Teaching Language arTs in The WaLdorf schooL

Writing
81
For example, when you are teaching children the letter A [ah] you
will say, “Think of the sun you see in the morning. Can any of you
remember what you did when the sun rose this morning?” Perhaps
some of the children will remember what they did. If none of them
remember, they will have to be helped to recall how they must have
stood there and, if the sunrise was very beautiful, they must have said,
“Ah!” A note of feeling must be struck, calling forth the resonance
that sounds in the vowel. Then you must try to tell them that when
they stood like that and said, “Ah!” it was just as if a beam of sunlight
from their inner being spread out from their mouths.
That which lives in you when you see the sunrise streams forth
out of your inner being when you say, “Ah.” But you do not let all
of it stream out; you keep some of it back, and it becomes this sign.
You should try to clothe in the form of a drawing what lies in the
breath when a vowel is spoken. You will find drawings that can show
in a picture how the signs for the vowels have come about. Primitive
cultures do not have many vowels, not even the primitive cultures of
today. The languages of primitive cultures are very rich in consonants;
these people can express many more things in consonants than we
know how to express. They even click their tongues and are skilled in
articulating all sorts of complicated consonants, with only a hint of
vowel sounds between. You will find African tribal people who make
sounds resembling the crack of a whip and so on, while the vowels are
only faintly heard. European travelers who meet these tribes usually
sound their vowels much more strongly than the tribal peoples do.
We can always evolve the vowels out of drawing. For instance,
by appealing to the children’s feelings, you can try to make them
imagine themselves in the following situation:
“Think what would happen if your brother or
sister came to you and said something you did
not understand at first. After a while you begin
to understand what is meant. Then what do you
say?” One of the children may answer, or you may
have to point out, that they would say, “ee” [i in German]. When
we draw the shape of the sound ee, it seems to point toward what
has been understood, though it is a somewhat rough expression. In