Page:Maury's New Elements of Geography, 1907.djvu/8

4 2. The Earth is very large. Near our homes we can see only a small part of it. When we go away from our homes in any direction, we see other parts where other people live. These people may be very different from us, and their homes quite unlike ours. Everywhere we find them doing some kind of work, which may also be quite different from the work that we do.

The story about the different people that live on the earth, about their homes and what they do, is called geography.

Preparatory Oral Work.—Impress carefully upon the minds of pupils the necessity of fixed, unchangeable points of direction, which can be understood by everybody.

Ask the pupils to point to the right; to the left; before them; behind them. Then show that all these directions are variable in their meaning. Thus: Who sits on your right hand? On your left? In front of you? Behind you? Turn round. Who is on your right now? Behind you? Before? On your left? Point to the right. Turn round. Point to the right now. Does pointing to the right, to the left, in front, or behind always give you the same direction?



Having shown the indefiniteness of such expressions for directions as right, left, before, behind, pass on to a thorough drill on the fixed directions. Let this be repeated daily, until every pupil can point, without hesitation, to the four principal directions, and to the four half-way directions.

Ask on which side of the schoolroom the sun rises. On which side it sets. Which is the east side of the pupils' desks? Which the west? The north? The south? Who sits to the east, west, north, and south of them? In what direction the teacher's desk is? In what directions the children go from school to their homes; and in what directions they come from their homes to school.



A weathervane.—The arrow always points in the direction from which the wind blows.

Let them tell in what directions the most familiar objects, such as the church, the post-office, or the city hall, are from their school and homes.

Vary the drill and exercises. In taking up the drill work in connection with different lessons, avoid as far as possible asking the questions in exactly the same words.

1. What Direction Means.—Suppose you are going for the first time to visit the home of a friend. One question that you will ask before starting will be, "Which is the way?" If you do not know the way you may be lost.

Now the way to a place is called direction.

And when we are learning about any people or places, one of the things we wish to know is, in what direction they are from us.

We may learn about direction from the sun. The part of the sky where it rises is called the east. So if, some bright morning, we are walking with the sun shining in our faces, we cannot help knowing that we are going toward the east.

The part of the sky where the sun sets is called the west. The west is just opposite the east. If we walk so that the setting sun shines in our faces, we are going toward the west.

If we walk with the morning sun upon our right sides, we shall be going toward the north.