SUGGESTIONS FOR EIGHTH YEAR
Review
The eighth grade teacher should read carefully the directions for the seventh grade. She should know what has been done and what has been left undone. In many schools she completes the teaching of spelling. While wasting no time in unnecessary reviews, she may wisely give a careful test at the beginning and learn her problems. The work in word building, by means of synonyms and derivatives, should be continued.
Prefixes and Suffixes
The work of the eighth grade continues the work of the seventh grade in word building by a careful study of prefixes and suffixes. The addition of a prefix or a suffix makes a longer word and, because it is longer, the word becomes harder to visualize as a whole. It is highly important that the root part of the word should be pointed out, and it will be found that in most cases it is a familiar word. When this is true the prefix or the suffix becomes the part which needs to be drilled upon and emphasized. On pages 48 to 54 are given a list of words having troublesome endings. On pages 48, 49, and 50, for example, are words ending in ent, ant, ence, and ance. These should be taught by groups and, after the whole page has been carefully taught and studied, drill lessons and reviews should be given until the pupil has the endings learned. These reviews will tax the ingenuity of the teacher that they may be interesting and not merely a mechanical word drill. Attention may well be called to the fact that the plural of nouns ending in ant and ent have the same pronunciation as the corresponding words ending in ance and ence. If given in a sentence the meaning will clearly show him which one is meant. Care must be used that confusion does not result. Thoughtful teaching is important.
Review of Rules
During the work of the preceding grades the important rules for spelling have been developed. On pages 54, 56, and 57, they are given for review with many illustrations. In addition, Lessons 30, 38, and 39, give some exceptions to these rules. These lessons should be thoroughly reviewed until the correct spelling is established.
Words Having Two Pronunciations
At the close of the year’s work is given a list of 28 words spelled alike but accented differently. The difference in meaning should be emphasized, each word used in a sentence to impress the correct pronunciation, and the pupils taught to discriminate as to the form that should be used.
Vocabulary
As in previous grades much use may be made of the alphabetical vocabulary for purposes of review and reference.