Teaching Language arTs in The WaLdorf schooL

Grammar and Spelling
295
way of teaching grammar with the way it is so often taught today.
The Latin or French teacher comes into the classroom. The children
get out their Latin or French books. They have finished their homework,
and now they are to translate; afterward they will read. Soon
all their bones ache because the seats are so hard. If proper teaching
methods were practiced, there would be no need to take such care in
designing chairs and desks. The fact that so much care has had to be
lavished on the making of seats and desks is proof that education has
not been conducted sensibly. If children are really taken up in their
lessons, the class is so lively that even if they are sitting down, they
do not sit firmly. We should be delighted if our children do not sit
down firmly, for only those who are themselves sluggish want a class
of children to remain firmly seated, after which they drag themselves
home aching in every limb.
Particular account must be taken of these matters in grammar
and syntax lessons. Imagine that the children now have to translate;
grammar and syntax are worked out from the very things of life they
ought to be enjoying. Afterward they are most unlikely to go home
and say to their fathers: “We’re reading such a lovely book; let’s do
some translating together.” It really is important not to lose sight of
the principle of economy—it will serve you particularly well in your
teaching of foreign languages.
We must see to it, of course, that our teaching of grammar and
syntax is fairly complete. We shall have to discover the gaps in the
previous experience of the students who are coming to us from all
sorts of other classes. Our first task will be to close the gaps, particularly
in grammar and syntax, so that after a few weeks we shall have
brought a class to a stage where we can proceed. If we teach in the
way I have described (and we are quite capable of doing so if we are
totally involved in the lessons and if we ourselves are interested in
them), we shall be giving the children what they will need to enable
them to pass the usual college entrance examinations later on. And
we impart to the children a great deal else that they would not receive
in ordinary elementary or secondary schools, lessons that make them
strong for life and that will serve them throughout life.
[Practical Advice to Teachers, pp. 121-128.]