Page:The Great Didactic of John Amos Comenius (1896).pdf/439

 18. Not without reason do we recommend that all the pupils copy their printed books as neatly as they can. (1) The manual exercise of copying will help to impress on their minds the matter copied. (2) If the practice be made a daily one, it will teach them to write well, quickly, and accurately, and this will be of the greatest use in the further prosecution of their studies, and in conducting the affairs of life. (3) This will be the surest proof to parents that their children are not wasting their time at school, and will enable them to judge how much progress they are making.

19. We have no space to go into further particulars at present, and will only touch on one more point. If any boys are to learn foreign languages, they should learn them now, at about the age of ten, eleven, or twelve, that is to say, between the Vernacular-School and the Latin-School. The best way is to send them to the place where the language that they wish to learn is spoken, and in the new language to make them read, write, and learn the class-books of the Vernacular-School (the subject-matter of which is already familiar to them).