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.And we notice that her face grows more expressive each day.I HAVE DECIDED NOT TO TRY TO HAVE REGULAR LESSONS FOR THE PRESENT.I AM GOINGTO TREAT HELEN EXACTLY LIKE A TWO-YEAR-OLD CHILD.IT OCCURRED TO ME THE OTHERDAY THAT IT IS ABSURD TO REQUIRE A CHILD TO COME TO A CERTAIN PLACE AT ACERTAIN TIME AND RECITE CERTAIN LESSONS, WHEN HE HAS NOT YET ACQUIRED AWORKING VOCABULARY.I sent Helen away and sat down to think.I asked myself, "How does a normalchild learn language?" The answer was simple, "By imitation." The child comes into the world with the abilityto learn, and he learns of himself, provided he is supplied with sufficient outward stimulus.He sees people dothings, and he tries to do them.He hears others speak, and he tried to speak.BUT LONG BEFORE HEUTTERS HIS FIRST WORD, HE UNDERSTANDS WHAT IS SAID TO HIM.I have been observingHelen's little cousin lately.She is about fifteen months old, and already understands a great deal.In responseto questions she points out prettily her nose, mouth, eye, chin, cheek, ear.If I say, "Where is baby's otherear?" she points it out correctly.If I hand her a flower, and say, "Give it to mamma," she takes it to hermother.If I say, "Where is the little rogue?" she hides behind her mother's chair, or covers her face with herhands and peeps out at me with an expression of genuine roguishness.She obeys many commands like these:"Come," "Kiss," "Go to papa," "Shut the door," "Give me the biscuit." But I have not heard her try to say anyof these words, although they have been repeated hundreds of times in her hearing, and it is perfectly evidentthat she understands them.These observations have given me a clue to the method to be followed in teachingHelen language.I SHALL TALK INTO HER HAND AS WE TALK INTO THE BABY'S EARS.I shallassume that she has the normal child's capacity of assimilation and imitation.I SHALL USE COMPLETESENTENCES IN TALKING TO HER, and fill out the meaning with gestures and her descriptive signs whennecessity requires it; but I shall not try to keep her mind fixed on any one thing.I shall do all I can to interestand stimulate it, and wait for results.April 24, 1887.The new scheme works splendidly.Helen knows the meaning of more than a hundred words now, and learnsnew ones daily without the slightest suspicion that she is performing a most difficult feat.She learns becauseshe can't help it, just as the bird learns to fly.But don't imagine that she "talks fluently." Like her baby cousin,she expresses whole sentences by single words."Milk," with a gesture means, "Give me more milk.""Mother," accompanied by an inquiring look, means, "Were is mother?" "Go" means, "I want to go out." Butwhen I spell into her hand, "Give me some bread," she hands me the bread, or if I say, "Get your hat and wewill go to walk," she obeys instantly.The two words, "hat" and "walk" would have the same effect; BUT THEWHOLE SENTENCE, REPEATED MANY TIMES DURING THE DAY, MUST IN TIME IMPRESSITSELF UPON THE BRAIN, AND BY AND BY SHE WILL USE IT HERSELF.We play a little game which I find most useful in developing the intellect, and which incidentally answers thepurpose of a language lesson.It is an adaptation of hide-the-thimble.I hide something, a ball or a spool, andwe hunt for it.When we first played this game two or three days ago, she showed no ingenuity at all in findingthe object.She looked in places where it would have been impossible to put the ball or the spool.For instance,CHAPTER III.130when I hid the ball, she looked under her writing-board.Again, when I hid the spool, she looked for it in alittle box not more than an inch long; and she very soon gave up the search.Now I can keep up her interest inthe game for an hour or longer, and she shows much more intelligence, and often great ingenuity in the search.This morning I hid a cracker.She looked everywhere she could think of without success, and was evidently indespair when suddenly a thought struck her, and she came running to me and made me open my mouth verywide, while she gave it a thorough investigation.Finding no trace of the cracker there, she pointed to mystomach and spelled "eat," meaning, "Did you eat it?"Friday we went down town and met a gentleman who gave Helen some candy, which she ate, except onesmall piece which she put in her apron pocket.When we reached home, she found her mother, and of her ownaccord said, "Give baby candy." Mrs.Keller spelled, "No--baby eat--no." Helen went to the cradle and felt ofMildred's mouth and pointed to her own teeth.Mrs.Keller spelled "teeth." Helen shook her head and spelled"Baby teeth--no, baby eat--no," meaning of course, "Baby cannot eat because she has no teeth."May 8, 1887.No, I don't want any more kindergarten materials.I used my little stock of beads, cards and straws at firstbecause I didn't know what else to do; but the need for them is past, for the present at any rate.I am beginning to suspect all elaborate and special systems of education.They seem to me to be built up onthe supposition that every child is a kind of idiot who must be taught to think [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]