S

HORT LESSONS thoroughly learned should be an invariable Rule in

teaching Spelling. In class recitation, Pronunciation is the first exercise connected with spelling. Pupils who can write should copy the words and pronounce and spell them from the copy; all others should read and spell the words from the book.

In Oral Spelling, the teacher should pronounce the words correctly, without regard to their orthography; and pupils, in general, should merely name the letters of words, making a marked pause at the end of each syllable, and imitating the teacher in their pronunciation. Pupils who misspell words should be required to write them on the blackboard, as misspelled, and to correct them in writing, before the class.

Dictation Reviews.-After pupils have pronounced the words in the columns, and spelled them orally, they will read the corresponding Dictation Reviews with great care, thus testing their pronunciation and recalling their attention to the form of the words. The teacher will read the sentences slowly and distinctly, while the pupils write them. Blackboard exercises are preferred for class use. When slates are used, they may be expeditiously examined by requiring pupils to exchange, so that each one shall become the inspector of his neighbor's work, while the teacher spells the several words. A record of the words misspelled or mispronounced should be kept by the pupils, for reviews and special drill. Plain and inexpensive blank books, of good material and moderate size, are preferable for this purpose.

The Introduction and the Appendix should be mastered at an early day, and applied constantly by the class throughout the body of the work. Pupils must also be required to construct short sentences from Words of the Lists not employed in Dictation, showing their meaning and best use. The teacher should exercise a constant and wise supervision, encouraging the pupils to do their own work, and giving only the needed suggestions and aid.

The PUBLISHER of this BOOK, by special arrangement with the Author of Watson's Complete Speller, has so adapted it that it may serve as a companionbook to the Excelsior Readers.

Copyright, 1879. WILLIAM H. SADLIER.

Electrotyped by SMITH & MCDOUGAL.

PREFACE.

A

COMPLETE SPELLING-BOOK, with sufficient matter to

satisfy the most exacting, so classified that a brief or extended course may be pursued at pleasure, is a desideratum for Catholic schools. The Excelsior Speller is an embodiment of certain views concerning the best and most practical ways of teaching orthography, which are the result of many years of experience. Briefly stated, these views may be formulated thus: Accurate spelling and good Pronunciation, to be taught successfully, must be taught together. The lessons should not only be recited orally, but great importance should be attached to dictation exercises. Neglect in this respect, combined with over-crowding in other and, on the whole, less important branches of study, has gone far toward making the demand for "phonetic" spelling assume a rather disingenuous aspect as proceeding from a generation of bad spellers. Formal Definitions belong, in strictness, to the Reading Lessons, and can not be used in Spelling without destroying effective classification.

Moreover, as the time spent in school is necessarily very limited for the great majority of pupils, it has been felt that no part of that time should be wasted in non-essential matters. Hence the abandonment of the old methods of grouping solely with regard to accidental similarities of form and sound, and requiring the acquisition of a multitude of words, many of which have no direct reference to the actual work of daily life. Form and sound receive, indeed, prominent and just attention—the whole of the introductory section being devoted to illustrating them. A separate lesson is given for each vowel sound, and a single vowel used therewith, after which all equivalent letters are introduced in like manner. At each opening of the book, the lessons in advance and the reviews face each other, the former in print, the latter in written characters. Thirty-five lessons are thus printed in writing.

But, these preliminaries passed, the pupil is at once introduced to the words he will most commonly use in the business of life. Like the EXCELSIOR READERS, this Speller is divided into Sections, each of which treats of one general topic, concerning which it gives

all the terms, and their pronunciation according to the most reliable and widely accepted standard. These sections embrace Man, and the Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral Kingdoms. The lessons include the household, the human body and its members; its food and clothing; the home, its essentials and its luxuries; the mind, school, training, and studies; the arts and trades; law, medicine, politics, farming; travel and traffic by land and sea; war, etc.

Religion is treated also, in a manner which, though necessarily not exhaustive, will at least contribute to a more thorough understanding of the divine offices of the Church, her rites, vestments, and ceremonies, as well as her doctrine and practice.

Assorted words of like form and length, grouped with direct reference to use, place, time and meaning, are so arranged in columns as to add beauty to the printed page while effecting a saving of about one-third of the space. As the easy words of each topic are in the first two or three columns of the page, lessons may be readily assigned suited to the capacity of all classes.

The Dictation Reviews, invariably given, contain essential definitions and discriminations, and their use should only cease with their perfect mastery. They test the pronunciation and spelling, and suggest forms of construction for daily use by both teachers and pupils.

Good Pronunciation, the most useful of the acquirements, and which can only be attained in youth, has received ample consideration. The Introductory Treatise gives, in practical form, the nature, properties, and sounds of the letters; accent; the analysis of words; and a Key to all of Webster's marked letters, with the additional combinations, ou, ch, sh, th, wh, and ng, making a complete Phonic Alphabet. Exact syllabication; primary and secondary accents; marked letters, both in accented and unaccented syllables; respellings; and Italics, for silent letters, are used wherever needed.

The Appendix, as here revised and enlarged, is vitally important to the successful study of this book. It contains Words Pronounced Similarly, Facts in Pronunciation, Rules in Spelling, Prefixes and Suffixes, Capital Letters, Punctuation Marks, Abbreviations, Names of Persons, and seven lessons in Test Words. These divisions are accompanied with the needed explanations and dictation exercises. They should be learned at an early day, and applied constantly throughout the body of the work.

ORTHOGRAPHY.

O

RTHOGRAPHY TREATS of the nature and properties of letters, and the correct spelling and writing of words. It properly embraces both pronunciation and spelling, as neither can be well taught by itself.

Pronunciation

Orthography Spelling

2. GOOD PRONUNCIATION is such an easy and clear way of speaking words as gives their correct sounds, syllables, and force of voice. Its parts are articulation, syllabication, and accent.

Articulation

Pronunciation Syllabication Accent

3. GOOD SPELLING is the act of writing or naming

the right letters of words.