Introduction
Edmond Holmes resigned from the Board of Education in 1911, after his trenchant critique of fellow Elementary school inspectors leaked out. He took the opportunity to visit Maria Montessori’s pioneering schools in Italy, and prepared a paper for the Board (his experience was still highly valued there) in which he urged them to lose no time in adopting her methods.
The master-principle of the Montessori system is that of self-education. She realises that the business of growing must be done by the growing child, and cannot be delegated by him to his teacher or anyone else. And she infers from this that the teacher, instead of doing everything or nearly everything for the child, should do as little as possible, should stand aside, so to speak, and efface herself, giving the child such guidance and stimulus as he may need, and providing him with suitable materials, but leaving him free to exercise his own faculties, and relieving him from the pressure of vexatious interference and arbitrary constraint.
In other words, she has broken away from the ‘orthodox’ system of education, in which a dogmatic attitude on the part of the teacher is met by mechanical obedience on the part of the child; and she proposes to substitute for it a regime of freedom for the child, in which his love of rational activity, his desire to do things for himself, his joy in overcoming difficulties, shall be met and ministered to by judicious and sympathetic guidance on the part of his teacher.
Précis
In 1911, former Inspector of School Edmond Holmes urged the British Board of Education to take notice of Maria Montessori’s methods. He explained that her teachers fostered self-education, restraining any impulse to set the curriculum or intervene, and trusting instead in the child’s own natural curiosity to motivate and direct his learning. (52 / 60 words)
In 1911, former Inspector of School Edmond Holmes urged the British Board of Education to take notice of Maria Montessori’s methods. He explained that her teachers fostered self-education, restraining any impulse to set the curriculum or intervene, and trusting instead in the child’s own natural curiosity to motivate and direct his learning.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 45 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, although, just, not, otherwise, until, whether, who.
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Express the ideas below in a single sentence. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
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For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
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1 Arbitrary. Interference. Possible.
2 Free. Instead. Realize.
3 Business. Delegate. Himself.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
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Each of the words below has more than one possible meaning. Compose your own sentences to show what those different meanings are.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1. Left. 2. Stand. 3. Own. 4. Break. 5. May. 6. Free.
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Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
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