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ARTICLE AND NOUN

[Note:—The English language presents a far simpler situation than the Italian as regards the agreement of article and adjectives. Gender itself being, in the case of English nouns, more a matter of logical theory than of word-ending, adjectival agreement in the formal sense in practically unknown to English grammar. Likewise the formation of the plural is much simpler in English than in Italian, where the singular and plural word-endings are closely associated with gender. It is a question, in fact, whether the whole subject of the gender of English nouns should not be taken up somewhat later in connection with the pronouns, where English shows three singular forms masculine, feminine, neuter (him, her, it) as against the Italian two, masculine and feminine (lo, la, plural li, le, etc.). Signora Montessori's discussion of the situation in Italian still remains instructive to the teacher of English as an illustration of method. We retain her text, accordingly, in its entirety.—Tr.]

As we have already said, the words chosen for grammatical study are all printed on small rectangular pieces of cardboard. The little cards are held together in packages by an elastic band and are kept in their respective boxes. The first box which we present has two compartments. In the holders at the back of each compartment are placed the cards which show the part of speech to be studied, in this case article and noun. The article cards are placed in the article compartment and the nouns in the noun compartment. When the children have finished their exercise they replace the cards—the nouns in the place for the nouns and the articles in the place for the articles. If the words article and noun are not a sufficient guide for the child, the color at least will make the task easy. In fact the child will place the black cards for the noun in the compartment indicated by the black guide-card (marked noun); the tan cards for the article with the tan guide-card (marked article). This exercise recalls the child's experience with the alphabet boxes, where one copy of each letter is pasted to the bottom of the box as a guide for the child in replacing the other letters. The child begins to speak of the article-section, the noun-section, and the article-cards and noun-cards. In so doing he begins to distinguish between the parts of speech. The material must be prepared very accurately and in a definitely determined quantity. For the first exercise, the children are given boxes with the articles and nouns shuffled together in their respective compartments. But there must be just enough articles of each gender to go with the respective nouns. The child's task is to put the right article in front of the right noun—a long and patient research, which, however, is singularly fascinating to him.

We have prepared the following words. We should recall, however, that the cards are not found in the boxes in this order, but are mixed together—the articles shuffled in their box-section and the nouns in theirs.

il fazzoletto (the handkerchief)

il libro (the book)

il vestito (the dress)

il tavolino (the little table)

lo specchio (the mirror)

lo zucchero (the sugar)

lo zio (the uncle)

lo stivale (the boot)

i colori (the colors)

i fiori (the flowers)

i disegni (the drawings)

i compagni (the companions)

gli zoccoli (the wooden shoes)

gli uomini (the men)

gli articoli (the articles)

le sedie (the chairs) la stoffa (the cloth) la perla (the pearl) la piramide (the pyramid) la finestra (the window) le scarpe (the shoes) le addizioni (the sums) le piante (the plants, the trees) l'occhio (the eye) l'amico (the friend) l'acqua (the water) l'albero (the tree) gl'invitati (the guests) gl'incastri (the insets) gl'italiani (the Italians) gl'insetti (the insects)

(We suggest as a corresponding English exercise the introduction of the indefinite article. This substitution involves four processes against the eight of the Italian exercise. The use of an before a vowel is quite analogous to the problem of the Italian l' and gl'. However the theoretical distinction between the definite and indefinite article, as regards meaning, is reserved by Signora Montessori to a much later period, though the practical distinction appear in the earliest Lessons and Commands.—Tr.)

the handkerchief

the book

the dress

the table

the mirror

the sugar

the colors

the flowers

the drawings

the children

the shoes

the men

a man

a pearl

a prism

a card

a window

a chair

a tree

an orange

an apple

an uncle

an eye

an insect

an American

an aunt

One of the first steps in grammar. The children are deeply interested in placing the correct articles and nouns together. (A Montessori School in Italy.)

The child tries to combine article and noun and puts them side by side on his little table. In this exercise he is guided by sound just as he was in building words with the movable alphabet. There the child's first step was to find relationships between real objects and the linguistic sounds corresponding to them. Now he sees suddenly revealed to him hitherto unsuspected relationships between these sounds, these words. To have an empirical way of demonstrating and testing these relationships, to practise very thoroughly on two kinds of words, suddenly brought forth into systematic distinctness from the chaos of words in his mind, offers the child not only a necessary exercise but the sensation of relief which comes from satisfying an inner spiritual need. With the most intense attention he persists to the very end of the exercise and takes great pride in his success. The teacher as she passes may glance about to see if all the cards are properly placed, but the child, doubtless, will call her to admire or verify the work that he has done, before he begins to gather together, first, all the articles, then, all the nouns, to return them to their boxes.

Grammar Boxes. The one on the left is for articles and nouns only; the one on the right, for articles, nouns, and adjectives.

This is the first step; but he proceeds with increasing enthusiasm to set the words in his mind "in order," thereby enriching his vocabulary by placing new acquisitions in an already determined place. Thus he continues to construct, with respect to exterior objects, an inner spiritual system, which had already been begun by his sensory exercises.