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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Sir , > Mdid $ torte 9 Sept . 15 , 1828 , Your Reviewer of the late Dr . Jones ' s Exposure of the Haroilt ^ nian Method of Teaching Languages , ( N . S ., I . p . 109 , ) while he joins in the jcen ^ sure of it when used alone , at the same time suggests that it may pr . ofcably be connected with the method adopted in most of our schools with considerable advantage . I had certainly been more favourably impressed with
its intrinsic merits than he appears to have been , having had an opportunity of observing it in operation for several months with adult classes in the German and Italian languages , under the direction of a gentleman alike distinguished for his intelligence and philanthropy , as well as acquaintance from experience , both as a learner and a teacher , with the working of the system . Still I was of opinion that something would be found wanting when applied to the ancient languages , where the classes would be composed of boys , who would not be under the influence of the same motives as adults ;
something which should insure a more grammatical knowledge of these languages than it appeared probable they would acquire from Mr . Hamilton ' s method only ; and which deficiency I supposed might be supplied by such a union as your Reviewer suggests . I have been permitted to put this principle to proof in experiments upon some of my own pupils , which have been carried through one complete year ; and if you should consider a statement of the results not inappropriate to the design of the Repository , or to possess any interest to your readers , many of whom are engaged in education , I should feel a pleasure in seeing it inserted .
The first Latin class consisted of four boys , of from twelve to fourteen years of age , selected not on account of their possessing any remarkable aptitude to learn languages , or any unusual habits of application , but because their previous acquirements were similar , and they were nearly of the same age , and of what I judged a very suitable age . Three of them had made a little progress in the language previously , having read the prose of Valpy ' s Delectus , and possessing the acquaintance with grammar usual at that stage of advancement ; but the fourth , and one of the elder , had never made any
attempt to acquire any other than his native tongue , and his education in every respect had been much neglected . At the commencement of the Christmas vacation , 1826 , they had translated Hamilton's first book , the Gospel of John . At the same period of the following year , 1827 , they had reaa the following : —L' Homond's Epitome Historiae Sacrse ; fourteen of the first Lives of Nepos ; five books of Csesar ' s Gallic War ; Sajlust ' s Jugurthine and Catiline Wars ; five plays of Terence ; first book of Livy , An experiment of the success of this combination of the two methods
when applied to the Greek language was begun at the same time with the two younger of this class , but on account of the removal of one ,, it could not be carried through a more extended period than about five , months * Within that time , though previously they were unacquainted even with the Greek character , they had translated the Gospel of John , of Matthew , the half of Mark , and the half of the prose of Dalzell ' s Analecta Minora . la the two last-mentioned they had assistance from a literal translation . The second Latin class , if it may be so termed , consisted of two brothers , of the ages of eight and a half and ten years . Their previous education
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1828, page 757, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2566/page/29/
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