Good News 1978 (Prelim No 23) Nov 20 - Herbert W. Armstrong

M on day, Nov. 20, 1 978
Me.mher'~ book teaches
childr-en new alphabet
By Jo hn Walshe .
DUBUN, Ireland - Readin g is
not as easy as ABC; it is quite a
difficult skill to master, and many
people grow up having failed tocome
to grips with basic literacy.
Now -a 70-year --old Irish teacher
has written a book designed to simplify
the whole process. He hope s it
will be used -in Irish schools and by
groups dealin g with adult illiterates.
one sound , and . with 24 of the 26
letters to the o rdinary alphabefreta
ined, it is claimed th at the
changeover is considerably helped
along.'
However. intet"!!.ational expert s are
This' art icle, abo ut Chur ch
member William Hickson, is reprinted
by permission from The
Ir ish Ind ependent of Dec . 2,
1977.
Mr . Hickson is a longtime
member of the Dublin church and
a deacon. He is a retiree in name
ontv: he busies 'himself teaching
remedlol-reuding classes almost
fu ll time .
The GOOD NEWS
15
\,
WILLIA M HICK SON
Fonner Trinity lecturer William
S.E . Hick son . M.A .. M.S .• has writ ­
ten the book using the Initial Te ach­
. ing Alphabet (ITA) . which was de­
----..---v-ised by Sir J ame s Pitman. In the
ITAalphabet; which has been used in
many British and American schools.
the letters are more closely rela ted to
the sounds.
_ Support ers of ITA point out that
the trad ition al alphabet is too confusing
for many schoo lchildren and that
a more logical approach is needed.
Th e problem with the ordinary alphabet
is that it doe s not follow any
rules . Word s such as pie ·and /ie. my
and buy are different to look at but
sound the same .
But gone , 'done and bone look
similar . yet they are all pronoun ced
differently. and that . says ITA supporters,
ca uses co nfusion and frustration
when a youngster starts to read.
To add to the confusion there are
different ways of writing letters . For
example. there are two ways cf w rit - .
ing d (D, d.). only one of c, and
varia tions such as TH, Th and tho
The ITA supporters say also that
. three letters of the traditi onal alpbabet,
c.o and x, are effectively re­
. dundant and that the remainin g 23
letters can not systematically spell the
4O-plus different sounds in the EngtishIanguage.
Says Mr. Hick son . who live s at
Eve rg reen. C ool more . Arkl o w ,
Co unty Wicklow: ·" The .menta l effort
required for tacklin g these reading
inconsistencies is so great that
co mprehens ion is ruled o ut. and this
res ults ' in the loss o f se lf ­
motivat ion.' :
He adds that " my boo k was developed
by feedback from illitera te
pupils in vocational schoo ls o-ver
some years. Although it is tai lored to .
l-t-yea r-olds , it has prove n most successful
for any age-group."
He clai ms that with it eve n pupils
of a low lQ have been able (0 make
the trans ition to ord inary print in five
week s.
The ITA system h; s 44 characters.
co mpared with 26 letrers in the traditiona!
alphabet. But when capital let- .
rers and differe nt letter-writing styles
are taken into accoun t. the ITA medium
has fewer characters to master.
Each shape in lTA stands for only
not entirel y in agreement over the
succe ss of ITA in eas ing the acquisition
of readin g skills. .
Professor Desmond Swan . president
of the Reading Association of
Ireland . told me that a lot of researc h
had been carried o ur but the-results
were inconcl usive.
. HISown .impression was thai ITA
does enable some to learn to read
faster . but 'bY'no. means is it the answer
to all o ur readin g probl em s
among pupils or ·adults,
.. One drawback 'is that ITA is expensive
to introduce. Apart from the
basic reader. other books would have
to be provided for the pup il.
Another important , factor to be
considered is' the .. reentry " period
from ITA totraditional spelling . AI·
tho ugh Mr . Hickson says this is simpie
once the pupil has mastered ITA,
othe rs disagree and say it can be akin
to learning a new languag e. ,
Professor Swan also poin ts out that
pupils miss the " cue s" which aid the
acqui sition of normal spelling if their
first co ntact with the written word is
through rrA. These cues include signs
on buses. billboards and notices.
Other ex perts I spoke to also had
reservations about the introduction of
the ITA scheme here . Howe ver . Mr .
Hickson repl ies thai none of them
had tried it out experimentally, and if
they had they would ha ve seen the
success-of ITA . His book is available
from a numb er of bookse llers or direct
from Folens & Co ., Lid.• Airton
Road , Tallaght : Count y Dublin .
FOSTER FAMILY - Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Fair, center, men:.bers of the Yo u ngs;~~n , Ohio:~cl, u rC h , pose with
their children. [Photo.by Cynthi,a Sieger)
Adopredchildren:g~t new1W11U!,
ne-w 'c4a1Jc~ with/osterfamily
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. ~ ,
Adop tions of healthy• white infants
are rare . Most chi ldren available for
ado ption toda y are older, _orl!' i~ e~__
-racia l heritag e and/o r have emotional
'or phys ical problem s.
T he c hild re n adopted
Mr . and Mrs. Fair are mem ~­
bus of 1M Youngstown, Ohio,
church . This article is reprinted
. by permission/rom the.New Wil-·
mington, r «, Globe .
Thomas Fair family of Cheriwood
Road . New Bedford. do not fall into
any of these cate gories.
" We started o ut taking foster chil ­
dren," stated Mrs. Fair. "These kids
Wip
w-h
wh
.lien hEE
, .Ilackt 1t,
it \lienc!.
pl!1':5: :Ad s - p e -r- ~ ,
.l!rer ' ywar ~
Iol!en Jhe 1.!Ji s l blre:s: ~
, ket se er '''hlt t iem 1:s: it
Io!len an el-ef-ant s i ts on ywr 'c ar ?"
pa t sec! "ie cIcen't nre". .
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