An Claidheamh Soluis, September 29, 1906.
In this series of articles on this subject which I contributed to AN CLAIDHEAMH SOLUIS last year I described the organisation of the Belgian school system, primary and secondary, and explained in detail the bilingual principle summarised in the four propositions:
- Every child has the right to be taught his mother-tongue.
- Every child ought to be taught at least one other language as soon as he is capable of learning it.
- Such second language should be gradually introduced as a medium of instruction in other subjects.
- All language teaching should be, as far as possible, on the Direct Method.
In this second series of articles I propose to describe the methods of teaching which I observed in use in the primary and secondary schools of Belgium. At the outset there will be necessarily be a certain amount of repetition of matter contained in the original series. I should add that the methods about to be spoken of have been used by me in elementary and advanced classes in University and Alexandra Colleges, and during the last session, in an advanced class in the Ard-Chraobh.