Arriving at the city from which we are to sail, we visit points of
interest, the docks especially, and compare our steamer with others,
learning what we can about all the ships in the harbor.
If our lesson is well planned, we can accomplish a great deal the day we
sail.
CLASS WORK.
After two or three conversational lessons, let pupils begin their
diaries (composition books). In these may be written descriptions of
what they see, hear, or read about the place being studied or visited.
In most schools will be found one or more pupils who have been upon or
crossed the ocean. Let them give both oral and written descriptions of
the voyage.
In giving accounts of these journeys, have pupils describe the incidents
and details of everyday life on ship-board. They may tell of the ship,
its furnishings, rigging, engines, officers and crew.
Let them also describe the dining room, the meals, and the manner of
serving.
They may further describe a stateroom or berth, and picture their fellow
passengers in words or drawings.
It will greatly cultivate their power of expression to tell how the time
on board the vessel was passed, and to narrate any interesting
occurrences of the voyage. They may describe the ocean by day and by
night; also its appearance in a storm.
Many will be interested in descriptions of the birds that were met and
of the fishes that swarmed about the ship.
If time will not permit each pupil to give oral descriptions or to write
compositions on each topic, assign a different topic to each pupil. Bind
all papers together, when finished, to keep with scrap-books devoted to
the country visited.
These diaries or reproduction stories may be illustrated with pictures
clipped from illustrated papers and other sources or by original
drawings.
Try to secure specimens of seaweed to be exhibited to pupils during the
lesson on the sea voyage. Ask pupils to secure ocean shells, sponges,
pictures of sea birds, and specimens or pictures of other animal and
plant life in the ocean.
AFTERNOONS ABROAD.
At the conclusion of the study of a country, a topic may be assigned to
each pupil, or selected by him. With this topic he is to become
thoroughly familiar.
In place of the old-time review, invitations may be issued by the
pupils, and the results of the month's work be summed up in the form of
an entertainment, called -
AFTERNOONS OR EVENINGS ABROAD.
When a class, club, or school has been studying a country, the work may
be brought to a close in a way that pupils and their parents and friends
will enjoy and remember, by giving _An Afternoon or Evening Abroad_.
This form of geography review would be appreciated more particularly in
villages, or in country districts, where entertainments, books,
pictures, and opportunities for study and social intercourse are rarer
than in cities.
