The Mother Tongue, Book I: Lessons in Speaking, Reading and Writing English · Secs. 459–460 · Part 2: Part Second
127. The thought in the sentence
Goal: Your child puts the thought of a wise saying into plain words and gives an example.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- Paper and pencil (a notebook kept just for this book works well)
What's in the book
Section 459 gives six sayings about duty and work (The reward of one duty fulfilled is the power to fulfil another; Have thy tools ready. God will find thee work.) with questions to compare them. Section 460 gives eight more sentences, including two pictures in words, to put into your own words.
The lesson, step by step
Read the sayings (Section 459)
Read the six sayings aloud.
Have thy tools ready. God will find thee work.
Explain and compare
Ask the book's questions: Explain the first. Can you give an example of a task that makes you able to do another? (Learning to read lets you learn from books.) Compare numbers 3, 4, 5 and 6: what do they teach? Why is the same thought said in so many ways?
Your own words (Section 460)
For four of the eight sentences, your child writes the thought in plain words, then compares it with the original, as the book asks.
Pictures in words
Look at numbers 7 and 8: "The streets are dumb with snow." Ask: What do you see and hear? Why does the poet say "dumb"?
Check it gently
Read each plain version next to the original. Is the meaning the same? Fix one that drifts.
What a good result looks like
Example (written for this guide, not from the book):
"Have thy tools ready. God will find thee work." In plain words: if you get yourself ready, chances to do good work will come.
Answers to the book's problems
Possible plain meanings: Section 459, no. 1: doing one duty makes you able to do the next. 3 to 6: be ready and do your part, and help will come; heaven helps those who help themselves. Section 460: 1. A rabbit is always afraid. 2. A cunning person cheats himself most of all. 3. Character makes a man worth something. 6. The ant teaches by its example of hard work, without a word. 7. The snow makes the streets silent. 8. The green meadows look like emeralds set among the hedges.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.