CO885-(16-18) — Page 371

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

תיו

C.O.

Reference :-

+885

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

17 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

118

III. REPORT by Mrs. TUTCHER on the Course given to the Victoria and Belilios Schools.

The course comprised some 11 or 12 lectures. Fortunately the weather was fine, except on one occasion when, in consequence of combined rain and thunder, the cars stopped running, and everyone had to get out and walk the last mile of the journey. But so interested were the children, that they preferred to go on rather than return, when given the choice.

For this method of teaching, especially for girls who have few, if any, facilities for travelling, I have nothing but praise. It is as much superior to mere picture lessons, as they again are to ordinary reading lessons. Not only are the lantern pictures larger and clearer than anything the scholars have seen before, but the very act of throwing them on the screen arrests the attention, and stimulates the imagi- nation; so that the subject matter read in connection with each picture has a much better chance of being remembered. I made it a rule to revise the lectures in class, and in most cases the answers given were surprisingly accurate, especially from Class I. girls, whose wider reading and study had better fitted them to profit, when the subject matter was history or geography. I find there is quite a new zest when anything crops up in the ordinary class work of the school which has any bearing on what the pupils have seen illustrated. And this applies not only to history and geography, but to natural history as well, as also to industries, commerce, and manner of living in different parts of the world.

But there were drawbacks.

The time at our disposal was so limited that the reading matter arranged for each picture had, in most cases, to suffice, even when, as was often the case, the picture supplied material for quite a long and interesting lecture when taken by itself. It made me quite sorry to lose so many golden opportunities of leading from the seen to the unseen, and of drawing attention to details which had a bearing on something the pupils had already learned. Also, it would have been a very great improvement if each of the pupils could have had the use of a text book for revisal or preparation. This would have formed a valuable aid to geography; and each lesson could have been more thoroughly prepared and explained, than was the case when the teacher's text book was the only one available. It was found impossible to take notes in the darkened room, and as a result of this and the absence of text books there was occasionally some confusion in the girls' minds regarding the pictures. When it is taken into account that the pictures numbered between three and four hundred, this occasional mixing-up is not to be wondered at.

But on the whole the course was a great success, and the views were, I am sure, enjoyed as much by the teachers as by the children.

Attached to 27529

No. 171.

MR. C. P. LUCAS to SIR CHARLES HOLROYD.

[Answered by No. 173.]

DEAR SIR CHARLES HOLROYD,

Downing Street, August 20, 1907. THE Visual Instruction Committee, who are dealing with the Princess of Wales Fund, are very grateful to you for helping to select an artist photographer to visit the different Colonies. Mr. Fisher has been formally appointed on salary at the rate of £25 a month with travelling expenses and a subsistence allowance when out of England. The engagement will be for three years, from the 1st of September.

I am authorised by Lord Elgin to ask whether you would be so good as to join our Committee, and continue to help us with your advice. We meet only two or three times in the year at this Office at 4 in the afternoon, and therefore the call on your time would be very slight. Our members are Lord Meath, Sir Cecil Clementi Smith, Sir Philip Hutchins, Dr. Heath, Mr. Struthers (of the Scottish Board of Education), Dr. R. D. Roberts (of London University), M. E. Sadler, H. J. Mackinder, and myself.

It would be a great pleasure, as well as a source of strength, if you felt able to join us. I really think that the work in hand is one of great possibilities.

Believe me, &c.,

C. P. LUCAS.

30257

119

No. 172.

GOLD COAST.

MR: D. J. OMAN to THE COLONIAL OFFICE.

(Received August 23, 1907.)

REPORT ON LANTERN Lectures given in various Schools of the GOLD COAST COLONY.

During the months of March and April a number of schools in the Eastern Province received surprise visits, and the opportunity thus afforded was taken to use the lantern for the first time. Lectures were given at the following schools:- Aburi Basel Mission and local; Akropong Basel Mission middle, Bana Hill Basel Mission; Anum Basel Mission, senior and junior; Keta Bremen Mission, and Roman Catholic. At each of these schools the first lecture was given and at the Akropong Basel Mission Seminary for teachers two lectures were delivered. Except in the latter case the lectures were translated into the vernacular by one of the teachers of the schools. It was impossible to adhere rigidly to the words of the book, considerable modification being necessary to suit the class of children present at the lecture. Local conditions had also to be taken into consideration, as many of the children up country had never seen the sea, hence slides showing ship- ping, &c., required a great deal of explanation, which did not appear in the printed lectures. To children on or near the coast such scenes were quite familiar, and needed no explanation..

At each school where the lecture was given both the children and teachers were greatly interested. The managers were also very pleased with the scheme, and all regretted that the time did not allow of more than one lecture being given. It is worthy of note that although the lecture was delivered to schools of the four mission- ary denominations represented in the Colony, there was no adverse criticism from any of the managers, and the whole scheme seemed to meet with their unqualified approval.

While the lecture undoubtedly interested the scholars, the results were even better than I anticipated. A few judicious questions asked immediately after the lecture or in school on the following day, showed that the lecture had been instruc- tive as well as interesting. To impress the facts as much as possible on the minds of the children, the teachers were instructed to make the lecture the subject of a special geography lesson, and also to refer to the pictures seen by the children whenever possible. Scholars in schools of the Gold Coast study under great diffi- culties. Many of the texts books obtainable are not quite suitable. The children's ideas of countries other than their own are very hazy, and it is difficult to compare things in their country with many of those in Europe. In a great measure this difficulty is overcome when a large picture is shown, and the information gained by the children is more accurate than would be the case after a long verbal explanation. The possibilities of the scheme are great if arrangements could be made to give the lectures at regular and frequent intervals, and thus afford the teachers oppor- tunities of referring to them in succeeding geography lessons. Teachers would then be able to give these lessons in a more interesting manner than is now the case, and geography lessons would, in time, cease to be mere exercises in memory. This would most certainly be the case if a large number of slides were obtained to illustrate the work set out in the Code, and especially if arrangements were made for circulating these slides and a lantern among the schools of the Colony, somewhat in a similar manner to that done under the large educational authorities in England. From another point of view the lectures will, I feel sure, be useful. The lecture on the manufactures of England cannot but bring vividly before the minds of the children the importance of the industrial and commercial work of England, and will doubtlessly counteract in some measure the idea, which I feel sure is prevalent in some schools, that Germany is the most important manufacturing country in the world, and that the best place from which to purchase goods is the Basel Mission Factory.

If arrangements were made for passing the slides on from school to school, the children would have the advantage of seeing the pictures more frequently, but the lectures would probably lose a great deal of their value in being given by foreigners, and it is doubtful if in all cases they would be delivered in the same spirit as they have been written by Professor Mackinder, and for this reason I am of opinion that

120