International Review of Educational Cinematography (Jan-Dec 1931)

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-358 object it denotes is shown; the verb, when its action is illustrated. But it also means finding the image of the thing when a noun is read out and conceiving the action corresponding to a certain verb. A mother, for example, holds out to her little boy some object; he takes it in his hand, looks at it, perhaps puts it in his mouth. A vague idea takes shape in his mind and, when the mother utters a noun, the child tries to repeat it. This natural method is the method of the moving picture. Here again the cinema shows its superiority over the fixed projection, for in most cases the object has to be linked with the corresponding action, before it is learnt. By repeatedly asking " what is that, what's that called?" an intelligent child acquires an extensive vocabulary of names. ' What it fails to acquire is verbs, since movement is not so easily observed as things we can touch. Thus the study of movement necessitates a number of exercises for which animated projection is essential. The study itself is as useful as it is fascinating. For instance, let us take a falling tree. The pupil is told that there are several stages in the fall of a tree; the successive pictures distinguish between each of these stages and familiarise us with several verbs — the tree shakes, it bends, it falls. The child learns not only the correct word, but acquires a wealth of vocabulary. We might also consider the utility and indeed necessity of the cinema for other parts of speech, such as the adjective, but this would take too long. (b) Narration. Preparation of lessons. All lessons, even for tiny tots, have to be prepared. The teacher's explanations are not enough; they require supplementing by something that the pupil himself must learn and remember. A film lesson differs in this respect from an ordinary lesson only in the animated views it displays. The teacher's comments presuppose a careful study of the film, which should never be projected until he or she is thoroughly familiar with it. If, for example, I am studying on a film the felling of a tree in the forest, I project it for my own benefit: (i) the two wood-cutters make the notch at the base of the trunk; (2) the workmen stand aside; (3) the tree falls. First I note the substantives: wood, forest, wood-cutter, axe, splinter of wood, etc. The woodcutter's tool is his axe; Next I note the actions: the wood-cutters make a notch in the trunk; the axe is held and wielded. So I go on, studying the splinters of wood, the death of the tree, the stripping of the bark, the squaring of the timber. In this way I fix the terms to be used to designate objects, persons and, especially, actions. A vocabulary and composition lesson is a long business to prepare, but, if accompanied by a film, the result is most profitable. Geography, history and the cinema. Geography and history must be given places of honour among subjects for school cinema treatment, as the Eastman Kodak Company's experiment clearly proved. The cinema is better able to make explanations more vivid and intelligible. There is indeed no need to dwell on the universally recognized value of film-teaching in history and geography and I will pass on to the study of vocational, scientific and technical instruction by film. Vocational, scientific and technical instruction. In this and the two following chapters we are speaking about pupils in their seventh and eighth school years and in continuation schools. Children, especially nowadays, want to earn money as soon as possible; they also want to earn good money and, for that, to become skilled and reduce the period of apprenticeship to a minimum. On the other hand, the rapid progress of machinery and chemistry and foreign competition demand a higher and higher standard of efficiency. Only too often, a boy who wants to help his family rules out the professions — though they may be remuner