutschen, Englischen und Franzosischen,' Leipzig, 1897. After the ordinary pronunciation has been thoroughly mas- tered by the children, the teacher should discuss with them, as occasion arises, noteworthy exceptions occurring chiefly in the rimes of the classical poets. The apparent irregularities of French rimes such as roi : parlerais : Francois should be explained by an account of the earlier pronunciation of -oi (like oe). The German rimes of Schiller and Goethe, e.g. glilhn : ziehn \ Euch : bleich ; krone : Thrdne ; an : Bahn and others cease to be impure in the South German dialectic
1 See The Mod. Quarterly of Language and Literature, n. 150 — 3 and 157—8; The Journal of Education, 1897 (in various places).
in our Secondary Schools. 17
pronunciation of these great poets. In the highest forms an occasional word about the changes of pronunciation and the standard of pronunciation would not be out of place.
Spelling.
As to Spelling a word or two must suffice. German spelling will be discussed in the last lecture. In nearly every language there is a discrepancy, more or less marked, between the way in which the words are written and that in which they are) pronounced. The spelling represents in this case an earlier stage of pronunciation, it is more or less ' historic ' (cp. knight, veau, Stahl). Much has now simply to be committed to memory, but again the^adyantage of a good pronunciation on the part of the children will TileaFIy shew itself If children have been taught from the beginning to distinguish in French properly between e, e and e, they will without fail write reponse, but repos, and representer, pere, and desespere. If they are accustomed to pronounce the German modified vowels — one of the greatest stumbling-blocks in the way of English students of German — no confusion between Tochter and Tochter, Bur gen and Bur gen, geachtet and geachtet, tauschen and tauschen would be possible. They would distinguish in writing between reisend, reissend and reizend, between versehren and verzehren, between Senne, Sehne, Scene, and Zdhne.
Grammar. V
It is pretty generally admitted that up to now the getting up of 'grammatical niceties and curiosities has been far too prominent in most of our schools, and that grammar should not be taught and learned at school principally for its own sake — not even in our modern ' grammar schools.' It should be taught in order to explain difficult passages and in order to help the pupils to group together, to compare, and thus better to understand certain important linguistic phenomena. The
1 8 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
study of grammar and the careful analytical examination of sentences is no doubt a most valuable mental training — although it is wrong to say, as is often rashly done, that the study of grammar is a study of logic ; grammar is often not logical — still the special and minute study of grammar as such is not school work but should be left to the scientific treatment of the University. Every school child should know the chief points of the grammar of the foreign tongue, but only the master should have made it a special study. He should of course be thoroughly well grounded in his grammar, moreover — and this is important — he should be able to give, wherever it may be desirable, the 'why7 no less than the 'what/ He should know the historical or phonetic reasons of the chief grammatical phenomena1 — but it would be a grave mistake if ^he were to introduce too much of this special knowledge into his class teaching. The classics should be read and enjoyed— I am not sure whether they always are at present — and they should certainly not be turned in class into a hunting-ground for grammatical curiosities. The somewhat elaborate notes to the classics in the Pitt Press and similar editions are merely intended to facilitate home preparation, and to help the pupils thoroughly to understand the words of the text, they are certainly not meant to be learned by heart in order to be reproduced in the next examination paper. They are intended to relieve the teacher and to give him time for reading the text and discussing the scenes and characters of great plays, but not to disgust children with a beautiful poem or a fine story.
From this there follows as the very first precept addressed to the teacher of foreign grammar : Do not burden the memory of your pupils with too many rules, still less with numerous lists of words following their own rules, those words which we call 'exceptions,' and which are as a rule so very
1 See Ernst Laas, ' Der deutsche Unterricht auf hoheren Lehranstalten ' (2nd ed. (by J. Imelmann), Berlin, 1886), pp. 217 — 222.
in our Secondary Schools. 19
largely utilized by a vast number of examiners whom I wish I could call exceptions also. All we want to teach and to impress firmly on the memory of the children is .a number of ever-recurring facts, certain rules, briefly and clearly expressed, deduced from the texts before the eyes of the children, and in addition to these only a very few of the most noteworthy exceptions. Most ' practical ' school grammars contain far too much ; they would certainly be twice as good if they were half as full. They should chiefly be used as books of reference.
Another important point is that the rules should invariably be preceded by a number of well-chosen instances, selected phrases from which the pupils with the assistance of the teacher will find it easy and interesting to deduce the rules for themselves. This is the natural process of thinking — by com- parison of similar facts the underlying law is discovered1. All the rules which a teacher wants to impress upon his pupils, he should make them find themselves ! The process may be at first somewhat slow, but the interest of the pupils will never be allowed to flag, and ultimately the rules will be much better known, being remembered in their application and not merely in themselves.
Our model teacher will, I fear, in many cases have to make up his own illustrative sentences, for what shall we say of exercises such as the following : Decline in full : ' The blind mouse,' or of the exercise on the numerals: 'Have you got two apples?' 'No, but my four sisters have six dolls'?...! have often pitied teachers and pupils who had to work through such elaborate grammars, often containing subtle distinctions of which the Germans themselves are entirely ignorant and which only live an artificial life in the German of certain examination papers. You might read in connection with this a pamphlet which, although it is full of exaggerations and indeed not free from mistakes, yet contains a great deal of truth; it is
1 This point is not by any means new, but was emphasised by Comenius and others.
2O The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
4 The caricature of German in English Schools,' by Curt Abel Musgrave, London, 1894.
Must, then, grammar be dry and repulsive to children ? It certainly was so under the old system when all schools were 4 grammar schools' in the strictest sense of the word. But cannot even Dame Grammatica be made attractive to the minds of the young ? I think she can, and everything depends on the way in which a teacher will first introduce her to the children.
First of all he will not give too much at a time, and that modicum chiefly in connection with the passages read. He will also give the children some idea as to the actual meaning of ' rules ' and ' exceptions,' and keep the rules, i.e. the large groups of facts, constantly before them, so as gradually to develop their Sprachgefilhl, the unconscious and unerring feeling for what is right, the creation of which is one of the highest aims of the teacher. He will discuss the terms 'regular' and ' irregular ' in the proper way and choose a few easy and striking instances for his explanations. Even children at school should sometimes get a glimpse of the ' why ' and the ' how,' although as a rule they have of course only to remember the very commonest 'what.' With children of the highest forms even a few somewhat more advanced grammatical phenomena may be discussed as occasion offers itself, viz. the problems of ordinary form-association (e.g. in Goethe's ' Legende vom Hufeisen' : Das ein zerbrochen Hufeisen was. was, now war, through form-association with the plural waren ; but cp. English was and were where the old difference is preserved) ; the development of Latin words in French, German and English, the two groups of words which are distinguished as 'mots populaires' and 'mots savants' (meuble, mobile— Kerker, Karzer — sure, secure), the former of which is the older group in which the words have undergone the effect of the usual sound-laws of the language. Of course all such instruction should be kept strictly elementary — yet it would be sure to interest the children
in our Secondary Schools. 21
and give them more correct notions of the growth and develop- ment of language. Good German instances are found in the little book by E. Wasserzieher, 'Aus dem Leben der deutschen Sprache' (3^.), also in R. Kleinpaul, 'Das Fremdwort im Deutschen' (is. Sammlung Goeschen, 55), and in the books by O. Behaghel and O. Weise (see pages 69 — 70). The relation of English to French and German should be briefly and clearly explained. The relation of numerous words such as finir and finish, or Leib and life, might very well be shewnV (For classified lists of correspondences between German and English words see my edition of 'Doctor Wespe' by R. Benedix. Pitt Press Series, 1888, 2i895.) Rather than not touch on these points at all, sacrifice the greater number of exceptions, in fact a good deal of what our practical grammars give in small print, and what should not be got up at all but only be referred to as occasion offers. The discussion and brief explanation of such important general phenomena is of far greater edu- cational value than the somewhat mechanical drill in rare exceptions or seldom used words and phrases.
Idioms.
The study of idiomatic phrases and the acquisition of a useful vocabulary cannot be begun too early. But only the really current idioms should be committed to memory, and sentences, not isolated words, should be learned. The princi- pal idioms should be imparted gradually and, where advisable, explained. Ancient manners and bygone customs have left many an interesting trace in the idiomatic phrases of everyday speech. An explanation of German idioms such as einem die Stange halten — einen im Stiche lassen — mir schwant Boses — einem ein X fur ein U machen — einen Kerb bekommen and many others would not fail to arouse the interest of the class, to set their imagination going, and thus to help them to remember the idioms. In most schools they are unduly neglected. The
22 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
necessary books of reference for the teacher of German are given on p. 71 and in my i Guide' on p. 39; there are some smaller books intended for the use of the pupils, e.g. those by Koop (London, 2i89i), Becker (London, 1891), and Weisse (London, 1892), but a really first-rate book for class purposes has still to be written.
Vocabulary.
Apart from the vocabulary, which the pupils will gradually acquire in a somewhat haphazard way from the reading of foreign authors, the teacher should from the beginning aim at adding systematically to the stock of words learned by his class. He will do this by regular discussions of small groups of words which are either connected by their sense or by their form and which will be learnt by the class. He will of course form short sentences shewing the ordinary use of these words or, in lower forms, have recourse to pictures composed for the purpose (e.g. Holzel's 'Wandbilder fiir den Anschauungs- und Sprachunterricht,' 10 pictures, Wien, Holzel1), or G. Egli's cheap and useful little picture-books with vocabulary called 'Satze fiir den Unterricht in den vier Hauptsprachen ' (Bilder- saal ftir den Sprachenunterricht), Zurich, Orell Fiissli. He will take such series of words as : father, mother, child, son, daughter... i.e. all the ordinary (but no unusual) family names. Another day he will take : house, court, garden, street, road ; ...or sun, moon, star, cloud, thunder, lightning... the sun sets, a cloud covers the moon, the thunder roars, the lightning flashes...; or tree, bush, oak, beech, fir, willow... together with the verbs : to plant, to grow, to burst into leaf, etc. The teacher will do well to work the necessary words and phrases into short and interesting dialogues, or into stories which he
1 In connection with these may be used the books called ' Konversations- Unterricht nach Holzel's Bildertafeln ' (German, French, Italian, English) published by Emil Roth at Giessen. The German, French, etc. parts can be had separately.
in our Secondary Schools. 23
will tell the children several times in the foreign language and which he will make them repeat, write down from dictation, and learn by heart. Subjects such as 'a walk in the country/ 'a thunderstorm at sea/ £a cycling accident in the street/ ' a visit of our uncle from Berlin or Paris ' would afford plenty of useful material for increasing the vocabulary of the pupils. The numerals, the pronouns, the forms of address make natural groups which should be studied together and worked into a number'of well-devised sentences. Together with the numerals the chief foreign measures, weights and moneys should be given with their English equivalents. Some foreign coins should be shewn to the class when their name and value is given.
Another way of increasing' the vocabulary, which is often very useful with more advanced pupils, is the study of ordinary words which are connected by form : sitzen, setzen, Sitzung, Satzung, Sitz, Satz (Aufsatz, Einsatz, Vorsatz^ Absatz), aufsitzen, absitzen, nachsitzen, einsetzen, absetzen, vorsetzen^ versetzen, be- setzen, iibersetzen, Besitzung, Besatzung, Besetzung^ Versetzung, or steigen, Steig (Bahnsteig, Steigbugel\ Stieg (Aufstieg, Abstieg), Steg, em-, aus-, um-steigen . . .etc. The difficulty here is where to stop, but the conscientious teacher who has prepared his lesson beforehand and has written down the words which he intends to give to his pupils will not be exposed to the danger of giving too much, viz. words which are of but little practical importance for school purposes. Word-formation is at present far too much neglected in school-teaching.
A third way of widening the vocabulary, and one which should only be used occasionally in the highest forms by a skilful and well informed teacher, is the method (so far as it can be used) of etymological comparison. (See the lists of sound- correspondences in my Pitt Press edition of ' Doctor Wespe.')
I should not advise teachers to confine themselves to one method only — some change is always refreshing — but to take the first method (the ' series ' method — a simplified * Gouin ' method) as a foundation, and to make the children learn,
24 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
gradually and systematically, all the most important words of the foreign language — and none but those.
Some hints how this may be done are contained in a German pamphlet on the first teaching of French. It is by Dr Hermann Soltmann and is called ' Das propadeutische Halbjahr des franzosischen Unterrichts an der hoheren Mad- chenschule/ Bremen, 1893. What is said there with regard to French at German schools holds equally good with regard to our English schools. A similar guide for English teachers of German is I believe still to be written. Some other German books of a similar character are enumerated in the biblio- graphical appendix to these lectures.
Conversation.
It is of the utmost importance that a master should talk to his class in the foreign language as early as possible. He will begin by discussing pictures and objects which are placed before the pupils (e.g. Egli's or Holzel's pictures ; see above). At first, of course, in order to be understood, he will occasion- ally have to give some short explanations in English, and he will not talk French or German the whole time. Gradually the necessary explanations in the English language will become less frequent and the talk in the foreign language will be continued longer. The master must from the beginning make all the children take an active part in the lesson; they must be interested — stimulated to make out what the master says and to express in the foreign tongue what they see him doing. He has first to train their ear and their faculty of catching the peculiarity of the foreign sounds and intonation, then their faculty of speech. He must make them answer in complete / sentences — all of them, not only the few forward pupils — he' must in every way endeavour to overcome their first natural shyness and disinclination to use the foreign idiom. Most English boys and girls are unwilling to try to speak any other language than their own, and it will require all the skill and
in our Secondary Schools. 25
tact of a master in whom they believe to draw them out. He will naturally make them speak at first exclusively of things which they see or have observed and experienced, about topics well known to them, the vocabulary of which they have mastered. In order to fulfil this condition the teacher must of course be full of resource besides being able to converse in the foreign idiom with ease and fluency. A French candidate for the degree of Agrege is required by the regulations of the examination to teach for an hour in the foreign language. A German modern language master is required in his 'Staats- examen ' to shew fluency and correctness in the practical use of the foreign language which he wants to teach1. Our English examination tests are in this respect as yet far from sufficient. A change for the better seems however to be setting in2.
In speaking the foreign language the teacher should at first make use of some picture, say the map of Europe, and teach according to the direct method, beginning perhaps by pointing to England and saying3:
Dies ist England. Was ist dies? Dies ist England. Dies ist Deutschland. Was ist dies? Dies ist Deutsch-
land. England (Deutschland) ist ein Land. Das grosse Land,
ein grosses Land. Deutschland ist ein grosses Land. Dies ist die Nordsee.'^pie Nordsee ist ein Meer.
1 A still much stricter ' Pruftingsordnung ' will be published before long.
2 At Cambridge the institution^ of a new voluntary viva voce Examina- tion on a much larger basis and OT a much more searching nature than the present voluntary oral test is just under consideration and will probably soon become a fact. It will probably be in connection with our two Modern Language Examinations for the B.A. degree.
3 Cp. now the excellent chapter on the teaching of German on a direct system by Professor Spencer in his 'Aims and Practice of Teaching' (Cambridge, 1897), pp. 100 — 120. My specimen above given was con- structed before the appearance of Dr Spencer's valuable experiment. On a similar experiment (by Dr Findlay, Mr Twentyman and Mr Kirkman) see the Bibliographical Appendix p. 59 under 7 and 12.
26 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
Dies 1st der Rhein. Der Rhein ist ein Fluss. Der Fluss fliesst in das Meer (in die Nordsee). Dies ist die Elbe. Die Elbe ist auch ein Fluss. Die Elbe fliesst auch in die Nordsee. Der Rhein und die Elbe sind Fliisse. Die Elbe ist ein grosser deutscher Fluss.
A number of questions and answers — carefully pronounced — would serve to make the children familiar with the foregoing sentences and the sounds contained in them. Then a sum- mary of the grammatical material contained in these sentences would be made by the teacher speaking English, thus :
Der, die, das — ein — dies — grosser, grosse, grosses — ist, sind — fliesst — Fluss, Fliisse — der Fluss, das Land, das Meer, der Rhein, die Elbe, die Nordsee — England, Deutschland, deutscher.
Or a teacher might start with Egli's little picture books and discuss all the scenes of everyday life with his pupils, especially with young children in the lower forms. With older children historical and geographical pictures should be discussed also.
In order to secure, without risk of losing it again, an easy command of the foreign idiom, teachers of Modern Languages should have resided abroad and should from time to time go abroad again. But a prolonged stay in a foreign country will be valuable in other ways also. It will enable teachers to see with their own eyes and to speak from personal experience. They will be more just and sympathetic in their judgment of foreign excellence and foreign peculiarities. Residence abroad is so far nowhere compulsory, no European State requires it expressly of its Modern Language teachers; but in France, where of late the State has done much for Modern Languages, to have resided abroad is virtually a condition of appointment to good posts. Travelling exhibitions are given in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and France by the State and by munici- palities ; and in Sweden, I am informed, on such a scale that every Modern Language teacher receives one every five years
in our Secondary Schools. 27
on an average. America, as is well known, gives a prolonged leave of absence every seventh year, and also bursaries. At the Neuphilologentag at Hamburg (1896) it was resolved to memorialise the German government to the effect that "for the maintenance of conversational facility and the knowledge of foreign life and customs, leave of absence should be granted to teachers of Modern Languages — whether in Universities or High Schools — at certain fixed intervals of time (at least every five years)." In England the State does not directly interfere in these matters, but it is very desirable that teachers of Modern Languages should help themselves to keep up their practical efficiency, and that Headmasters should help them by granting an occasional leave of absence. This is a point of the very greatest importance and one that the Modern Language Association should be interested in taking up. At Birmingham Professor Fiedler has succeeded more than once in raising a sum of ^50 to be given as a travelling scholarship to students of the Mason College. Here County Councils and private donors can do much good.
At present there exist in various French (3 ?) and in three German University towns so-called * Holiday courses' in which lectures in the language of the country are given, opportunities for the constant use of the foreign language offered, practice in phonetic drill arranged, and illustrations in method (often 4 direct method' courses) given. Such summer meetings are being held in July and August at the German Universities of Greifswald (on the Baltic Sea), Marburg (on the Lahn), and Jena (near Weimar and the Wartburg). The French meetings are arranged at Paris by the Alliance Franchise (apply to the Secretary, 45 Rue de Grenelle) and (at Caen and Tours) by the Modern Language Holiday Courses Com- mittee (apply to the Secretary of the Teachers' Guild, 74, Gower Street, London, W.C.). These meetings are being attended by an increasing number of English teachers and students, and many of my own students have derived the
28 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
greatest benefit from attending them. Moreover the Ferien- kurse are cheap, part of them specially devised for the needs of foreigners and, from all I have heard of them from a number of students of both sexes, are most enjoyable1. I have no doubt that our students and teachers of Modern Languages will very largely benefit by repeated visits abroad in the congenial society of fellow-teachers and in daily practice of the foreign idiom. They should live, if possible, in a German or French family where they could be the only foreigners, and not go to one of the large boarding-houses, which are obviously the most unsuitable places to go to if one wants to learn a foreign language. There is a growing conviction that the teaching of Modern Languages in our Secondary schools should henceforth as a rule not be entrusted to foreigners but to duly qualified English men and women. I believe that this is a very sound and well justified view — I cannot discuss it here at length — and the only advice I have to give to intending teachers no less than to those who have entered the profession, is : Go abroad as much as you can, improve and deepen your knowledge of the language and of the people as much as is in your power2. Here at Cambridge we have now (1898) for fourteen years past been training teachers of Modern Lan- guages, and there have been among them very few indeed who did not manage to go abroad at least once, during the
1 See also the Modern Language Quarterly, I. (July, 1897), p. 37; II. (November, 1897), p. 89; the Mod. Q. of Lang, and Lit. n. (July, 1898), PP- J53~ 60; and also several notices in T'he Journal of Education and other educational papers.
2 Books such as Kron's * Le petit Parisien ' and Hamann's ' Echo der deutschen Umgangssprache ' will be found extremely useful. Students and teachers should be provided with Jaschke's little pocket dictionaries of French and German, with the Baedekers of Paris (or Northern France, in French) or Berlin (or Norddeutschland, Rhein, etc. in German); Langen- scheidt's * Notworterbuch der franz. Sprache' in. ('Land und Leute in Frankreich ') ; Mahrenholz, 'Frankreich' (Leipzig, 1897); and consult Klopper's 'Franzosisches Real-Lexikon' (Leipzig: in course of preparation).
in our Secondary Schools. 29
three or four years they were reading for their Modern Lan- guages Tripos. Most of them went abroad two or three times during their residence. In order to derive real benefit from their stay abroad, students and teachers should very carefully prepare themselves for it. The way in which they should proceed to study abroad is indicated in my lecture on the training of Modern Language Teachers.
Reading.
As the object of Modern Language teaching is in my opinion to teach not only the foreign language, but at the same time by means of it the principal features of the life and character of a foreign nation, it follows that the material for reading should be chosen so as to promote this aim.
A most careful selection of suitable material should be made, and a systematic gradation of Reading should be devised.
After a good many object lessons in which the common objects of the foreign country are called by their foreign names and discussed in a variety of sentences, there might follow a Primer containing a number of well-chosen characteristic illustrations. From the very beginning the Reading should be connected with the history and geography of the foreign country. A good clear map of Germany (or France) with German (or French) names should be hung up in the Modern Language class room during all German or French lessons. German names of German places should be taught throughout (why are they usually given in French spelling and in English pronunciation?), e.g. Aachen, Koln, Mainz, Wiirzburg, Miin- chen, Braunschweig, Wien, Donau, Weichsel, Vogesen, etc.
In the middle classes a well compiled Reader should form the centre of all Modern Language teaching. It would be a graduated continuation of the Primer used in the lower forms. The ideal Reader for English Schools has so far not yet been written. E. Hausknecht's 'The English Student/ perhaps also W. Victor's and F. Dorr's ' Englisches Lesebuch,' or
30 TJie Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
O. Jespersen's and Chr. Sarauw's ' Engelsk Begynderbog' (Kj^benhavn, 1896) are the books which I should set up as models to be followed.
In the upper forms the Reader should be replaced by the study of some of the best classical works.
Nature of the proposed ' Reader'
Our model ' Reader ' — which is as yet unwritten — should contain only pieces illustrating the life and thought of foreign nations in olden and, still more, in our own times. The selection should be made by an experienced teacher with skill and tact, and above all in a spirit of sympathy with foreign excellence and of interest in foreign peculiarities. Its aim must obviously be to make the children understand foreign ways of thinking, but not to encourage in them a spirit of immature and self-asserting criticism. The texts should as far as possible be accompanied by a series of illustrations. A complete vocabulary at the end, carefully compiled, with easy phonetic transcriptions of especially difficult words : and short references to obvious etymological comparisons with English, would much enhance the usefulness of such a Reader.
Anything not in harmony with these principles should be strictly excluded from the Modern Language reading books. From a model Reader of French and German I should for instance unhesitatingly exclude a description, however brilliant, of the l battle of Marathon/ or ' a trip to the Isle of Wight/ or ' a sunset in the desert/ or ' the character of the Chinese/ or ' Warren Hastings.' I should also discard general anecdotes such as 'remarkable cleverness of a fox-terrier/ or 'the boy and the serpent/ etc. On the other hand I should gladly admit 'a trip from London to Paris/ 'a visit to the South of France/ or ' to the Rhine/ or ' to the Black Forest/ a ' visit to the Louvre/ or 'to the Castle at Heidelberg/ or 'to Cologne Cathedral/ 'a reception into the Academic Frangaise/ 'a speech by Bismarck in the Reichstag/ ' a German school-treat/
in our Secondary Schools. 31
* a Turnfahrt,' 'a Sangerfest/ etc. Or subjects such as ' Henri IV. and the foreign ambassadors/ ' the Emperor Max and his fool Kunz von Rosen,' * Frederick II. and the miller of Sanssouci,' ' Bismarck and the Austrian Ambassador/ or ' Goethe's corre- spondence with Carry] e/ or some letters of Lessing or Schiller or of Moltke or Bismarck.
Pieces such as these would be just as useful to the pupils learning the German language as those contained in the present books, and they would — each of them — in addition illustrate some point of German history, geography, life and thought, and would furnish excellent material for comparison and discussion.
In addition to the selected pieces in prose and verse I should put into the Reader :
(1) Good clear maps, not too small, of Germany and France ; rivers and places to be given with their foreign names. Special maps of Berlin and Vienna (or Paris) and surroundings should be included.
(2) Tables of foreign measures, weights, and moneys (the latter perhaps with coloured illustrations — few English children realise the size and value of a German Pfennig or have seen German nickel money) together with their English equivalents.
(3) Pictures of the flags and ensigns of foreign nations, also the German spread-eagle (as seen on all official docu- ments), the emblem of the French Republic, and similar illustrations of importance and interest which can easily be procured.
(4) Enumerations of the principal ranks and titles, together with the proper forms of address.
(5) Letters of various kinds, ordinary letters (social and commercial) as well as some of a higher and of the highest type. Some of the German letters should be in German handwriting.
(6) A list of all the most common abbreviations used in the foreign languages.
A Reader containing all these items could most profitably be made the basis of instruction in the foreign tongues.
32 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
Study of the Classics.
For the use of the highest forms of schools a charac- teristic selection of truly representative works should be made, beginning with some rather easy works. A sort of 4 canon ' of all that is really first-rate and at the same time suitable for school-reading should be devised. This again would be a really useful subject for discussion among the members of the Modern Language Association, and the columns of the new Modern Language Quarterly would be at the disposal of persons of experience anxious to discuss this most importanjt problem. As but little time can be allotted to Modern Lan- guages in the curricula of our High Schools, it is of paramount importance that no book but the very best, the most suitable and the most characteristic, should be set for school-reading. This is so far very frequently not the case ; a number of the books prescribed and edited with English notes do not deserve to be studied in schools to the neglect of other works, which are no more difficult and far more attractive and important than the books actually studied.
The ' canon' of works to be read should of course be sufficiently comprehensive to admit of frequent changes, viz. at one time one of Lessing's plays, at another one of Goethe's or Schiller's or Grillparzer' s or some other great dramatist might be set, the same standard of difficulty being kept. But nothing that is not of real literary excellence should be read, and for this reason for instance Kotzebue's old-fashioned and one-sided farce, ' Die deutschen Kleinstadter,' which is at present much read in France and of which there is, unfortunately, also an English edition, should be sternly rejected. School-children would get nothing but wrong notions about German life from the reading of this farce, while a more modern and infinitely superior play, Gustav Freytag's comedy, ' Die Journalisten,' is not read half as much as it deserves to be.
in our Secondary Schools. 33
A ' canon' of poems to be learned by heart — after due explanation and recitation by the master — should also be devised. There should be a gradation from the easier to the harder, and the older poems should be repeated from time to time in later terms.
. Some prose pieces (fables, parts of speeches) might also occasionally be committed to memory and recited with proper intonation before the class. If properly treated this is really a most useful exercise, but of course the master must take care j that the piece is well learned, well understood, and recited j with the proper expression. The pieces thus learned should be * models of style and need not be at all long. Here is a large field for really useful investigation and much wanted reform. These exercises will be found to ' pay ' all the better when the necessary changes in Modern Language examinations are made and due importance is attached to the spoken language. It is to be hoped and it is indeed probable that this change for the better — an all important change for the proper teaching and study of the modern living tongues — will soon take place.
I sincerely hope that before long all the better schools in this country will allow more time to the study of Modern Languages, which is the first and foremost condition of success in teaching. In the meantime find out
(1) How many hours for how many terms and years you will have at present at your school ; then
(2) Make a general plan of work on a clearly conceived system.
(3) Endeavour to bring about a fruitful interchange of ideas with your fellow-teachers, especially with your colleagues at the same school, as to what should be read.
The study of foreign classics should be less dependent upon ' set books ' appointed for examinations. The draw- backs of getting up 'set books' are well known. They may be too hard or they may be too easy for a great number of pupils. They are often merely learned by rote — completely B. i
34 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
spoiling the child's pleasure in the book — and at all events a disproportionate amount of time is given in most schools to the getting up of one or two books, while four or five of the same size might have been read and enjoyed within the same space of time. Sometimes, of course, prescribed books may fit in well and be just the thing to study. But it cannot be denied that they often disturb the harmonious development of the subject, coming in at the wrong time for individual forms and taking the place of books which should be read by preference. The following is a true though rather an extreme case of the neglect of the classics. Some time ago I had to examine a candidate orally who told me that he had done German for more than three years. When I asked him what authors he had read in this time he answered ' I have only read one set book, but I have worked through many — exami- nation papers' !
More than once I have been asked by teachers : Do you think that the French and German iyth and i8th century classics should still be read in English schools ? This question is most frequently asked by teachers who know only of utilitarian and commercial, but not of educational ends in the study of modern foreign literature. We should here beware of our friends. There is no doubt a decided increase in. the in- terest taken in Modern Languages all over the country, but unfortunately this interest is in many cases not educational but purely commercial. These advocates of ' Moderns versus Ancients ' forget that education and culture are the ends of all study, and that the very best is just good enough for the education of our children. That kind of education which the better schools should give cannot be got from the trashy stuff which some utilitarian pedagogues propose to substitute for the great works of the noblest minds. It is true that the study of Moliere's Misanthrope does not always help us to read the poems of Paul Verlaine, still less is Schiller's * Wallenstein ' the most suitable preparation for the study of the ' Berliner
in our Secondary Schools. 35
Borsenkurier ' — but I trust that you will all agree with me that, practical as the teaching of Modern Languages must be, teachers have no right to withhold from their more advanced pupils the knowledge of some of the greatest works of modern / literary art, works full of beauty and of noble ideas expressed inj choice language. It is a privilege of teachers to shew to their pupils how these great works of art should be appreciated and enjoyed. Their zeal and enthusiasm should fire that of their ( pupils. Above all, in schools in which the ancient classical writers are but little read or not read at all, all the more stress should be laid on the careful study of a number of foreign masterpieces of the lyth and i8th centuries. S These con- victions do not in the least prevent me from admitting that some suitable thoroughly modern texts should be read from time to time by the side of the great classics, especially in the lower forms or in a specially short term. There will be ample time for reading a considerable amount of good literature on the modern sides of good boys' schools and in all the high schools for girls, as teachers in the future will devote less time to teaching of grammar pure and simple, and very little to the mechanical manufacturing of colourless mosaic translations from English into the foreign language.
The method of reading with a class.
The most careful preparation on the part of the teacher — and not only of the young teacher — is absolutely necessary for success. He has not merely to consider what is to De said, but what is not to be said, and in the case of what he says how it should be said and impressed upon the minds of the young.
A good teacher will of course never be content with walking into his class room and saying on the subject he is to teach just what happens to occur to him — he will carefully sift his material, reduce and simplify, dwell on the important
3—2
36 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
points, in short, work according to a well-conceived plan and without omission of any point of importance for the children. The fact that everything has been thought out beforehand need not make his delivery dry and dull, either to himself or to his class. In order to make his lesson interesting and fruitful I would advise a young teacher as follows : Find out, as far as possible by question and answer, with the class the facts which you propose to teach. Draw out together with them everything that is of importance in the text you are studying, encouraging every child to help in the work. Be careful not to talk above the understanding of the children, especially of the average children, in the discussion of a great play or of a difficult poem — do not talk about what will interest you most, but about what the children want and have a right to learn. Great care and tact, also great self-abnegation, is necessary in the teaching of poetry and literature. The very best and deepest thoughts of the greatest minds are naturally beyond the reach of children — yet fortunately there remains a very great deal that can be taught and will, if imparted carefully and pleasantly, be sure to bear fruit in later life. The children should be early accustomed to look upon a poem or a play not as an exercise or as something to be crammed 1 for an examination, but as a work of art to be appreciated and | enjoyed. A good teacher will not use many words about it, but he will let this feeling arise naturally from the way in which he approaches and treats the poem. Before he begins to read
Ia poem or a passage with the class he will be careful to create, as it were, the proper atmosphere for it. A few introductory words will prepare the minds of the young, and then the poem will not fail to produce the desired effect upon them. But if you begin the reading of a poem by saying in a business-like tone : ' Smith, will you read the first stanza of the poem No. 42 on page 96 of the Reader' — of course the Muse of Poetry will have left the room long before Smith has opened his mouth. All will be different if the teacher says a few simple words
in our Secondary Schools. 37
of introduction to prepare the minds of the children before- hand, and then proceeds to reading the poem aloud with proper pronunciation, intonation and expression. Poems such as Goethe's * Erlkonig ' or Schiller's ' Graf von Habsburg ' require very careful reading in order to produce the fullest effect. After the master has read the poem he will have itr repeated by the pupils, the better ones being first called upon,) and will insist on a good, careful and spirited reproduction/ Sometimes a short poem may be advantageously read by the whole class together. The teacher should explain any real difficulties and ask questions concerning passages which requir^ explanation — but he should not <rr<«&_diffietilties. In the case of poems it is often advantageous to give and to require a paraphrase of difficult lines in ordinary prose, or to give before the actual reading of a more difficult poem a brief summary of its contents. Two poems which I have found to be hard to render well and which are not easily understood even by pupils of good ability are Schiller's ' Kampf mit dem Drachen' and still more Goethe's so-called ' Ballade' ('vom vertriebenen und zuriickkehrenden Grafen '). Never give a poem to the class to be learned by heart without having first read and fully! explained the whole of it. Avoid setting very long poems in( the lower and middle classes.
With the highest forms you will be able to read pretty rapidly, making the pupils invariably read out the German or French texts and only requiring an English rendering in the case of rather difficult passages. If you attempt at that stage some of the great foreign dramas you will find that your pupils really enjoy them, when not obliged to take line by line and scene by scene in homoeopathic doses — the safest way of making them detest Racine and Schiller for many years to come. Many mistakes are made by teachers in giving superfluous information or requiring the pupils to learn by rote all the notes contained in their editions of the classic. A great play is too good to be treated as a storehouse full of
38 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
grammatical curiosities. These should be explained in the notes where they occur, but their importance should not be exaggerated and no disproportionate amount of time should be allowed for them. Of course I do not intend to recommend that the teacher should pass over unnoticed any real difficulty of language or thought or allow any opportunity for awakening literary taste to slip by.
In dealing with a great play, if it be written in verse, the teacher should consider it his duty briefly to discuss the metrical form, of which nearly all school-children and even a number of students of Modern Languages are entirely ignorant. They should know the elements of poetic form — it is by no means a matter of no importance in what form the poet has chosen to express his thoughts. Certain forms suit the poetic genius of certain languages — the iambic trimeter is the national tragic metre for the Greeks as is the alexandrine for the French and blank verse for the English. Lessing and Schiller deliberately adopted in their later plays the English blank verse, Goethe's metre in * Iphigenie ' is more closely connected with the Italian endecasillabo^ all three modified the adopted , metre to suit their own taste and genius. Even school-boys and school-girls may fairly be expected to have some general notions on such points — which, if properly brought before ' them, would be sure to interest them. What is the state of things at present ? Some years ago I had to examine a great number of schools in Schiller's ' Wilhelm Tell,' a play con- sisting of 3,290 lines. I ventured to ask the question: * In what metre is this play written ? Give a brief description of it.' Here are some of the answers which I read with a shudder I can still recall : ' This play is written in the old Italian ballad metre, that is, the metre of Virgil's ^neid,' or 'The metre of this play is called Alexandrine,' 'Schiller's Tell is written in didactic hexameters.' Such were the extraordinary statements to which they committed themselves after having read over 3,200 lines of blank verse ! It was disheartening,
in our Secondary Schools. 39
and the worst was that children writing such absolute nonsense did actually pass the examination with credit if their grammar and translation were correct. Who was to blame? Not the children, but the teachers who had plainly neglected to pay any attention whatsoever to form.
Another point at which the teacher ought to work with his class is the making clear to every child the plan of the poet — f the arrangement of thought — the connection of the scenes — the development of the action — the climax, perirjeteia^-aadj the catastrophe — in short what we may fitly call the 'inner form ' of the drama, the moulding of the great mass of material in the mind of the poet so as to assume a higher artistic form. Think of the masterly structure of Schiller's ' Wallenstein. ' Here the master can do very much to develop the taste, the judgment, and the general culture of his pupils. These lessonsf should be the finest fruit of all his teaching, they should never] be forgotten. How much can be done in this respect by the right man for a whole form, I know from experience, gratefully recollecting a series of stimulating lessons on the German classics given during my last year at school by my own old head-master Dr Wiedasch of Hanover. But where is the corresponding teaching of English literature in our secondary schools? Great reforms in the teaching of English seem to me to be most urgently required in the immediate future in many schools.
If you read great plays with your best pupils — they should only be read with good pupils — sum up after each scene, after each act. Discuss the development of the action, see how far; it has advanced (and by what means), what is still expected (hoped or feared?). Discuss the characters and their motives, group them, see in what way they develop (if they develop at all), and let some advanced pupils attempt to write very briefly ( in the foreign language about such of the characters as specially interest them. ' Maria Stuart' and 'Wilhelm Tell* are easy plays in this respect, 'Minna von Barnhelm,' ' Iphigenie,'
40 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
'Tasso,' 'Die Jungfrau von Orleans' and ' Wallenstein' present greater difficulties1.
A teacher is very considerably helped in his task of explaining a play and the chief characters occurring in it if he has seen it acted abroad by good actors. This is one among many other reasons why teachers of foreign languages in going abroad should go to large towns, to great intellectual centres where there are good theatres. Paris, Berlin, Vienna and many large German towns will in this respect be all that can be desired. It is a great pity that there are still some students and teachers who are disinclined to go to the theatres — they certainly miss a great opportunity for better understanding the noble plays which they are called upon to explain to their pupils. It is a great mistake to ignore the obvious fact that plays are written to be seen on the stage and not to be read in an easy-chair. I cannot help feeling that he who allows 'moral ' scruples to prevent him from attending first-rate performances of the great modern masterpieces of dramatic art by the best actors and actresses of our own times may be a most estimable person but will be wholly unsuitable for the office of teacher of Modern Languages. He would probably never care to do justice to Schiller's fine essay 'Die Schaubtihne als moralische Anstalt betrachtet' and to numerous similar utterances by him, Lessing, and Goethe. A teacher of Modern Languages and Literatures should do his best to cultivate and develop a taste for literary art for his own benefit no less than for that of his pupils. Teachers who wish to succeed should be infinitely more than mere mditres de langue. As to books for the proper explanation of plays, those by G. Freytag, Bulthaupt, Bellermann, Franz, and others enumerated in my ' Handy Guide' pp. 75 and 103 will be found most useful.
One more remark before I leave this subject. If a play should happen to be historical, do not dwell on all the points
1 Compare my article ' How to study a masterpiece of literature ' in the National Home Reading Union Magazine, Special Course, October, 1895.
in our Secondary Schools. 41
in which a poet has purposely or unconsciously deviated from history, still less allow them to be crammed for examination purposes, but shew by one or two really striking instances in what manner a great tragedy-writer has treated and transformed the facts of history. Goethe's ' Egmont ' and Schiller's ' Maria Stuart' or 'Jungfrau von Orleans' afford good examples. Again, if the play should happen to be Goethe's * Iphigenie,' do not waste much valuable time in pointing out conscien- tiously— if conscience has any part in such a proceeding — all the numerous cases in which Goethe differs from Euripides, but be careful to discuss fully and forcibly the great difference of the spirit pervading the whole and the all-important alteration of the ending.
The last question connected with Modern Language teaching with which I propose to deal in these lectures is
Should Foreign Literature as such be taught in Schools ? ^
I think not ! It cannot and it should not ! It will be found difficult enough to give the children in the highest forms some general notions concerning the development of their own , national literature, a subject hitherto far too much neglected.
But a short biographical account of some of the most prominent modern authors — carefully prepared by the teacher and told in an attractive manner — may very well be given. The children should know something about the greatest modern foreign writers, they should know about their lives, aims, and lasting merits — they should have seen pictures of them and take a real interest in them. But these must only be the stars of the first magnitude. We must not attempt to do too many things, but whatever we undertake to teach, let us teach well.
This is what I wished to say about the teaching of Modern Languages generally. I have an ideal before me of the manner in which a Modern Language teacher should set to work and of the success which he may reasonably hope for with children
42 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages.
of ordinary ability and not extraordinary industry who get Oftly a few hours of German and French a week while all the otner subjects are taught by means of the English language. Under existing conditions they can never, as it were, learn to swim freely in the foreign element, but they may and should take a great deal of interest in their work, lay a good and solid foundation at school, and— as the languages are modern and living — go on in later life extending their knowledge of the foreign tongues and the great nations who speak them. The stimulus and taste for this study must needs be given in the first instance by the school teachers— what a great and noble task is theirs if only they will approach it in the proper spirit ! Eve*n those whose interests are chiefly directed to the promotion of technical or commercial education and who realise the great importance of Modern Languages for these branches of human activity, even these should remember that all special training in technical and commercial subjects if it is to be sound must needs rest on a satisfactory basis of thorough general information. The teaching of Modern Languages, if properly promoted and improved, will no doubt produce much better results than now for the benefit of those who merely need them for technical or commercial pursuits — but the study and teaching of Modern Languages has a much higher aim and a much more important duty to fulfil in the secondary education curriculum of the twentieth century. At the close of our century I think I foresee a great future for Modern Language study in our schools — let us then all do our best to make the most of our great opportunities and never forget that, in spite of all the pressure from without, we must not degrade the study of Modern Languages to a successful analysis of the various types of business letters or newspaper articles or an acquisition of a certain amount of everyday prattle on some trivial topics, but that it is our duty to teach Modern Languages in secondary schools as one of the most valuable elements in a truly liberal education.
THE TEACHING OF GERMAN IN OUR SECONDARY SCHOOLS.
IN this supplementary lecture my aim is to throw out some hints as to the special objects and the special difficulties of the teaching of German. I also propose to give you my own opinion as to some much discussed points of spelling, pro- nunciation and reading, as it is of the greatest importance that intending teachers should start with definite views on such vexed points.
But before entering into details I am anxious once more to say most emphatically that to teach German in the highest sense, even in middle-class schools and to children of ordinary ability, does not merely mean to teach Grammar and Com- position, but above all to teach the spirit of the language, the ready understanding and use of it, and by means of language and literature to spread a just understanding of the spirit of the German nation, and to produce a sympathetic appreciation of a people so nearly related to the English. The close con- nection of the two greatest Germanic peoples in language, literature and feeling should from time to time be pointed out. The interest in the study of a tongue so nearly akin to the English will thus be kept up and intensified.
On the other hand it will be the task of a good teacher to find out the chief and characteristic differences between English and German. He will do well to note down all the main
44 The Teaching of German
difficulties experienced by English children in learning German, to tabulate them for his own use, to keep them continually in view and to make the children pay special attention to them. By doing this he will bring it about that the chief and most annoying mistakes will disappear one by one, and that the children will leave school with as fair a knowledge of German as can be reasonably expected — a knowledge much superior to that now possessed by most children and by not a few students coming up to the Universities.
German Letters.
In a previous lecture I have discussed the relation of letters and sounds in a general way, reminding students of the facts that words consist of sounds and not of letters, and also that the pronunciation changes more rapidly than the spelling, which on this account never quite accurately represents the actual pronunciation. To-day I have to deal with the German letters, the peculiar German (Austrian and Swiss) alphabet. The question arises : Should the use of German small and capital letters, two new alphabets to English children, still be taught in our English schools? This is a question which is frequently asked. I have no hesitation in answering that they should certainly be taught from the beginning, the new letter in connection with the foreign sound1. The initial trouble is, after all, but small, and the reason for incurring it is, that whatever the absolute or the scientific value of the German alphabet may be, yet as long as the great majority of Germans use the German letters exclusively, it would be absolutely wrong in English teachers to withhold from their pupils familiarity with these characters and not to train them in their use while they are young and can easily acquire them. It may hamper some of them very considerably in later life — I know it from experience — if they cannot read or write German characters with ease and fluency. Books from which the
1 This is called in German Schreiblesen.
/;/ our Secondary Schools. 45
reading of the German handwriting can be learned are not wanting, see p. 70 \ Clerks, officers, secretaries, persons travelling abroad, let alone scholars, will one day be glad to be able to read German writing and German print. Even those who in later life do not actually need to read or to write the German handwriting may like to be able to write the language as the Germans do it — they will look upon it as an accomplish- ment. It is true that in * Local' and other Examinations candidates are ' not required ' to use the German handwriting, but this does not mean that those who write German really well are forbidden to write it. Only the examiners have found by experience that in most cases up to now the handwriting of the candidates has been too bad to encourage its use in examinations. Writing against time does not tend to improve any handwriting, and many pupils seem only to be able to draw German words letter by letter in a medieval monkish handwriting and cannot possibly hope to finish their task in time if they use German characters.
The same remarks apply with still greater force to the use of German characters in German books printed in this country, especially in English school editions of German classics. I think we are bound to keep them, and that teachers are bound to teach them. As long as most German books and all the newspapers are printed in German type we cannot afford to neglect it. Knowing the history of the so-called Gothic or black-letter type in Germany and elsewhere, I am of course far from seeing in its use something specially German which it would be a patriotic duty for the Germans to retain. I even wish the German type were replaced by the common round type which for various reasons deserves to be recommended — still I think we teachers of German in England have no right to initiate so great a change and to deny to our pupils that proper training in the use of the German letters which cannot
1 Exercise books for writing German letters can be obtained from Mr Nutt, 270, Strand, London.
46 The Teaching of German
anywhere be given with more facility and success than at school. Why do we not first abolish the use of Greek and Hebrew letters in the grammar schools ? They are certainly at least as hard — or not more easy — and not more practically useful to most students of these languages. There are but few German letters which present any difficulty.
In reading German letters teach the distinctions between te and et, 6 and t>, f and f, r and r, 33 and 93, 9R and 2B, % and 3, SJ{ and ft. All the others are perfectly easy1. In writing German characters insist on your pupils marking the modification of vowels, the u hooks, and the difference between
«, f. ff, *
As to the Modern Spelling^ 1880) I believe that it should be adopted. It can very easily be taught, and it prevails now in all schools and is used by most publishers and newspapers. It is decidedly the spelling of the future, being a moderate reform on the right lines but no revolution of the traditional spelling. It is not ideal, but it is without doubt better than anything to be met with in the seventies of this century, and certainly much better than the previous anarchy in spelling. There is, moreover, no reason why the present official ortho- graphy should not be revised again and somewhat improved in the course of the next century. The best books of reference for teachers are named on pp. 66, 70 and in my 'Guide/ pp. 34, 51.
German Pronunciation.
Even the most elementary teaching — the laying of a good foundation — should be given by a carefully trained and duly qualified master. He should be well acquainted with the ele- ments of phonetics and should have a really good pronunciation ; he should have been abroad and should go again from time to time. He should know the principal differences of pronuncia- tion in different parts of the country and should be acquainted
1 Cp. the useful word-lists in O. Siepmann's excellent ' Public School German Primer,' pp. xxvii. — xxx., which afford ample reading practice.
in our Secondary Schools. 47
with the chief shortcomings of the ordinary Hanoverian, Saxon, Swabian and Berlin pronunciation. He should have carefully considered what pronunciation he is to teach and what the standard of refined German speech requires1.
The present standard pronunciation of Modern German is the pronunciation of the best actors on the stage2. Here a common pronunciation is absolutely necessary. A play like 'IphigemV would be completely spoilt if Orestes was to speak Swabian, Pylades Westphalian, Iphigenia Saxon, and King Thoas East- Prussian. While the forms of the literary language are a compromise between South and Middle German, their pronunciation should be in the main North German. The pronunciation of refined Berlin ladies can also be recommended. The Hanoverian pronunciation — excellent as it is in many respects — is not free from a number of very marked provin- cialisms which should not be imitated. Being myself a native of the town of Hanover I can speak from personal experience.
A teacher should invariably read out the German text to be explained to his pupils once or twice before they read it to him. He should prepare this reading most carefully. In reading or reciting he should not only pronounce the individual words correctly, but give to the sentences their proper accen- tuation and modulation. Professor W. Victor's little book on 'German Pronunciation' (pp. 112 — 133, Leipzig, 1890) will help him to catch the proper accent of the sentence. In some cases of special difficulty he may well resort to a simple method of phonetic transcription of German words and sentences, such as is used by Prof. Victor in his < Deutsche Lauttafel ' (which should be hung up in the class room during German lessons) or in Dr Passy's periodical publication 'Le maitre phone'tique."
The following is a short tabulated summary of the chief difficulties experienced by children in pronouncing German.
1 See * German as she is spoke' (Journal of Education, September, 1897* PP- 533 sqq.
2 See the books and pamphlets enumerated in my ' Guide ' on p. 35.
48 The Teaching of German
The chief difficulties of German pronunciation for English children \
1. ci as in Mann, Hals, Anfang.
The pupils should be accustomed to open their mouths wide in pronouncing this sound, which is the a in father quite short.
2. 1, e, o, u, especially before r, as in ihr, Lehm, rot,fuhr. Here the difficulty lies in the necessity of producing a long
clear vowel without sounding a second element after it, e.g. vier is not to be pronounced like our fear, Lehm not like lame, rot not like wrote, pur not like poor.
3. o, 3, ii, fi, § as in Holle, Hohle ; fiille,fuhle ; ware. The modified vowels o, ii, a (short and open — long and
closed) do not exist in English and require special practice. Teachers should not allow pupils to say fu(h)r instead of fur, or funf instead offimf, etc., but they should at the outset give the class a brief and clear phonetic explanation of the position of the speech organs in sounding u and o, and should practise these sounds whenever an opportunity offers. They should also point out the difference in sound between ware and were, Kdfer and cave, and so forth.
4. au as in rauschen, heraus.
The mouth should be opened sufficiently for the a element of the diphthong (see under i). The second element resembles more an o than a //.
5. e in unaccented syllables is nearly always reduced to a dull 9, e.g. behende should be pronounced bahenda; nehmen is nenwn. In familiar pronunciation it often disappears alto- gether, e.g. leben becomes lebm,geben becomes gebm, etc.
6. The glottal stop before the initial vowel of the second part of a compound should be carefully noticed, e.g. verirren should be pronounced fdr'irdn, Verein is for' am, etc.
7. h is now absolutely silent between vowels, as in sahen.
1 The symbols used are those of Victor's ' German Pronunciation.'
in our Secondary Schools. 49
It is sometimes sounded in artificial school pronuncia- tion. The verb wehen is to be pronounced vedn, ziehen is tsim.
8. Final b, d as in Weib, Held, Gold are to be pro- nounced as voiceless sounds (/, /), hence vaip, he It, golt; b and d after a consonant do not lengthen the preceding vowel in German as they do in some cases (after /) in English : e.g. milt * mild.' An exception to this general rule is Mond.
9. w has never the sound of an English w but that of an English v, e.g. wichsen 'to black (boots)' is vixen ; after sch a w is bilabial in German, e.g. schwarz is sv farts (NOT sudrts).
10. u after q has likewise the sound of bilabial v, qu = kv, e.g. Quell is kvel, Qual is kvdl, quer is kver.
11. The guttural n before g and k when it is followed by a syllable. A g following n is not sounded in German.
The guttural n is as a rule transcribed by n, #, or g. The German Finger is to be pronounced findr, singen is 3119211, while sinken is stnkdn. The pronunciation of words such as Engel, Enkel ; Range, Ranke, etc. should be practised.
1 2. The peculiar German ch with its twofold pronunciation after front and back vowels, e.g. Idcheln and lachen; ich, doch; Friichte, Frucht ; brdche, brach. Professor Victor would tran- scribe Idcheln by lepln, but lachen by lacdn.
As ch may be sounded differently in forms of the same word, great care is necessary in practising the pronunciation.
13. z in German words is a consonant diphthong denoting ts. Pupils should be early accustomed to pronounce it well and distinguish between Seiten and Zeiten, sauber and Zauber, sog and zog, Sehne, Zdhne, Szene ( = stsenz\ and pronounce zwanzig (tsvdntsif), Zwergzwiebel (tsverktsvtbzl).
14. Initial sp and st should be pronounced sp, st as on the stage and in the greater part of Germany. The rounding of s before/ and / should take place just, as it has taken place before /, m, n, w all over the country. The Hanoverian pronunciation is in this case archaic, and obviously influenced
B. 4
50 The Teaching of German
by Low German. Hence sprechen should be sprepn, stehen should be stedn.
A number of smaller points might still be touched upon, such as the difference between the (thinner) German and the (fuller) English final //, compare voll and full, but the time at my disposal does not admit a discussion of them, and these hints must not become a treatise. The books by Prof. Victor and by Miss Soames will give teachers all the necessary informa- tion as to particular points. A teacher of German in this country cannot afford to leave them unread.
Open Questions.
The pronunciation of initial r (dental or guttural) and of medial and final g are still moot points with the Germans themselves. I should allow a good deal of latitude in the teaching of them, that is to say I should not force the children to learn the guttural r if it gives them a great deal of trouble, and I should advocate the teaching of medial g between vowels as a voiced mute and not as a spirant. Hence I should transcribe Wege not veJ9 but vegd. . About final g I do not feel so sure and should (at present) admit the pronunciation v ek and vef for Weg. The latter (yec) is the more familiar one and the one more generally heard, it seems to be the pronun- ciation of the future — hence perhaps the best plan for the present is to pronounce final g like k in high style and in poetry, but like / in ordinary prose and in conversation.
Grammar.
The few words I propose to say under this head are of course entirely dictated by the practical considerations of school teaching. The general principles have been discussed in a previous lecture, e.g. that only the chief facts of grammar should be taught and everything exceptional at first be care- fully eliminated — that grammar should not be taught at school
in our Secondary Schools. 51
for its own sake and that everything should be deduced from carefully chosen examples of good modern German.
What is the standard ? I think the usage of first-rate modern writers such as Heyse, Spielhagen, Wildenbruch, Storm, Geibel, Bodenstedt, Freiligrath, Fulda and others. But teachers should be careful in the use of examples from Freytag, Scheffel, Keller, Raabe, Rosegger, Sudermann, Hauptmann and others whose writings are not free from archaisms, mannerism, dialectic usages and even a good deal of slang. These writings may of course be great works of art, but they cannot be used for school purposes or invariably as models of refined modern prose.
The existing Grammars of German compiled for the use of English schools have nearly all serious defects in addition to those general shortcomings noted in a previous lecture :
(1) They do not sufficiently distinguish between familiar, ordinary and historical, and elevated modern prose.
(2) They do not distinguish between modern language and the language of the great i8th century classics. In many cases we cannot say and write now what Lessing, Goethe and Schiller could and attempted.
(3) They do not as a rule distinguish carefully enough between prose and poetry.
Hence the instances from the German classics in most of our Grammars require a very thorough overhauling. A teacher should know German very well himself so as not to be hope- lessly dependent on the grammar he happens to use.
(4) Another prevalent fault is the failure to distinguish between the cases used in connection with certain verbs, e.g. geniessen, entbehren, rufen^ etc. It is absolutely misleading to say, as most grammars and dictionaries do, ' entbehren takes either the gen. or 'the ace.' It is true that Hermann (in * Hermann und Dorothea') says: Ich entbehre der Gattin, but it is archaic and cannot be said now. In good modern prose we use the accusative exclusively. Again in the case of rufen
4—2
52 The Teaching of German
the accusative is now the only possible case, e.g. er ruft mich. The dative which occurs sometimes in elevated style is very expressive, e.g. when the Spirit of the Earth says to Faust Wer ruft mir ? l Who calls for me ?' But such rare and poetic constructions should be briefly explained when they occur in the text before the pupils and not before.
A good teacher should not only teach the dry facts of grammar, but sometimes in appropriate cases give an explana- tion. In my previous lecture I have cautioned teachers not to go too far; but they may well here and there give some colour to their teaching by supplying an easy explanation, e.g. on the origin of many German prepositions, kraft — laut — wegen (why do they take the genitive ?) or of adverbs : flugs — rings — spornstreichs — aller dings , etc. A word on the nouns in -ei and the ending -ieren in verbs would interest many of the older boys, also on doublets such as Kerker and Karzer, Bursch and Borse, dichten and diktieren. Even the inorganic / in eigentlich, geflissentlich after the analogy of hoffentlich^ flehentlich (for flehend-lich Mike one imploring') might be occasionally ex- plained to more advanced pupils. They will thus get a glimpse of the life of the language. There is no lack of handy books of reference for the teacher of German who is anxious to obtain fuller information1.
But be very careful that your pupils do not use any scientific terms without properly understanding their exact meaning and their full bearing. Do not allow them to explain away difficulties by one of the three ever-recurring phrases : 1 for the sake of euphony/ * by false analogy ' (with what ? why false ?), or * for the sake of the metre,'
as if Goethe or Schiller could not have managed their versifi- cation properly !
I have said that a teacher will find out the chief difficulties
1 See my essay: 'The Reference- Library of a School Teacher of German,5 printed on pp. 63 — 82 of this book.
in our Secondary Schools. 53
of his pupils and will work hard at these while he will pass quickly over things which are naturally easy to English children. The principal difficulties of German Grammar seem to me to be especially the following (I must of course in a lecture like this restrict myself to some typical cases) :
(1) The right use of the prepositions and of the case required in connection with them. The grammars are not quite sufficient in this respect, e.g. the short rule as to ' rest ' and * motion' does not suffice in the case of auf and iiber. The right use of the prepositions is a great difficulty.
(2) The inflexion of the adjectives. The threefold use of the adjective (strong and weak inflexion and uninflected form) is characteristic of the German language. This point is really easy — a number of typical instances will suffice to teach it. These examples should be dictated and learned by heart.
(3) The modifications of root-vowels in plurals, comparisons, and derivatives. Here a good and careful pronunciation will be of great help — but much must simply be learned by heart, e.g. Tag, Tage but Schlag, Schldge.
(4) The strong verbs ; the separable verbs.
The principal ones must be committed to memory ; com- parison with English (singe, sang, gesungen — sing, sang, sung) will in many cases be helpful, and at all events remind pupils that a verb may be strong. In the case of the separable and inseparable verbs the principal ones, but only the principal ones, should be learned early, and a good pronunciation should be insisted upon. Instead of giving the infinitives (ubersetzen and ubersetzen) it will be preferable to teach the ist persons ich seize iiber, *I put across' and ich ilber seize, 'I translate.'
Pupils should be told that as a rule in cases where the force of the preposition is still felt and a local meaning prevails the verb is separable, but it is inseparable where the English equivalent is not a true English verb plus a preposition but a compound borrowed from the Latin and where the meaning is
54 The Teaching of German
abstract and metaphorical. Thus iibersetzen ' put across/ ilbersetzen ' translate'; wiederholen 'fetch back,' wiederhblen * repeat'; diirchgehen 'go through,' durchgehen 'pervade'; um- gehen ' go round about,' umgehen ' circumvent,' etc.
(5) The order of words in a sentence. This is of the very greatest importance and causes a great deal of difficulty at first, but it can be learnt fully during the time the children are at school. Begin very early with very simple sentences- enlarge them— alter them and turn them about — gradually introduce the various kinds of dependent clauses. Make your own examples if necessary, let the children copy them, refer at first invariably to the same examples until the Sprachgefuhl of the children is sufficiently well developed. Begin with a number of sentences such as :
Das Mddchen findet das Buch
The girl finds the book.
Das Mddchen hat das Buch gefunden
The girl has found the book.
Many instances of a similar kind should be given before you go on, always adding a little :
Das schone Madchen, welches wir heute gesehen haben, hat seinen guten Vater verloren, etc. etc.
Invent a story or a fable, and embody in it the chief things you are anxious to illustrate, e.g. the principal differences between English and German syntax.
Genders.
The German genders are indeed very troublesome to foreigners, more especially to English girls, who as a rule do not do Latin and Greek and are therefore more apt to forget about the genders. There are hardly any good rules about them. I wish there were. I cannot say more than the grammars. I freely admit that children, while at school,
in our Secondary Schools. 55
can hardly be expected to acquire an absolutely correct knowledge of genders. But on the other hand I do not think that the genders are quite as hard as they are sometimes made out to be. In the amusing chapter 'On the awful German language' added to his delightful < Tramp abroad' Mark Twain has with a great deal of humour exaggerated the difficulties. I think that the children may very well be expected to know the genders of all the principal and really important German words. Here the { systematic vocabulary ' referred to in a previous lecture should be useful.
Die Sonne — der Mond — der Stern — die Wo Ike — etc. Of course in learning words children should not say Sonne — sun but die Sonne — the sun, always adding the definite article. A story might be made up by the teacher which he should first tell and then dictate to the class. The pupils would learn it by heart and could, in case of subsequent doubts or mistakes, be referred back to it. An account of a ramble in the country might end as follows : ' Der Gipfel des Berges war bald erstiegen. Von ihm sahen wir die Sonne unter- gehen und bald nachher den Mond und den Abendstern am Himmel aufgehen. Eine diistre Wolke verdeckte den schonen Stern auf kurze Zeit, ein starkes Gewitter zog herauf, ein greller Blitz folgte dem andern, der Donner rollte, der Regen floss in Stromen ; bald aber war das schwere Wetter vorbei gezogen und das Licht des freundlichen Sternes leuchtete wieder zu uns herab.'
Word Formation.
Only the most important facts of German word-formation (derivation and composition and the old formation by vowel gradation) should be taught, but word formation will naturally play an important part in the construing lessons and will be sure to interest the children if properly brought before them. A well-informed teacher may well now and then explain the
56 The Teaching of German.
formation of a word with the view of giving the pupils a glimpse of old German life, customs, and beliefs. The discussion of the names of the days of the week, words such as O stern, Weihnachten, Fastnacht, Hochzeit, Brautlauf (in Schiller's 'Tell'), would be sure to interest and instruct the children. In saying this I am of course far from advocating a display of etymological information which would be beyond the under- standing of the children and out of place in school-teaching. Again an occasional word as to family names such as Baumann, Agricola, Jacobi, Jacobssohn, Jacobs, or of German and foreign proper names such as Dietrich, Leopold, Ludwig, Wolfram, Rudolf, Minna, Adelheid, Gertrud — Andreas, Philipp, Moses, Ludovica, Louise — Dietrich Kraft and Ludovica Jacobi, could be made most interesting and valuable even to children. Such instruction should, however, not be given systematically but only as occasion offers.
I should be much pleased if in these lectures I should have succeeded in throwing out some hints which will prove useful in your teaching, and in firing your enthusiasm for a subject, the study and teaching of which grows more attractive and more important with every year. The way is long, the aim is high — let us make a resolute attempt to reach the goal or at least not fall too far short of it !
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX.
PERIODICALS1.
1. The Modern Language Quarterly (now The Modern Quarterly for Language and Literature}. Edited by H. Frank Heath,
with the assistance of E. G. W. Braunholtz, Karl Breul, I. Gollancz, A. W. Pollard, W. Rippmann, and V. Spiers. Since 1897. London. Dent & Co. (2^. 6d. each part.)
2. Modern Language Notes. Edited by A. Marshall Elliott,
James W. Bright, Hans C. G. v. Jagemann, Henry Alfred Todd. Baltimore. Since 1886. Eight numbers a year. (Subscription in advance, js. a year.)
3. Archiv fur das Studium der Neueren Sprachen und Littera-
turen, begriindet von Ludwig Herrig, herausgegeben von Aloys Brandl und Adolf Tobler. The looth vol. has just appeared. Braunschweig. 1898. Yearly 4 Hefte. (8s. a year.)
4. Die Neueren Sprachen, Zeitschrift fur den Neusprachlichen
Unterricht. Mit dem Beiblatt "Phonetische Studien." In Verbindung mit Franz Dorr und Adolf Rambeau herausgegeben von Wilhelm Victor. Marburg. Yearly ten parts. Since 1893. (I2J. a year.)
5. Zeitschrift fur den deutschen Unterricht, begriindet unter
Mitwirkung von Rudolf Hildebrand, herausgegeben von Otto Lyon. Leipzig. Since 1887. Monthly. (i2s. a year.)
1 The full titles of most of the above mentioned and of many other important periodicals are given in the first chapter of my 'Handy Guide.' The Journal of Education should also be referred to. With regard to the prices mentioned see note 2 on p. 64.
f-
58 Bibliographical Appendix.
6. Zeitschrift fur neufranzosische Sprache nnd Litteratur, mit
besonderer Beriicksichtigungdes Unterrichts im Franzosischen auf den deutschen Schulen, herausgegeben von G. Korting und E. Koschwitz. The present general editor is D. Behrens. Oppeln and Leipzig. (Now Berlin.) Since 1879. Tne periodical is no longer exclusively devoted to Modern French, and the present title is Zeitschrift fiir franzosische Sprache und Litter atur. (i$s. a year.)
7. Revue de Venseignement des langues vivantes, edited by
A. Wolfromm. Paris. Since 1883. (15^. a year.)
8. Le maitre phonetique, organe de 1'association phone'tique inter-
nationale, edited by Paul Passy. Paris. (Bourg-la-Reine.) Since 1885. (y. a year.)
9. Litteraturblatt fiir Gennanische und Romanische Philologie,
herausgegeben von Otto Behaghel und Fritz Neumann. Leipzig. Since 1880. Monthly, (us. a year.)
10. Verhandlungen der deutschen Neuphilologentage. Every second year one volume of proceedings.
BOOKS, PAMPHLETS AND ESSAYS1.
1. Allcock (A. E.}. The teaching of Modern Languages (in
"Essays on Secondary Education by various contributors," ed. Chr. Cookson, pp. 149 sqq.). Oxford. 1898. (4^. 6d. cloth.)
2. Atkinson (H. IV.). An Experiment in Modern Language
Teaching (Journal of Education, May 1897). On the articles by F. B. Kirkman. His reply is contained in the Jotirn. of Educ. June, 1897.
1 The books, pamphlets and essays enumerated are unequal in value and not invariably written from the same point of view, but they will all be found suggestive and helpful. These lists do not comprise all that is worth reading on the subject, their aim being simply to point out a certain number of recent contributions to the study of Methods of Modern Language Teaching which teachers will find it useful to refer to. Several articles contained in the Journal of Education (October 1896 and the following months) are very suggestive. For further information see Miinch's and Glauning's book (described under 18) which gives very valuable biblio- graphical lists. The books most useful for the teacher of German are discussed on pp. 64 — 82.
Bibliographical Appendix. 59
3. Bahlsen (L.\ Der franzosische Sprachunterricht im neuen
Kurs. Berlin. 1892. (is. 6d. unbound.)
4. Brfal (Michel}. De 1'enseignement des langues vivantes.
Paris. 1893. (is. Sd. unbound.)
5. Brebner (Mary}. The Method of Teaching Modern Languages
in Germany. London. 1898. (is. 6d. cloth.)
6. Colbeck (C.). On the teaching of Modern Languages in Theory
and Practice. Two Lectures. Cambridge. 1887. (2s. cloth.)
7. Findlay (7.). An Experiment in Modern Language Teaching
(Journal of Education, October, November, December (with A. E. Twentyman), 1896). See Kirkman.
8. Franke (F.). Die praktische Spracherlernung auf Grund der
Psychologic und der Physiologic der Sprache dargestellt. Leipzig. 1890. (8d. unbound.)
9. Hartmann (K. A. M.\ Die Anschauung im neusprachlichen
Unterricht. Wien. 1895. (&£ unbound.)
10. Hartmann (K. A. M.). Reiseeindriicke und Beobachtungen eines deutschen Neuphilologen in der Schweiz und in Frank- reich. Leipzig. 1897. (3^. unbound, 43. cloth.)
11. Jeffrey (P. Shaw). How shall we learn French ? (Journal of Education, October, 1897.)
12. Kirkman (F. B.). An Experiment in Modern Language Teaching (Journal of Education, February, April, 1897). See Findlay; Atkinson.
13. Klinghardt (//".). Ein Jahr Erfahrungen mit der neuen Methode. Marburg. 1888. (is. Sd. unbound.)
14. Klinghardt (//".). Drei weitere Jahre Erfahrungen mit der imitativen Methode. Marburg. 1892. (zs. 6d. unbound.)
15. Kiihu (V. K.). Entwurf eines Lehrplans. Marburg. 1889. (is. unbound.)
16. Mangold (W.). Geloste und ungeloste Fragen der Methodik. Berlin. 1892. (&d. unbound.)
17. Munch (W.). Zur Forderung des franzosischen Unterrichts. Heilbronn. 1883. 2nd improved ed. Leipzig. 1895. (zs.6d. unbound.)
60 Bibliographical Appendix.
18. Munch (W.) und Claiming (Fr.). Didaktik und Methodik des franzosischen und englischen Unterrichts. Munchen. 1895 (from Dr A. Baumeister's 'Handbuch der Erziehungs- und Unterrichtslehre fiir hohere Schulen3). This book contains a most valuable up to date bibliography. (4^. 6d. unbound.)
19. Roden (A. v.). In wiefern muss der Sprachunterricht um- kehren? Marburg. 1890. (i^. 8^. unbound.)
20. Spencer (Fr.). Chapters on the aims and practice of teaching. Chapter III. (French and German, by the general editor). Cambridge. 1897. (6s. cloth.)
21. Storr (Fr.). The Teaching of Modern Languages (French and German) in "Teaching and Organisation, with special reference to Secondary Schools. A manual of practice, edited by P. A. Barnett." London. 1897. pp. 261 — 280. At the end of this essay some other contributions by Mr Storr to the question of Modern Language Teaching are enumerated. See also A. T. Pollard's remarks on pp. 24 — 26 of the same volume. (6s. 6d. cloth.)
22. Tanger (£.). Muss der Sprachunterricht umkehren ? Berlin. 1888. (gd. unbound.)
23. Victor (W.). (Quousque tandem.) Der Sprachunterricht muss umkehren. Heilbronn. 1882. Reprint 1886. (Sd. un- bound.)
24. Waetzoldt (St.). Die Aufgabe des Neusprachlichen Unter- richts und die Vorbildung der Lehrer. Berlin. 1892. (is. unbound.) (Compare the " Verhandlungen des fiinften allge- meinen deutschen Neuphilologentages zu Berlin (1892).) Hannover. 1893. PP- 25 sqq- and the reviews of Waetzoldt's lecture in ' Die Neueren Sprachen' i. 48 sqq. (Victor); " Mitteilungen zur Anglia" in. 361 sqq. (Wendt); uZeitschr. f. franz. Spr." xiv. i sqq. (Stengel); "Englische Studien" xix. 137 sqq. (Kolbing); " Litteraturblatt f. germ, und roman. Philologie " XV. 130 sqq. (Koschwitz).
25. Walther (Max). Der franzosische Klassenunterricht. Mar- burg. 1888, 2i895. (is. $d. unbound.)
Bibliographical Appendix. 61
26. Ware (F.). Phonetics and Modern Language Teaching (Journal of Education, August, 1897). See Kirkman.
27. Widgery ( W. //".). The teaching of languages in Schools. London. 1888. (With a very full bibliography.) This pamphlet is now unfortunately out of print.
28. Methods of teaching Modern Languages. By A. Marshall Elliott, Calvin Thomes, W. Stuart Macgowan, and others. Boston, U. S. A. 1894. (Essays and speeches very unequal in value and importance.) ($s. 6d. cloth.)
29. Breymann (//.). Die neusprachliche Reform- Litteratur von 1876 — 93. Leipzig. 1895. (3^. unbound.)
SPECIAL BOOKS ON THE TEACHING OF GERMAN1.
30. Hildebrand (JR.). Vom deutschen Sprachunterricht in der Schule. Leipzig. 4i89o. (3^. unbound.)
31. Laas (E.\ Der deutsche Unterricht auf hoheren Lehran- stalten. Berlin. 1872. 2i886 (edited by I. Imelmann). (8j. unbound.)
32. Lehmann (Rud.). Der deutsche Unterricht. Eine Methodik fur hohere Lehranstalten. Berlin. 1890. (8^. unbound.)
33. Wendt (Gustav}. Der deutsche Unterricht und die philo- sophische Propadeutik (from Baumeister's 'Handbuch' Vol. III.). Munchen. 1896. With useful bibliographical lists. ($s. unbound.)
1 Those books which are specially intended for the use of German teachers in German schools contain much more than an English teacher can possibly expect to get through; but as the smaller is contained in the greater, English teachers of German will in many cases find such works of the utmost service — except in the cases of the special conditions and special difficulties of the English learner. With regard to these and to the right methods of teaching German in English schools the standard book has still to be written.
62 Bibliographical Appendix.
PHONETICS1.
34. Klinghardt (//".)• Artikulations- und Horiibungen. Cothen. 1897. (55-. 6df. unbound.)
35. Passy (Paul). Les sons du Frangais. Paris. 3i892. (is. 6d. unbound.)
36. Victor (W.\ German Pronunciation, Practice and Theory. Leipzig. 21890. (zs. cloth.)
37. Breymann (//".). Die Phonetische Litteratur von 1876—1895. Eine bibliographisch-kritische Ubersicht. Leipzig. 1897. (3^. unbound.)
1 For more detailed information see my 'Handy Bibliographical Guide' pp. 8, 24 — 26, and 35, and also pp. 70 — 71 of this book. For French see: Miinch, in his 'Methodik und Didaktik des franzosischen Unterrichts,' pp. 95 — 96. Here the titles of the important books by Beyer, Koschwitz, and others are given in full. See also Miss Brebner's pamphlet (No. 5), pp. 70 — 72, and Le maitre phonttique (January, 1897), pp. 39 — 41 (ouvrages recommandes pour 1'etude de la phonetique et de la pedagogic linguistique).
THE REFERENCE LIBRARY OF A SCHOOL TEACHER OF GERMAN1.
THERE are no doubt many difficulties which beset a teacher of German in this country, such as — want of time allotted to his subject in the school curriculum, necessity of preparing his pupils for a host of examinations, want of a clearly defined and methodically arranged curriculum, lack of encouragement of the subject in the vast majority of schools, distinct dis- couragement in the present regulations for the army exami- nations, shyness of the pupils in dealing with the living and spoken idiom, uncertainty concerning the best method to be adopted in teaching, and doubt as to what books should be used with the classes, and more especially in preparing for his work.
It can, however, not be urged that there is not now a great number of really good, scientific, as well as practical books available for a teacher to refer to in all cases of difficulty and doubt, such as may arise at any moment in the various departments of his every-day teaching. On the contrary, there are, at least in some cases, so many books on the same subject that a real difficulty is experienced by teachers as to which should be used by preference. The school reference-libraries are, as a rule, very poor as far as German is concerned; moreover, most teachers will probably wish, as far as may be,
1 Revised and enlarged Reprint from the Modern Language Quarterly for November 1897.
64 The Reference Library of
to purchase gradually all the necessary books of reference for themselves. The choice of tools will, of course, largely depend on the kind of work which the teacher will have to do, but a well-equipped reference library will be found by every teacher of the very greatest importance for the success of his teaching and for necessary self-improvement. It is the object of this article to assist younger teachers to some extent in making their choice. New books of value and interest will henceforth be regularly noticed in the Modern Quarterly of Language and Literature. (London : Dent and Co. Single numbers, 2s. 6d.)
Such ordinary grammars, composition-books, school -dic- tionaries, and the like, as are in daily use in schools, and with which every teacher is naturally familiar, have all, or nearly all, been excluded from the following lists. I shall, in the subsequent paragraphs, freely refer readers to my 1 Handy Guide1,' where a much greater number of books of reference is given.
Dictionaries. — A number of dictionaries of different kinds should be found on the shelves of a well-equipped reference library. Apart from the ordinary small school- dictionaries, a teacher will be in constant need of at least one large dictionary of the first order. The last edition of Fliigel's well-known and time-honoured dictionary is at present the largest English-German and German-English dictionary which is complete. Its full title is Felix Fliigel, ' Allgemeines Englisch-Deutsches und Deutsch-Englisches Worterbuch.' Fourth, entirely remodelled, edition. 2 parts in 3 vols. Braunschweig, 1891. (Price, bd., £2. $s.)2 The English-
1 Karl Breul, 'A Handy Bibliographical Guide to the Study of the German Language and Literature for the use of Students and Teachers of German.' London: Hachette £ Co., 1895, 8vo. Bound, is. 6d. Some books enumerated in this article are of more recent date than the * Guide.'
2 The prices quoted in this article are those for which the books may be obtained from Mr Th. Wohlleben, 45, Great Russell Street, London, W.C. (opposite the British Museum). The prices are liable to a discount of jo°/0 for foreign and 25% for English books to bona fide teachers.
a School Teacher of German. 65
German part is by far the better of the two ; the German- English part, which is really the more important one for English students, leaves a good deal to be desired. A smaller dictionary, partly based on the large Fliigel (the English-German part only), is the one called — Fliigel-Schmidt-Tanger, 'A Dictionary of the English and German Languages for Home and School.' Two vols. Braunschweig, 1896 (125-. 6d. bound). It is excellently printed, very full, and most useful for all ordinary purposes.
A work which will surpass in completeness even the big Fliigel is now in course of publication. It will ultimately consist of four large volumes. The first two volumes, con- taining the English and German part (compiled by G. Muret, with the help of many specialists), are completed (half bound, £2. 2s.). The publication of the second part has been begun by the Langenscheidt'sche Buchhandlung, Berlin, 1897. The editor of the first number was the late well-known lexicographer Daniel Sanders. The work is being continued under the general editorship of Immanuel Schmidt. An abridged school- edition of this work (in 2 volumes) is also in course of publication. Vol. i. (the English-German part) has appeared.
The smaller books by Grieb, Thieme-Preusser, Kohler (all of which have been, or are being, completely re-edited), and the still smaller books by Whitney, Krummacher, and Weir (of which I am preparing a thoroughly revised edition) are certainly useful in many respects, but do not always afford all the information a teacher of German may desire to obtain.
Apart from German-English and English-German dic- tionaries, a teacher will often desire to consult a German dictionary with German explanations, and, if possible, with well-chosen German instances. The very big works of the brothers Grimm and their successors, and of Daniel Sanders (see my * Guide,' pp. 48-49), are too bulky and expensive for
B. <;
66 The Reference Library of
ordinary purposes. Two recent dictionaries of smaller size will probably be very welcome to many teachers of German. One is by Moriz Heyne, 'Deutsches Worterbuch,' 3 vols. Leipzig, 1890-95 (;£i. 105. unbound, £i. igs. half calf). It contains numerous well-chosen instances, and is most handy for reference. An abridgment of it in one vol. has recently (1897) been published (135. half calf). Another most useful dictionary, in which no instances are given, but the develop- ment of meaning of the words very carefully elaborated, is the 'Deutsches Worterbuch/ by Hermann Paul. Halle, 1897 (8s. unbd. ; 105. half calf). Both books strictly exclude all foreign words of recent importation. Every teacher should endeavour to get Paul's dictionary and the large Heyne — both will be of daily use to him. English teachers of German will sometimes be in doubt as to the inflexion or pronunciation of foreign words in German. They will find all desirable information in the 'Fremdworterbuch,' by Daniel Sanders, in 2 vols. Leipzig, 1871, 2i8<)i-2 (i2S. unbound, 145. 6d. half calf). There is now, however, a strong tendency in Germany to avoid, if possible, the use of foreign words, and several dictionaries have been compiled in which German equivalents of foreign words are given. Perhaps the best of these is the following — Hermann Dunger, * Worterbuch von Verdeutschungen ent- behrlicher Fremdworter.' Leipzig, 1882 (2*. boards). A short and very interesting account of the history of foreign words in German has been recently given by Rud. Kleinpaul, under the title 'Das Fremdwort im Deutschen,' Leipzig, 1896. (Sammlung Goeschen No. 55, i od. boards). Many teachers will be glad of a very complete and useful dictionary giving every ordinary modern German word, whether of German or of foreign origin, according to the so-called new spelling. One of the greatest authorities on moderate spelling reform, Konrad Duden, has compiled a ' Vollstandiges orthographisches Worterbuch der deutschen Sprache mit etymologischen An- gaben, kurzen Sacherklarungen und Verdeutschungen der
a School Teacher of German. 67
Fremdworter. Nach den neuen amtlichen Regeln.' Leipzig, 4th ed., 189-. (is. 6d). The most handy dictionary of synonyms is Eberhard's ' Synonymisches Handworterbuch der deutschen Sprache' (the latest, i5th ed., by Otto Lyon) with well-chosen German instances and translations of the German synonyms into English, French, Italian, and Russian. Leipzig, 1896 (half bound, 135. 6d.}. The etymology of words of German origin has been admirably treated by Fr. Kluge in his 1 Etymologisches Worterbuch der deutschen Sprache.' A new enlarged edition (the 6th) is now in course of publication and will be ready in December (in 8 parts at is. each, or complete, bound in leather, at ios.). A short, but useful, etymological German dictionary is the one by Ferd. Better. Leipzig, 1897. (Sammlung Goeschen, No. 64, lod. boards.) A very good systematical English- German vocabulary (parts of which will be found useful for class-teaching) has been compiled by Gustav Krliger, ' Englisch-Deutsches Worterbuch nach StorTen geordnet fur Studierende, Schulen und Selbstunterricht.' Berlin, 2i895 (4^.). A most useful and handy little pocket- dictionary for travelling purposes is the ' English-German Conversation Dictionary,' by Richard Jaschke. London, 1893 (2s. 6d.).
Many other dictionaries, including older German dic- tionaries, special glossaries, dialect dictionaries, dictionaries of technical and commercial words and phrases, etc., which are of less importance for ordinary teaching, must be passed over in this article. Their full titles are given in my ' Guide,' chapter vi., pp. 45-54. I will only mention F. W. Eitzen's 1 Worterbuch der Handelssprache.' German-English. Leipzig, 1893 (us. 6d. bound), which seems to be very full, and is not mentioned in the l Guide.'
Grammars, etc. — Such books as are very widely known and extensively used in class-teaching, e.g., the grammars by Kuno Meyer, Macgowan, Fiedler, Aue, Eve, Weisse, Baumann, Meissner, Siepmann, and others, need not be discussed here.
5—2
68 The Reference Library of
I wish to call attention to some books which seem to be less known, and which, if consulted, would often be found very helpful. Among the smaller grammars of German for English students there is the American book by H. C. G. Brandt, 'A Grammar of the German language for High Schools and Colleges, designed for beginners and advanced students.' Sixth ed. Boston, 1893 (6.r. net, cloth), which is far too little known in this country, and will be found extremely useful on account of its brief but accurate explanations of grammatical pheno- mena. The small but practical ' Deutsche Grammatik und Geschichte der deutschen Sprache ' by Otto Lyon. Stuttgart, 2 1 89 2 (Sammlung Goeschen, No. 20, \vd. boards), will be found useful in many cases where brief and reliable information is wanted. Among the more bulky works on German grammar, written in German and intended for teachers and students, the following deserves special recommendation : F. Blatz, ' Neu- hochdeutsche Grammatik mit Beriicksichtigung der historischen Entwickelung der deutschen Sprache.' Third ed., entirely rewritten in two vols. Karlsruhe, 1895-6 (unbound, 22^., half bound, 26^.). This is a most useful book for study and for reference. Of the older books, I. Ch. Aug. Heyse's 1 Deutsche Grammatik,' 25th ed., completely rewritten by Otto Lyon. Hannover, 1893 (5^.), may, in spite of some shortcomings, still be used with advantage in many cases. The ' Deutsche Grammatik' (Gotisch, Alt- Mittel- und Neu- hochdeutsch), by W. Wilmanns, which is now in course of publication, will probably be of too strictly philological a character to meet the practical needs of most teachers. So far vol. I. (phonology), Strassburg, 1893 (8s. unbound, los. half bound), and vol. n. (word-formation), Strassburg, 1896 (i2s. 6d. unbound, 15^. half bound), have appeared. Two, or possibly three, more volumes are to follow. It is an admirable piece of work.
An excellent short book for repetition of the principal facts of old and modern phonology and accidence is Fr. KaufTmann,
a School Teacher of German. 69
' Deutsche Grammatik.' Marburg, second edition, 1895 (25. 6d. cloth). The book is only for teachers and students, it cannot be used for class-teaching.
With regard to syntax alone, the works by Vernaleken, Erdmann, Kern, and Wunderlich, give much useful infor- mation. (See my ' Guide,' p. 32.) Erdmann's work (in two volumes), which is now completed (vol. n. by Otto Mensing, Stuttgart, 1898), deserves special recommendation. (135-. un- bound.)
There are a number of German books in which doubtful points of grammar and the 'best German' are discussed at length. Three of these will be especially serviceable to English teachers (for others, see my ' Guide/ pp. 29-30). K. G. Andresen, * Sprachgebrauch und Sprachrichtigkeit im Deutschen.' Seventh edition, Leipzig, 1892 (6s. or cloth 7^.). This is the most conservative book of the three. Th. Matthias, in his 'Sprachleben und Sprachschaden.' Leipzig, 1892 (6s. cloth), of which an abridged edition has recently been pub- lished, is inclined to make greater concessions to recent usage. Both books are well indexed. The third book is much shorter, but also very useful — A. Heintze, ' Gut Deutsch.' Sixth edition, Berlin, 1895 (is. 6d. cloth). These books will often be found useful in cases where the ordinary school-grammars do not give sufficient information. Wustmann's often quoted 1 Sprachdummheiten ' should only be used with the very greatest caution.
Teachers who are anxious to have a brief survey of the history of the German language should refer to the following books — O. Weise, 'Unsere Muttersprache; ihr Werden und ihr Wesen.' Third ed., Leipzig, 1895 (2$. 6d. cloth). An English translation of this work which, in spite of a number of minor mistakes, is useful and suggestive, is being prepared in America. A somewhat older book of a similar character and more reliable with regard to strictly philological information is O. Behaghel, 'Die deutsche Sprache,' Leipzig, 1886 (15-.), an
/O The Reference Library of
English adaptation of which, by E. Trechmann, was published in London, 1891, under the title, 'A Short Historical Grammar of the German Language.' (45. 6d.} A small pamphlet con- taining a few short and popular articles on the German language, such as boys preparing for scholarships may like to read, is the one by E. Wasserzieher, ' Aus dem Leben der deutschen Sprache.' Leipzig, no date (3^.). A. W. F. Cerf has begun a ' Short Historical Grammar of the German Lan- guage' (Part I. : Introduction and Phonology. London, 1894. 45.), the second part of which has not yet appeared. A somewhat larger book is the one by Henri Lichtenberger, 'Histoire de la langue allemande,' Paris, 1895 (&s. 6d.}. Another useful French book, treating of the mutual relation of English and German grammar, is a book by V. Henry, which was translated by the author himself, under the title, 'A Short Comparative Grammar of English and German, as traced back to their Common Origin and contrasted with the Classical Languages.' London, 1894 (js. 6d.}. All desirable information with regard to the new spelling is given by W. Wilmanns in his valuable book, ' Die Orthographic in den Schulen Deutschlands.' Berlin, 1887 (35. 6d. unbound). A short guide to modern punctuation is the book by O. Glode, 'Die deutsche Interpunktionslehre.' Leipzig, 1893 (6d.}. Teachers who have to prepare boys for examinations in which they must shew proficiency in reading German handwriting should use C. F. A. Kolb, 'Lesebuch in Handschriften.' 8th ed. Stuttgart, 1895 (is. $d. boards), or B. Levy, ' Recueil de lettres allemandes reproduites en ecritures autographiques pour exercer a la lecture des manuscrits allemands.' Paris. Sixth edition, 1892 (25. 8d.). The subject of the best German pronunciation is still a very vexed question, even among the Germans them- selves. I do not propose to treat it in full in the present article, still I should like to refer teachers to the various books by W. Victor (see my ' Guide,' pp. 35, 47). Those which will be most helpful for English teachers are his ' German Pronun-
a School Teacher of German. 71
ciation : Practice and Theory.' Leipzig, 1890 (2^.), and the reprint of his lecture, ' Wie ist die Aussprache des Deutschen zu lehren?' Marburg, 1893 (is.). A < Deutsche Lauttafel/ illustrating this lecture, was published at the same time (is. 6d.). The same can be had on a large scale and mounted to be hung up on the wall of the class room (2^. 6d.). Teachers who are anxious to consult handy books on phonetics may refer either to Laura Soames, lAn Introduction to Phonetics/ London,
1891 (2S. 6d.)j which is now out of print, to some extent replaced by Soames' ' Phonetic Method.' Part I.: 'Sounds of English.' (2s. 6d.) Part II. : 'The Teacher's Method with Word-lists' (25-. 6d.) ; or to W. Victor's ' Elemente der Phonetik und Orthoepie des Deutschen, Englischen und Franzosischen, mit Riicksicht auf die Bediirfnisse der Lehrpraxis.' Leipzig. Third edition (with useful bibliography), 1894 ('js. unbound, 8s. cloth). An abridged edition of this work has just been issued. Leipzig, 1897 (35.). It is called 'Kleine Phonetik des Deutschen, Englischen und Franzosischen ' (3^. 6d. cloth). An English translation and adaptation of it is being prepared by W. Rippmann. London, Dent.
There are several books devoted to the teaching of conver- sation (see my ' Guide,' p. 38). Perhaps the most serviceable of them is A. Hamann's ' Echo of Spoken German.' Leipzig,
1892 (2^-. 6d. cloth), a series of excellent dialogues which afford, at the same time, a useful introduction to the study of German life and manners.
For the explanation of German idiomatic phrases, no better books could be desired than those by Wilh. Borchardt, 'Die sprichwortlichen Redensarten im deutschen Volksmund nach Sinn und Ursprung erlautert.' Leipzig. Fourth ed., 1894 (>js. cloth), and by H. Schrader, ' Der Bilderschrnuck der deutschen Sprache.' Berlin. Second edition, 1889 (7^. cloth). For other similar books, familiar quotations, slang, etc., see my ' Guide/ p. 39.
Teachers who make their advanced pupils write free essays
72 The Reference Library of
on German classical works or characters occurring in great plays should use among others the books of Victor Kiy, l Themata und Dispositionen zu deutschen Aufsatzen und Vortragen im Anschluss an die deutsche Schullektiire fiir die oberen Klassen hoherer Lehranstalten.' Three parts. Berlin, 1895-1897. (Parts I. and III. 35., Part II. 3*. 6d. cloth.)
Histories of Literature. — There is not as yet a really satisfactory History of German Literature written in English and based on a first-hand acquaintance of the author with the German works of literature of old and modern times. The English translations and adaptations of German works are none of them free from very serious shortcomings. Hence a teacher will very likely prefer to possess one or more German works of moderate size on the subject. The following will, in my opinion, best serve his purpose — Wilhelm Scherer, l Ge- schichte der deutschen Litteratur.' Berlin, ;th ed., 1895 (IQJ. cloth, i2s. half bound), perhaps the most brilliant book of its kind, written by a ripe scholar, who was endowed with a refined taste for literary beauty. A new edition (apparently unaltered) is just being issued in parts at is. each. A book of similar compass is that by the late poet and professor Otto Roquette, 4 Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung von den altesten Denk- malern bis auf die Neuzeit.' Frankfurt-on-the-Main. 3rd ed., 1882 (*js. 6d. unbound). The last book of this kind deserving warm recommendation has only quite recently appeared. It is the * Geschichte der deutschen Litteratur von den altesten Zeiten bis zur Gegenwart,' by Friedrich Vogt and Max Koch. Leipzig and Wien, 1897 (bound, 16^.). This book is pro- fusely illustrated with very carefully selected and splendidly executed illustrations, giving facsimiles of old and modern manuscripts and handwritings, and numerous portraits of famous authors, etc. The scientific value of this book is incomparably higher than that of another well-illustrated history of literature by Robert Konig (25th revised ed. in two vols. Bielefeld and Leipzig, 1895 (£i half bound), which has had
a School Teacher of German. 73
a wide circulation in Germany. A fine and suggestive book giving a full account of the development of German literature as influenced by social forces hails from America. It is called ' Social forces in German literature. A study in the history of Civilization' by Kuno Francke. New York, 2i897. (los. cloth.) A splendid work, merely illustrating German "• literature from the earliest times to the present day by over 2200 pictures and illustrations, is Gust. Koennecke's 'Bilder- atlas zur Geschichte der deutschen Nationallitteratur. Er- ganzung zu jeder deutschen Litteraturgeschichte.' 2nd ed. Marburg, 1895 (£i. 8^. half calf). For the eighteenth century the great work by H. Hettner, 'Geschichte der deutschen Litteratur im achtzehnten Jahrhundert/ 4th ed. (revised by O. Harnack), Braunschweig, 1894 (;£i. 15^. 6d. unbound, or bound in 2 vols. (leather) £i. 19.$*. 6^.), will be found as useful as it is interesting.
There are several books from which information as to y M German literature in our own century can be obtained. It is hardly necessary to say that they differ a great deal in character and judgment, but in all of them there is plenty of interesting matter and valuable information. The following may be mentioned in the first instance — R. v. Gottschall, 'Die deutsche Nationallitteratur des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Litterarhistorisch und kritisch dargestellt,' 6th ed., 4 parts. Breslau, 1892 (£i unbound). Fr. Kirchner, ' Die deutsche Nationallitteratur des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts/ Heidelberg, 1894 (js. 6d. unbound, los. half calf). L. Salomon, 'Ge- schichte der deutschen Nationallitteratur des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts/ 2nd ed. (with thirty portraits of poets). Stuttgart, 1887 (i2s. cloth). Ad. Stern, 'Studien zur Litteratur der Gegenwart ' (with portraits of authors). Dresden and Leipzig, 2 1898 (los. 6d. unbound, I2S. 6d. cloth). A short and somewhat one-sided work is the ' Geschichte der deutschen Litteratur in der Gegenwart,' by Eugen Wolff. Leipzig, 1896 (6s. 6d. cloth). In many ways preferable is the still shorter book by A. Bartels, --
74 The Reference Library of
( Die deutsche Dichtung der Gegenwart.' Leipzig, 1897 (2^. boards). The short account of nineteenth century literature by Adolf Stern, ' Die deutsche National-litteratur vom Tode Goethes bis zur Gegenwart ' (originally intended to form a supplement to Vilmar's * History of German Literature'), Marburg, 2i89o, is also not without value (25. $d. cloth). The modern German drama has been treated with much interest by Berthold Litzmann. Hamburg and Leipzig, 2i894 (55-.). From a great number of German primers of literature for schools only those by H. Kluge, G. Egelhaaf, Max Koch, G. Botticher and K. Kinzel, and Gotthold Klee (Dresden and Berlin, 2nd ed. 1897) need be mentioned. See my ' Guide/ pp. 63-64. Each has its own advantages. Klee's book (2s. cloth) is perhaps the best for school purposes. Brief and reliable information concerning all living modern German authors (not only poets, but men of letters generally), authors' societies, periodicals and newspapers, etc. is given in Joseph Kiirschner's annual publication (somewhat corresponding to our * Who's who') called 'Deutscher Litteratur-Kalender.' The 2oth volume appeared at Leipzig, 1898 (bound, 6s. 6d.}.
Metre. — A short but useful survey of the history of German metre, with good specimens and due consideration of modern forms, is given by Fr. Kauffmann in his * Deutsche Metrik nach ihrer geschichtlichen Entwickelung.' Marburg, 1897 (4^. 6d.). A more detailed account of modern German metre — a subject which apparently is hardly ever touched upon in school teaching, while the outlines of it deserve to be just as well known as the metrical art of the ancient classical writers— is given in F. Minor's ' Neuhochdeutsche Metrik.' Strassburg, 1893 (ics. unbound ; T 2s. half calf). Most teachers will probably find the book too elaborate for their purpose in spite of its being extremely readable and suggestive. The metre of a play in blank verse and in the Old German free metre of four accents is fully discussed in my edition of Schiller's ' Wallenstein i. Cambridge, 2i896 (3*. 6d. cloth); blank verse alone in my
a School Teacher of German. 75
edition of ' Wilhelm Tell.' Cambridge, 2 1897 (25. 6d.)> and in my forthcoming edition of Goethe's ' Iphigenie.'
Theory of Poetry, etc. — A number of 'Poetiken' of very different size and character are enumerated in my ' Guide' on pp. 74-75. There will be little time, and perhaps little need, for systematic instruction in our school teaching, but teachers will probably like to possess and use at least the following two small and cheap hand-books : C. F. A. Schuster, * Lehrbuch der Poetik fur hohere Lehranstalten.' Halle, 3rd ed. 1890 (2s. cloth), and the still smaller ' Deutsche Poetik' by Karl Borinski. Stuttgart, 1895 (lod. cloth). In this connection I should like to mention and to recommend very strongly three books which teachers will find helpful in discussing German dramas with more advanced pupils, or in preparing for scholar- ship examinations : Gustav Freytag, 'Die Technik des Dramas/ 4th ed. Leipzig, 1881 ($s. unbound, 6s. 6d. bound). The American translation of this book by E. J. Mac Ewan, Chicago, 1895 (js. 6d. cloth), does not seem to be very well done. R. Franz, 'Der Aufbau der Handlung in den klassischen Dramen.' Bielefeld and Leipzig, 1892 (4^. 6d. unbound, 6s. half bound), and H. Bulthaupt, ' Dramaturgic des Schauspiels.' Vol. i. (Lessing, Goethe, Schiller, Kleist). Oldenburg and Leipzig, 5th ed., 1893 (6^. cloth).
German Classics. — A great number of school editions of German classics with English, German, and French Notes are enumerated in my ' Guide,' pp. 94-96. For particulars as to English editions of German Classics available in 1893 see my article in Lyon's 'Zeitschrift fiir den deutschen Unterricht,' Vol. VIIT. (1894), pp. 167 sqq. Of English editions without notes Max Miiller's ' German Classics ' in 2 vols., Oxford, 1886 (;£i. is.), deserves to be mentioned. Professor Schiid- dekopf is preparing a comprehensive modern anthology ; and I am preparing a selection of the best and most characteristic of Goethe's collected works in one volume for the Clarendon Press. Of German editions : the Hempel editions of Lessing,
76 The Reference Library of
Goethe and Schiller, the new Schiller edition by Bellerman for the Leipzig Bibliographical Institute, the editions of Burger, Uhland, Riickert, Heine (in 7 volumes) and others by the same publishers, and most of the volumes of Kiirschner's ' Deutsche National- Litteratur' and of Brockhaus" Bibliothek der deutschen Nationallitteratur des achtzehnten und neunzehnten Jahr- hunderts,' deserve to be recommended. Of the cheap series the volumes of Cotta's ' Bibliothek der Weltlitteratur ' (bound), and those of the ' Collection Spemann ' (bound), uniformly printed in excellent type on excellent paper, can be had for is. each; the Hendel editions (Halle, unbound) for $d. per volume; Reclam's texts, ' Universal Bibliothek' (Leipzig), 3^. per volume ; and the texts of the series called ' Meyer's Volksbiicher' (Leipzig) for 2d. per volume.
Some other excellent sets of classics of a more scientific character are enumerated in my 'Guide' on pp. 81-82, and a number of commentaries mentioned on pp. 100-104. English teachers of German will find M. W. Gotzinger's 'Deutsche Dichter,' 5th ed. (partly rewritten by E. Gotzinger), 2 vols. Aarau, 1876-7 (iSs. unbound, and ;£i cloth), very useful.
Old German. — Few teachers will feel inclined to give much time and attention to Old German, and will therefore hardly be in need of advice as to what books to use for the study of the older German classics. Still many teachers may in a not very distant future wish to prepare boys for scholar- ships at the Universities, and although Old German is with very good reason no longer an indispensable condition for success in an Entrance Scholarship, a teacher may occasionally like to give promising pupils a start and teach them the elements of Middle High German and sixteenth century German1. Some teachers may also like to continue their own reading and extend their knowledge of Older German literature.
I shall not, in the following list of books, include any works
1 On the whole question see The Educational Times of May i, 1894.
a School Teacher of German. 77
of an advanced character, being strongly of opinion that Old German as such is not a school subject, and should not, unless in very exceptional cases, be begun before the University course. Moreover, a smattering of Old German and German philology, if not very well and carefully taught by an ex- perienced teacher, is sure to do far more harm than good.
The basis of the modern literary language is sixteenth century German. A teacher might first use Raphael Meyer's ' Einflihrung in das altere Neuhochdeutsche.' Leipzig, 1894 (2.$-.), in which the first fifty-five stanzas of the poem of ' Huernen Seyfrid; are commented on, and then proceed to reading some of the small volumes in 'Goeschen's' or 'Botticher and KinzelV sets (see 'Guide,' pp. 79-80). In the 'Sammlung Goeschen,' Vol. xxiv. might be selected for this purpose. It contains a selection (by L. Pariser) of passages from ' Seb. Brant, Luther, Hans Sachs and Fischart.' Stuttgart, 1893 (lod. cloth). In ' Botticher and Kinzel's ' ' Denkmaler der alteren deutschen Litteratur,' the volumes 'Hans Sachs' (by K. Kinzel). Halle, 1893 (is. unbound), and ' Kunst- und Volkslied in der Re- formationszeit ' (by K. Kinzel). Halle, 1892 (is. unbound), will be found useful.
If teachers should desire to give their pupils some specimens of the actual text of Luther's first translation of the Bible ('Septemberbibel') and briefly to discuss the principal changes from sixteenth to nineteenth century German they cannot do better than use the excellent and handy book by A. Reiffer- scheid, ' Marcus Evangelion Martin Luthers nach der Sep- temberbibel, mit den Lesarten aller Originalausgaben, etc.' Heilbronn, 1888 (4^. 6d. unbound). For other sixteenth century texts nothing can be better than Braune's cheap and reliable ' Neudrucke.' (See ' Guide,' p. 81.)
The best introduction to the study of Middle High German is Jul. Zupitza's ' Einfiihrung in das Studium des Mittelhochdeutschen.' Oppeln, 1868. 4th ed., 1891 (2^. 6d. unbound, 3^. cloth). Many scholars have been first initiated
78 The Reference Library of
into a serious study of Middle High German by this most excellent little book. After having gone through Zupitza's introduction, teachers might rapidly read through Jos. Wright's < Middle High German Primer.' Oxford, 1888 (>. 6d.\ and then study Hartman von Ouwe's ' Der arme Heinrich ' in J. G. Robertson's edition. London, 1895 (4^. 6d.), or W. Golther's selections from * Der Nibelunge Not ' (Sammlung Goeschen, ioa). Stuttgart, 1895 (lod. cloth), or some other volumes from Goeschen's series. English editions of the Nibelungenlied and of a selection from the Minnesinger are being prepared by Professor Fiedler. The small Middle High German grammar by H. Paul (Halle, 3i889, $s. 6d.\ and the small dictionary by M. Lexer (Leipzig, 3i885, 6s.), are much to be recommended.
Mythology, Sagas. — A teacher who is desirous of ob- taining a rapid survey of German Mythology and 'Heldensage' without being able to devote much time to the study of the more comprehensive books might read two handy volumes (lod. each) of the very useful * Sammlung Goeschen.' The one on * Deutsche Mythologie' is by Fr. Kauffmann. 2nd ed. Stuttgart, 1893; the booklet on ' Die deutsche Heldensage' is by O. L. Jiriczek. Stuttgart, 1894. The larger books on those subjects are enumerated in my ' Guide' on pp. 110-112. To these should now be added W. Golther, 'Handbuch der germanischen Mythologie.' Leipzig, 1895 (125. unbound, 145. half calf).
History and Geography. — Although German history and geography as such will hardly ever be taught in ordinary schools, a teacher of German should make it a point to be well informed as to either subject, and should possess German books with German names of places and events in his private library. The histories and atlases of this kind need not be very bulky and expensive; some really good German school and family books will amply suffice for his purpose. There are a good many works which would do very well, but German
a School Teacher of German. 79
books on German Realien do not seem to be as yet very familiar to English teachers of German1. A book on Germany similar to Wendt's * England ' has still to be written — a very useful but by no means an easy task. I can recommend the following : David Miiller, ' Leitfaden zur Geschichte des deutschen Volkes.' loth ed. Berlin, 1897, 2s. 6d. cloth. A larger book by the same author is called ' Geschichte des deutschen Volkes in kurzgefasster iibersichtlicher Darstellung.' i5th ed. Berlin, 1894 (bound 6s.). The * Deutsche Ge- schichte ' by Kammel is also largely used in Germany. Some consider it to be now the best work of its kind (Ss.). A shorter work by Otto Kammel also deserves to be recommended. It is called 'Der Werdegang des deutschen Volkes. Historische Richtlinien fur gebildete Leser.' Vol. i. Das Mittelalter. Leipzig, 1896 (2S. 6d. cloth). Vol. n. Die Neuzeit. Leipzig. 1898 (3$. cfoth). K. Biedermann's Deutsche Volks- und Kulturgeschichte fiir Schule und Haus. 3 Parts in i Volume. Wiesbaden, 2i89i (75. 6d. cloth), is much to be recom- mended. Teachers may also like to read through J. Jastrow's interesting book called ' Geschichte des deutschen Einheits- traumes und seiner Erfiillung.' Berlin, 4i89i (6s. unbound, 75-. half bound). A most excellent * Atlas fiir Mittel- und Oberklassen hoherer Lehranstalten ' was published this year at Bielefeld and Leipzig under the editorship of R. Lehmann and W. Petzold (5^.)- Teachers of German will find it extremely useful. The small Atlas by E. Debes 'Schulatlas fiir die mittlere Unterrichtsstufe/ Leipzig (is. 6d.}, deserves to be mentioned in this connection, and will suffice for ordinary purposes. A useful little book is also A. L. Hick- mann, ' Geographisch-statistischer Taschen-Atlas des deutschen Reiches.' 3 Parts. Leipzig-Wien (2$. each part cloth,
1 In Germany an acquaintance with the principal English and French Realien is required by the present regulations of the Oberlehrerprufung^ and new regulations which will be published within a few weeks are said to go still further in this direction.
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or the three in one volume, 3^. cloth). Very cheap and useful for class teaching is P. Knotel's ' Bilderatlas zur deutschen Geschichte' (with explanatory notes). Bielefeld and Leipzig, 1895 (3s-)- A number of valuable and interesting books on German History and on German Life and Customs are enumerated in my ' Guide' on pp. 116 sqq. Concerning the rights and duties of German citizens teachers will find reliable information in the book by A. Giese, * Die deutsche Biirgerkunde.' Leipzig, 1894 (is. 3^.), and in G. Hoffmann and E. Groth, f Deutsche Biirgerkunde. Kleines Handbuch des politisch Wissenswertesten fur jedermann.' Leipzig (2^. bound).
General Information. — Succinct and reliable informa- tion on all matters connected with German history and biography, life and thought, may be obtained from Meyer's ' Kleines Konversations-Lexikon ' in 3 volumes. 5th ed. Leipzig, 1893 (half bound, £i. 4^.), which will prove of the greatest use in many questions, and which every teacher of German should endeavour to get. The 6th edition is just being published in parts. A very concise book giving brief information concerning German affairs, institutions, customs etc. is J. Kiirschner's Jahrbuch. Berlin-Leipzig-Eisenach, 1898. (is. unbound). Some good English books on Germany are W. H. Dawson, ' Germany and the Germans.' London, 1894, 2 vols. (26^.), and S. Whitman, 'Imperial Germany.7 London, 1889 (new ed. 1895, 2s. 6d.}. An interesting book, written from the French point of view by a man of culture and broad views, is ' Les Allemands ' by Le Pere Didon. Paris, 1884 (6s. unbound).
Method of Teaching. — However well informed a teacher may be, he will have to adapt himself in his teaching to the school curriculum, to the aims to be attained by his pupils, and he will have to give his most serious attention to the study and consideration of the methods to be followed in his teaching. No school teacher who takes the slightest interest in his subject can at the present time afford to keep aloof
a School Teacher of German. Si
from the discussions as to the best method of teaching modern foreign languages, and every one will be able to learn a great deal from the books written on the subject of the teaching of German. A number of the most suggestive books have been enumerated on pp. 58-62 of this book. Some of these works a Modern Language teacher will no doubt wish to possess for himself, so as to be able to refer to them from time to time as occasion arises. The following books appear to me to be especially useful — W. H. Widgery, ' The teaching of languages in schools.' London, 1888 (2^.), is now out of print, but a reprint would be very desirable. Michel Breal, ' De 1'enseignement des langues vivantes, Conferences faites aux etudiants en lettres de la Sorbonne.' Paris, 1893 (2^.). Fr. Spencer, 'Aims and Practice of Teaching.7 Cambridge, 1897 (6s.). A brief and reliable account of the present state of Modern Language teaching in Germany was recently given by Miss M. Brebner in her pamphlet called 'The Method of teaching Modern Languages in Germany.' London, 1898 (is. 6d. cloth). All of these books advocate more or less the so-called ' Neuere Richtung,' and are written for teachers whose native tongue is not German. But much that is useful can also be learned from some German books for German teachers, if one bears in mind that the standards set up in them require modification and abatement, as German is a foreign language in this country. Teachers can still learn a great deal from a careful study of the books by E. Laas and R. Hildebrand (see my ' Guide/ pp. 37 and 119, 120), but generally speaking they will derive most benefit from the works by R. Lehmann, ' Der deutsche Unterricht. Eine Methodik fiir hohere Lehranstalten.' Berlin, 2i897 (qs. cloth); and by G. Wendt, ' Der deutsche Unterricht.' Miinchen, 1896 ($s. unbound). The latter contains also an admirable bibliography.
I trust that the recommendations and hints given above may enable teachers to make a good choice of books of
B. 6
82 Reference Library of a School Teacher of German.
reference in the various departments of their teaching and private study. More than once I have been privately asked by practical teachers for information of this kind ; may the suggestions and recommendations now given be found useful to a wider circle of readers, and thus render some service to the cause of the study and teaching of German in Great Britain !
INDEX.
abbreviations, the chief foreign ab- breviations, 31
aims of modern language teaching in secondary schools, 8, 10, 29,
34-35, 42-43
analytic method, 2
answers in complete sentences, 24
books on modern language teaching,
58-61 books on the study and teaching of
German, 64-82
Cambridge Medieval and Modern
Languages Tripos, 28-29 classics, 1 8, 32, 36; German classics,
75-76
'canon' to be elaborated, 32 annotated editions, 18, 32, 37,
75
French and German iyth and 1 8th century classics, 34
English renderings of foreign clas- sics, u, 37
foreign texts always to be read out in class, 37
archaisms in classics, 51-52
rimes in classics, 16
biographical accounts of classics, 41
composition, ordinary, n, 35; free,
11-12, 71-72 conversation, 24-26, 71 correspondence, international, 12
dictation, 15
dictionaries : German dictionaries,
64-6* arl-E
ction
-
Germarl-Enflish, 64-65 German-Germfen, 65-66 foreign words in Gyman, 66 German equivalent of foreign
words, 66 orthographical, 66 etymological, 67 synonymical, 67
systematical (English-German), 67 travelling (English- German), 67 commercial, 67 miscellaneous, 67 differences between German and
English, 43 difficulties, chief difficulties of Ger-
man grammar, 53 direct method, 2, 25-26
English, too much neglected in
many schools, 39 essays, books on German essay
writing, 71-72
84
Index.
etymological comparisons, 21, 23 examinations
neglect of the spoken language,
4» 33
prescribed books, 33-34 foreign examinations for modern
language teachers, 25
form-association, 20, 52
form, metrical form of foreign poetry,
38-39 foreign words in German, books
on, 66 French, first teaching of, 24
German :
aim of teaching German, 43 books on the teaching of German,
61, 64-82
classics, books on, 75-76 conversation, 24-26, 71 dictionaries, 64-67 difficulties of German, 53, 69 essays, 71-72 genders, 54-55 geography, 79-80 grammar teaching, 50-55 ; gram- mars, 67-69 handwriting, 70 ; in examinations,
45
history, 78-79 history of the German language,
books on, 69-70 history of German literature,
books on, 72-74 idioms, 71 letters, 44-46, 70 Middle High German, 77-78 mythology, 78 names, 56 Old German, 76-78 pronunciation, 46-49, /
German :
punctuation, 70 'Realien,' 78-80 sagas, 78
sixteenth century German, 77 spelling, 46, 70 syntax, books on, 69 word-formation, 55 glottal stop, 14-15, 48 gradation of reading, 29
,, - of poems to be learnt, 33 grammar, teaching of grammar,
17-21
German grammar, 50-56 ; defects of many school grammars of German, 51
historical grammar, 20, 52 holiday courses abroad, 27-28
idioms, 9, 21-22; German idioms
explained, 71 illustrated Primer, 29; illustrated
Reader, 30 international correspondence, 12
Latin words in German, French
and English, 20 learning by heart, poetry and prose,
33 leave of absence for modern language
teachers, 27
letters in German Reader, 31 literature, books on German litera- ture, 72-74
should foreign literature as such be taught in schools?, 41
maps of the foreign country, 29, 31 method, new, direct, analytic, 2 method of reading with a class, 35
Index.
method,
methods (various) of teaching
modern languages, 5 books on methods of teaching
modern languages, 58-61, of
teaching German, 80-82 methodical preparation for a reading
lesson, 35-37 metre, 38-39, 52 ; books on German
metre, 74-75 Modern Language Association, 27,
32 Modern (Language) Quarterly, 5, 13,
16, 28, 32, 57, 64 Modern Languages at Cambridge,
25, 28-29 Modern Languages:
educational value, 3, 34
not to be taught like dead
tongues, 8 to be connected with English, 8 ;
with history and geography, 8 increased interest in, 34 opportunities for teachers, 3, 42 not to be degraded, 42 mots populaires and mots savants, 20, 52
names, German geographical, 29 proper names and family names
in German, 56 Neuere Richtung, 2, 81 new method, 2
object lessons, 29
oral test necessary in examinations,
4, 33 orthography, German, 46, 66, 70
periodicals, 57-58 phonetics, 13-14, 62, 71 phonetic transcription, 15-16
phrases, idiomatic, 9 pictures in 'Reader,' 31 picture-books, discussions of pictures
in lower forms, 22, 24, 26 plays: discussion of great plays,
38-41; historical plays, 40-41 ;
acted abroad, 40 ; books on
classical German plays, 75 poems to be learned by heart, 33, 37
reading in school, 37 prepositions, right use of German
prepositions, and case after
them, 53 prescribed books for examinations,
33-34 punctuation, book on German, 70
Reader, centre of modern language
teaching, 29 constitution of model Reader, 30-
3i
reading, 29; what should be rejected,
30» 32 reciting, 15
residence abroad, 26-29, 40 results of teaching modern languages,
42 rimes of the classics, 16
self-abnegation of modern language
teacher, 36 series-method, 23 sound-tables, 13, 71 spelling, 17; German spelling, 46 spoken language neglected in our
examinations, 4, 33 Sprachgefiihl, 20, 54 structure of dramas, explanation, 39
tables of foreign measures, weights and moneys, 31 ; of foreign sounds, 31
86
Index.
teacher : only duly qualified teachers to be appointed, 4, 18; teachers, qualifications, 25-26, 39-40 training of modern language
teachers, 4, 7
modern language teachers to be mainly English, 28 ; reference library of a teacher of German, 63-82
theatre, visits to foreign theatres, 40
theory of poetry, books on, 75
time, all important question for success in modern language teaching, 3-4
translation, n, 37
travelling scholarships for modern language students and teachers urgently wanted, 27 ; at Bir- mingham, 27
utilitarian views on modern lan- guage study, 34
verbs, strong and separable verbs in
German, 53-54 vocabulary, 9, 22-24
wall-pictures, 22, 24-25 word-formation, 23, 55-56
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General Library
University of California
Berkeley
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY